Biology's Most Beautiful
BioScience, the monthly journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, presents readers
with an unusual challenge: to nominate candidates for a short list of the most beautiful biology
experiments. Essays on those that we judge most plausible will be published in future issues of
BioScience.
[moderator's note: I would certainly consider posting such nominations here, especially if they have
at least tangential relevance to evolutionary biology -- I would consider Nelson Hairston Sr.'s
marvelous empirical calculation of competition coefficients in plethodontid salamanders a good one,
for example. - JAH]
The notion of selecting experiments by such a subjective criterion as beauty may seem surprising,
but is not original. The late science historian Frederic Lawrence Holmes used the characterization
for the subtitle of his 2001 book, "Meselson, Stahl, and the Replication of DNA: A History of 'The
Most Beautiful Experiment in Biology.'" And a year ago, Robert P. Crease asked readers of Physics
World for nominations for the most beautiful experiment in physics.
BioScience hopes this criterion will allow latitude for some less-well-known experiments to be
honored and described, as well as for some famous ones to be considered anew.
We will not announce vote counts or rank the nominated experiments in any way; there will be no
"winner." We encourage readers to suggest beauteous experiments from all fields of biology, as we
intend to cast a wide net. Experiments from any period in history may be nominated.
We will be guided in our consideration of which nominees are worthy contenders by four distinguished
experts: Richard M. Burian, Professor of Philosophy and Science and Technology Studies at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University (and a member of the BioScience editorial board); Jane
Maienschein, Regents' Professor of Biology and Society at Arizona State University; Scott F.
Gilbert, Professor of Biology at Swarthmore College; and John Beatty, Professor of Philosophy at the
University of British Columbia.
Readers should submit their nominations to [email hidden] by the end of 2003. Nominations must
include proper citations to the experiment and a brief account (up to 500 words) of why it should be
considered one of the most beautiful experiments in biology.
Tim Beardsley Editor-in-Chief BioScience aibs.orgcurrent issue.htmlOpen ↗