In science, Stéphane Leduc (1853-1939) was a French biologist noted, in chnops-thermodynamics, for his 1911 effort to explain life via mechanism, energy, and entropy.
Overview
In 1911, Leduc, in his The Mechanism of Life in which, in his own words, “endeavored to give as much of the science of energetics as can be treated without the use of formula; the conception of entropy and Carnot’s law of thermodynamics” to the explanation of the mechanism of life. He states, for instance, “a living being [is] a store of potential energy, to be set free by external stimulus.” [1] Leduc's overall aim was to contribute to the understanding of the chemical and physical mechanisms of life. [2]
References
1. Leduc, Stephane. (1911). The Mechanism of Life, (ch. IX: Energetics, pgs. 97-113), 1914 Eng. Trans. By W. Deane Butcher, 197-pages (Scribd) (pdf) (target) (Half.com). London: William Heinemann.
2. Keller, Evelyn F. (2003). Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines (Leduc, 58+ pgs). Harvard University Press.
Further reading
● Leduc, Stephane. (1906). Les bases physiques de la vie et la biogenèse (The Physical Basis of Life and Biogenesis). éd. Masson, Paris.
External links
● Stéphane Leduc – Wikipedia.
