The Emergence of Theoretical Biology Two Fundamental Works of Er - 2024 - BioSy

BioSystems 241 (2024) 105201
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
BioSystems
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biosystems
The emergence of theoretical biology: Two fundamental works of Ervin

Bauer (1890–1938) in English translation
Miklós Müller a, Abir U. Igamberdiev b, *
a
Rockefeller University, New York, NY, 10065, USA
b
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Ervin Bauer (1890–1938) outlined the paradigm of theoretical biology from the perspective of biophysics and
Ervin Bauer bioenergetics. His molecular-based biological theory is centered on the principle of sustainable non-equilibrium,
Bioenergetics which is continuously produced and maintained by all biological systems throughout their life. Ervin Bauer
Biophysics
became the victim of Stalin’s Great Terror. Here we present two of the fundamental works of Ervin Bauer in
Biological thermodynamics
History of biology
English translation: the paper “The definition of living beings on the basis of their thermodynamic properties,
Theoretical biology and the fundamental biological principles that follow from it” published in Naturwissenschaften (1920) and the
excerpts from his magnum opus “Theoretical Biology” (1935). These works became a bibliographical rarity. A
complete English translation of “Theoretical Biology” is an important task for the future.
Ervin Bauer first proposed his theory of life in 1920 when he worked existing external conditions” (p. 238). Then he defines the structural
in Germany in Göttingen. He formulated in German his thesis on the characteristics of living matter and states that “to maintain the condi
sustainable non-equilibrium of living beings in an article (Bauer, 1920a) tions of the system, it is necessary to constantly regenerate it, i.e.
and then in a monograph (Bauer, 1920b). The article in English trans consume work constantly. Thus, the chemical energy of food is used in
lation is republished below. In this work, Bauer suggested the general the organism to produce the free energy of the structure; to build,
definition for all living beings. “We define as living beings all body systems, regenerate, and retain this structure, and it is not directly transformed
which are not in equilibrium state and organized in a way that the energy into (external) work.” (p. 240). Bauer formulates the principle of work by
forms in their given environment are converted into such forms of energy, systems forces according to which “in living systems any internal work or
which in the given environment act against the establishment of an equilib any work directed against the change of structure can be performed only
rium state” (Bauer, 1920a, p. 339). Bauer’s concept became known as the at the expense of this structural energy, i.e. system forces” (p. 240). He
theory of stable (or sustainable) non-equilibrium state of the living be suggests that protein molecules maintain the non-equilibrium state in
ings (Elek and Müller, 2013, 2024; Cottam and Vounckx, 2023; Igam their structure, i.e. conformation, which he determines as a
berdiev, 2024a, 2024b; Mikhailovsky, 2024; Müller and Elek, 2024; non-equilibrium “crooked” lattice bearing activation energy (p.
Nath, 2024). 241–242).
The magnum opus of Bauer “Theoretical Biology” was published In the second part of the book “The theory of living processes”, Bauer
when Bauer worked in Soviet Union in Leningrad at the All-Union applies his concept to different aspects of living processes, including
Institute of Experimental Medicine (VIEM) (Bauer, 1935). In the intro metabolism and the limits of assimilation, reproduction, adaptation and
duction, Ervin Bauer defines the aim of the book: “to formulate a theory irritability, and evolution. In particular, he anticipates the phenomenon
applicable to all kinds of organized living matter independent of the of programmed cell death (apoptosis) (p. 247–248). He considers
historical development” (Bauer, 1982, p. 235). In the first part of the metabolism as a sustainable non-equilibrium structure that is constantly
book “General theory of living matter”, Bauer further clarifies the main renewed and restored in the permanent process of levelling within the
thesis of his concept that “living systems are never at equilibrium; at the limits of assimilation that establish the computable rules of metabolism
expense of their free energy they constantly perform work to avoid the (p. 244). Bauer discusses the limits of metabolism also in the course of
equilibrium required by the laws of physics and chemistry under physiological adaptation, in which biological systems aim to preserve
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mmuller@rockefeller.edu (M. Müller), igamberdiev@mun.ca (A.U. Igamberdiev).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105201
Received 14 March 2024; Accepted 30 March 2024
Available online 19 April 2024
0303-2647/© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc/4.0/).
M. Müller and A.U. Igamberdiev BioSystems 241 (2024) 105201
their own structures (p. 251). When the intensity of metabolism changes CRediT authorship contribution statement
in the process of prolonged adaptation, new structures can emerge. In
his evolutionary views, Bauer claims that the survival of adapted or Miklós Müller: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing
ganisms is a factor conserving the species, while defeat in the struggle – review & editing. Abir U. Igamberdiev: Conceptualization, Writing –
for survival is a factor promoting evolution, which means that “the raw original draft, Writing – review & editing.
material of existence is supplied by conquered ones” (p. 252). Bauer
considers a possibility to elaborate a more special theory of evolution Declaration of competing interest
based on the general laws of movement of living matter and suggests
seeking evolutionary regularities in the changes of the special structures The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
of heredity. He defines the general law of evolution as the increase of interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
external work and intensification of the basic properties of living matter the work reported in this paper.
(p. 252).
In two years after the publication of “Theoretical Biology”, Ervin Acknowledgment
Bauer became the victim of Stalin’s Great Terror. A complete reprint of
the Russian text of “Theoretical Biology” together with its extended We have decided to republish Ervin Bauer’s works because of their
English summary was first published in 1982 in Hungary (Bauer, 1982). outstanding scientific and historical merit. We sincerely thank the
The book is now a rarity. We republish here the partial English trans President of Hungarian Academy of Sciences Professor Tamás Freund for
lation of “Theoretical Biology” from the 1982 edition. A complete En his support of our initiative and the permission to republish Bauer’s
glish translation of “Theoretical Biology” is still outstanding and work. We also thank Springer Publishers for the approval of the trans
represents an important task for the future. lation of Bauer’s article.
2
Appendix 1
This translation should be cited as: Bauer, E., 1920. Die Definition des Lebewesens auf Grund seiner thermodynamischen Eigenschaften und die
daraus folgenden biologischen Grundprinzipien. Naturwissenschaften 8(18), 338–340. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02448266 (English translation in:
Müller, M., Igamberdiev, A.U., 2024. The emergence of theoretical biology: Two fundamental works of Ervin Bauer (1890–-1938) in English trans
lation. Biosystems 241, 105201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105201)
3
4
5
Appendix 2
This translation is reproduced with the permission of the Academic Publishing House (Akadémiai Kiadó) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. It
was performed under the supervision of Dr. Peter Závodszky and should be cited as: Bauer, E., 1935. Theoretical Biology. VIEM, Moscow and Len
ingrad. Partial English translation: Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1982. (Reprinted in: Müller, M., Igamberdiev, A.U., 2024. The emergence of theo
retical biology: Two fundamental works of Ervin Bauer (1890–1938) in English translation. Biosystems 241, 105201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bio
systems.2024.105201)
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
References Elek, G., Müller, M., 2024. Ervin Bauer’s concept of biological thermodynamics and its
different evaluations. Biosystems 235, 105090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
biosystems.2023.105090.
Bauer, E., 1920a. Die Definition des Lebewesens auf Grund seiner thermodynamischen
Igamberdiev, A.U., 2024a. Toward the relational formulation of biological
Eigenschaften und die daraus folgenden biologischen Grundprinzipien.
thermodynamics. Entropy 26 (1), 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/e26010043.
Naturwissenschaften 8 (18), 338–340 [In German].
Igamberdiev, A.U., 2024b. Biological thermodynamics: Ervin Bauer and the unification
Bauer, E., 1920b. Die Grundprinzipien der rein wissenschaftlichen Biologie und ihre
of life sciences and physics. Biosystems 235, 105089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Anwendungen in der Physiologie und Pathologie. Vorträge und Aufsätze über
Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen, herausgegeben von Wilhelm Roux. Heft
Mikhailovsky, G.E., 2024. Life, its definition, origin, evolution, and four-dimensional
XXVI. Springer, Berlin, 75 pp. [In German].
hierarchical structure. Biosystems 237, 105158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Bauer, E.S., 1935. [Theoretical Biology.] VIEM, Moscow and Leningrad [In Russian].
Bauer, E.S., 1982. Theoretical Biology. In: Frank, G.M., Tigyi, J., Shnol, S.E.,
Müller, M., Elek, G., 2024. The history of Ervin Bauer’s publications on the theory of life.
Zamyatnin, A.A. (Eds.), Reprint of the 1935 Edition with a Biographical and Critical
Biosystems 241, 105212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105212.
Essay and Abridged English Translation of the Original Russian Chapters. Akadémiai
Nath, S., 2024. Coupling and biological free-energy transduction processes as a bridge
Kiadó, Budapest, 295 pp.
between physics and life: molecular-level instantiation of Ervin Bauer’s pioneering
Cottam, R., Vounckx, R., 2023. Origin of the temporal stability control of living system
concepts in biological thermodynamics. Biosystems 236, 105134. https://doi.org/
nonequilibrium. Biosystems 226, 104886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105134.
Elek, G., Müller, M., 2013. The living matter according to Ervin Bauer (1890-1938), (on
the 75th anniversary of his tragic death) (History). Acta Physiol. Hung. 100 (1),
124–132. https://doi.org/10.1556/APhysiol.99.2012.006.
26

The Emergence of Theoretical Biology Two Fundamental Works of Er - 2024 - BioSy

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Emergence of Theoretical Biology Two Fundamental Works of Er - 2024 - BioSy

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

BioSystems 241 (2024) 105201

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

The emergence of theoretical biology: Two fundamental works of Ervin

You might also like