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Biomolecules: Where the Physics of Complexity and Simplicity Meet

FEB 01, 1994
How can a protein fold itself properly in on instant, and how could functional proteins possibly have evolved in the brief span of life on Earth? Addressing such questions, we learn a lot about the physics of complexity.
Hans Frauenfelder
Peter G. Wolynes

Are we moving toward a time when no new and exciting problems appear in physics? Would the vaunted “theory of everything” mean the end of creative physics? A similar scenario was played out at the end of the last century, when some great physicists declared that only minor problems remained to be solved.

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References

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  3. 3. J. A. McCammon, S. C. Harvey, Dynamics of Proteins and Nucleic Acids, Cambridge U.P., New York (1987).

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  8. 8. J. D. Bryngelson, P. G. Wolynes, J. Phys. Chem. 93, 6902 (1989). https://doi.org/JPCHAX
    E. I. Shakhnovich, A. M. Gutin, Europhys. Lett. 9, 569 (1989).https://doi.org/EULEEJ

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  16. 16. J. Berendzen, D. Braunstein, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87, 1 (1990).

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More about the authors

Hans Frauenfelder, Los Alamos, National Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign.

Peter G. Wolynes, University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 47, Number 2

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