François Jacob
A molecular biologist who, with Jacques Monod, discovered the operon model of gene regulation, explaining how genes are turned on and off.
Most quoted
"A theory is a good theory if it satisfies two requirements: It must accurately describe a large class of observations on the basis of a model that contains only a few arbitrary elements, and it must make definite predictions about the results of future observations."
— from Attributed
"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."
— from The Logic of Life: A History of Heredity
"The dream of the biologist is to understand the living world, to grasp its essence, to unravel its secrets. But the living world is not a simple mechanism; it is a history."
— from La logique du vivant, une histoire de l'hérédité, 1970
All quotes by François Jacob (362)
The mind is everything. What you think you become.
The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
The most important discoveries are those that open up new questions.
Chance and necessity.
The scientific enterprise is not a machine, but a living organism.
The history of science is the history of error.
Biology is the science of exceptions.
The organism is a dream of the genome.
The future of man is in his genes.
The gene is a concept, not a thing.
The living world is a world of compromises.
The brain is a machine for making hypotheses.
The living world is a world of bricolage.
The organism is a text written in a language we are only beginning to decipher.
The history of life is a history of inventions.
The cell is a memory of the past.
Science is a permanent revolution.
The gene is a program for development.
Contemporaries of François Jacob
Other Biologys born within 50 years of François Jacob (1920–2013).