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 truth is not always simple, but it is always beautiful.
The living world is a world of relationships, not of isolated objects.
The boundary between the living and the non-living is not as sharp as we once thought.
Life is a property of matter, but a very special property.
The origin of life is the origin of heredity.
The history of life is a history of increasing complexity.
Consciousness is the great mystery of biology.
We are not the center of the universe, but we are a part of it.
The meaning of life is to give life a meaning.
We are all products of chance and necessity.
Freedom is the recognition of necessity.
The past is not dead; it is alive in the present.
Memory is the glue that holds our identity together.
Love is the most powerful force in the universe.
The greatest danger to science is dogma.
The role of the scientist is to ask questions, not to provide final answers.
Imagination is more important than knowledge in science.
The tinkerer does not know exactly what he is going to produce, but uses whatever he finds around him.
Evolution works with what is available, not with what is optimal.
The genome is a palimpsest, a document written over and over again through evolutionary time.
Contemporaries of François Jacob
Other Biologys born within 50 years of François Jacob (1920–2013).