IngentaConnect CHANCE AND NECESSITY IN ARTHUR PEACOCKE'S SCIENTIFIC WORK

Author: Woloschak, Gayle E.¹

Source: Zygon, Volume 43, Number 1, March 2008 , pp. 75-87(13)

Abstract:

Arthur Peacocke was one of the most important scholars to contribute to the modern dialogue on science and religion, and for this he is remembered in the science-religion community. Many people, however, are unaware of his exceptional career as a biochemist prior to his decision to pursue a life working as a clergyman in the Church of England. His contributions to studies of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) structure, effects of radiation damage on DNA, and on the interactions of DNA and proteins are among the most important in the field at the time and have had a lasting scientific impact that is still felt today. Peacocke's arguments with Jacques Monod over stochastic (chance) and deterministic (necessity) processes driving evolution became important independently for both the science and the religion communities and appear to have contributed significantly to his decision to become involved in science-religion dialogue rather than continuing his work exclusively in the field of science. Nevertheless, although Peacocke took on an active church life and ceased his experimental work, he never left science but continued to read the scientific literature and published a scientific review on different approaches in defining DNA structure as recently as 2005.

Keywords: deterministic processes; DNA—deoxyribonucleic acid; evolution; RNA—ribonucleic acid; stochastic processes

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2008.00900.x

Affiliations: 1: Professor in the Departments of Radiation Oncology, Radiology, and Cell and Molecular Biology, Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 303 E. Chicago Ave., Ward-13-002, Chicago, IL 60611, and Director

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