The Construction of Analogy-Based Research Programs : : The Lock-and-Key Analogy in 20th Century Biochemistry / / Rebecca Mertens.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus PP Package 2019 Part 2
• VerfasserIn: Mertens, Rebecca,
• Place / Publishing House: Bielefeld : : transcript Verlag, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Science Studies
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (224 p.)

When the German chemist Emil Fischer presented his key-lock hypothesis in 1899, his analogy to describe the molecular relationship between enzymes and substrates quickly gained vast influence and provided future generations of scientists with a tool to investigate the relation between chemical structure and biological specificity.Rebecca Mertens explains the appeal of the lock-and-key analogy by its role in model building and in the construction of long-term, cross-generational research programs. She argues that a crucial feature of these research programs, namely ascertaining the continuity of core ideas and concepts, is provided by a certain way of analogy-based modelling.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of contents -- Preface -- 1 The lock-and-key analogy and its influence on 20th century biochemistry -- 2 The lock-and-key analogy in Emil Fischer's program on sugar fermentation, 1890-1907 -- 3 The making of the lock-and-key model of the antibody-antigen relationship, 1886-1930 -- 4 Lock-and-key foundations for molecular biology: Linus Pauling and the Caltech group, 1930-1960 -- 5 Lock-and-key-based modeling and its influence on the development of biochemical research programs -- 6 Concluding remarks on the construction of analogy-based research programs -- Literature