The Scientific Attitude (First Edition 1941 + Revised Edition 1948, Two Volumes)

Penguin / Pelican Books 1941 1948, 1941. 1st Edition . Soft cover. Near Fine. Two Volumes, The Original Of 1941, And The Revised Edition Of 1948, Both Near Fine, And Both From The Collection Of Ian Ballantine, Us Representative Of Penguin/Pelican Before Forming His Own Publishing Firm. Per Wikipedia, Conrad Hal Waddington Cbe Frs Frse (1905 -1975) Was A British Developmental Biologist, Paleontologist, Geneticist, Embryologist And Philosopher Who Laid The Foundations For Systems Biology, Epigenetics, And Evolutionary Developmental Biology. Waddington Had Wide Interests That Included Poetry And Painting, As Well As Left-Wing Political Leanings. In His Book The Scientific Attitude (1941), He Touched On Political Topics Such As Central Planning, And Praised Marxism As A "Profound Scientific Philosophy". In 1928, He Was Awarded An Arnold Gerstenberg Studentship In The University Of Cambridge, Whose Purpose Was To Promote "The Study Of Moral Philosophy And Metaphysics Among Students Of Natural Science, Both Men And Women."[4] He Took Up A Lecturership In Zoology And Was A Fellow Of Christ's College Until 1942. His Friends Included Gregory Bateson, Walter Gropius, C. P. Snow, Solly Zuckerman, Joseph Needham, And John Desmond Bernal.[5][6] His Interests Began With Palaeontology But Moved On To The Heredity And Development Of Living Things. He Also Studied Philosophy. During World War Ii He Was Involved In Operational Research With The Royal Air Force And Became Scientific Advisor To The Commander In Chief Of Coastal Command From 1944 To 1945. After The War, In 1947, He Replaced Francis Albert Eley Crew As Professor Of Animal Genetics At The University Of Edinburgh.[7] He Would Stay At Edinburgh For The Rest Of Life With The Exception Of One Year (1960-1961) When He Was A Fellow On The Faculty In The Center For Advanced Studies At Wesleyan University In Middletown, Connecticut. His Personal Papers Are Largely Kept At The University Of Edinburgh Library. In The Early 1930S, Waddington And Many Other Embryologists Looked For The Molecules That Would Induce The Amphibian Neural Tube. The Search Was Beyond The Technology Of That Time, And Most Embryologists Moved Away From Such Deep Problems. Waddington, However, Came To The View That The Answers To Embryology Lay In Genetics, And In 1935 Went To Thomas Hunt Morgan's Drosophila Laboratory In California, Even Though This Was A Time When Most Embryologists Felt That Genes Were Unimportant And Just Played A Role In Minor Phenomena Such As Eye Colour. In The Late 1930S, Waddington Produced Formal Models About How Gene Regulatory Products Could Generate Developmental Phenomena, Showed How The Mechanisms Underpinning Drosophila Development Could Be Studied Through A Systematic Analysis Of Mutations That Affected The Development Of The Drosophila Wing. In A Period Of Great Creativity At The End Of The 1930S, He Also Discovered Mutations That Affected Cell Phenotypes And Wrote His First Textbook Of "Developmental Epigenetics", A Term That Then Meant The External Manifestation Of Genetic Activity. Waddington Introduced The Concept Of Canalisation, The Ability Of An Organism To Produce The Same Phenotype Despite Variation In Genotype Or Environment. He Also Identified A Mechanism Called Genetic Assimilation Which Would Allow An Animal's Response To An Environmental Stress To Become A Fixed Part Of Its Developmental Repertoire, And Then Went On To Show That The Mechanism Would Work. In 1972, Waddington Founded The Centre For Human Ecology In The University Of Edinburgh. Waddington's Epigenetic Landscape Is A Metaphor For How Gene Regulation Modulates Development. Among Other Metaphors, Waddington Asks Us To Imagine A Number Of Marbles Rolling Down A Hill. The Marbles Will Sample The Grooves On The Slope, And Come To Rest At The Lowest Points. These Points Represent The Eventual Cell Fates, That Is, Tissue Types. Waddington Coined The Term Chreode To Represent This Cellular Developmental Process.