Opportunities in biophysics

In 1940, John R. Loofbourow wrote an article entitled, “Borderland Problems in Biology and Physics”, which was published in the Reviews of Modern Physics. Since that time physicists have been puzzled by the “aberrant” behavior of some of their colleagues. Why does a theoretician like Max Delbruck start talking about mutations of bacterial viruses? How does it happen that an experimental nuclear physicist like Ernest Pollard begins worrying about bacterial replication? What is Schroödinger's concern with the problem of “What is Life?” Why does an astrophysicist like Gamow begin worrying about coding in biological systems? This straying from the orthodox fields of physics by these and many others represents an interesting modern trend of thought and poses both problems and challenges to the field of physics.