Nearly 100 years ago, the eminent biologist D’Arcy Thompson began his wonderful book On Growth and Form (Cambridge U. Press, 1917) by quoting Immanuel Kant. The philosopher had observed that “chemistry … was a science but not Science … for that the criterion of true Science lay in its relation to mathematics.” Thompson then declared that, since a “mathematical chemistry” now existed, chemistry was thereby elevated to Science; whereas biology had remained qualitative, without mathematical foundations or principles, and so it was not yet Science.
Although few today would articulate Thompson’s position so provocatively, the spirit of his characterization remains to a large extent valid, despite the extraordinary progress during the intervening century. The basic question implicit in his discussion remains unanswered: Do biological phenomena obey underlying universal laws of life that can be mathematized so that biology can be formulated as a predictive, quantitative science? Most would regard it...
