A.V. Belushkin

Arne Skjeltorp

The book reviews the current experimental and theoretical knowledge of the synergism between modern physics, soft condensed matter and biology, presenting a thorough discussion of the relative role of the various fundamental interactions in such systems: electrostatic, hydrophobic, steric, conformational, van der Waals, etc. These competing interactions influence the form and topology of soft and biological matter, like polymers and proteins, leading to hierarchical structures in self-assembling systems and folding patterns sometimes described in terms of chirality, braids and knots. Finally, the competing interactions influence various bioprocesses like genetic regulation and biological evolution taking place in systems like biopolymers, macromolecules and cell membranes. The authors include theoretical physicists, soft condensed matter experimentalists, biological physicists, and molecular biologists - all leaders in their respective fields. Aside from the need to gain new, fundamental insights, the subject area is also of great importance for many applications, in that self-assembly and hierarchical assembly are important features to achieve functionality on multiple length scales. Applications range from the nanoscopic (e.g., biomolecular material and copolymeric mesophases) to the microscopic (all organic microelectronics) to the macroscopic (high-performance structural composites).

Forces, Growth and Form in Soft Condensed Matter: At the Interface Between Physics and Biology

Roger Pynn

This volume comprises the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Geilo, Norway, between 8-19 April 1985. Although the principal support for the meeting was provided by the NATO Committee for Scientific Affairs, a number of additional sponsors also contributed, allowing the assembly of an unusually large number of internationally rec ognized speakers. Additional funds were received from: EXXON Research and Engineering Co. IBM (Europe) Institutt for energiteknikk (NorwaY) Institut Lauge-Langevin (France) The Norwegian Research Council for Science and Humanities NORDITA (Denmark) The Norwegian Foreign Office The U. S. Army Research, Development and Standardization Group (Europe) The U. S. National Science Foundation - The Norwegian Council for Science and Letters The organizing committee would like to take this opportunity to thank these contributors for their help in promoting a most exciting rewarding meeting. This Study Institute was the eighth of a series of meetings held in Geilo on subjects related to phase transitions. In contrast to previous meetings which were principally concerned with transitions in ordered systems, this school addressed the problems which arise when structural order is absent. The unifying feature among the subjects discussed at the school and the link to themes of earlier meetings was the concept of scaling.

Arne Skjeltorp

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