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)
Discovery in science is seeing what everyone else has seen, but thinking what nobody else has thought.
Biology teaches us that nothing in life is fixed; everything adapts.
The joy of research is in the unexpected turns.
Genes are the scripts, but the environment directs the play.
To understand life, one must understand its logic, not just its chemistry.
Evolution works by bricolage, using what's at hand.
The scientist's life is one of perpetual curiosity.
In biology, the whole is more than the sum of its parts, but regulated by them.
Chance and necessity are the two pillars of evolution.
The lac operon revealed the elegance of genetic control.
Life's complexity arises from simple rules repeated.
As a biologist, I see history in every organism.
Research is like war: strategy and luck intertwined.
The future of biology lies in understanding regulation.
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.
Cells communicate in whispers of molecules.
The beauty of science is in its humility before nature.
Life is an experiment in perpetual variation.
Genetics is the poetry of biology.
In the lab, failure is the teacher.
Contemporaries of François Jacob
Other Biologys born within 50 years of François Jacob (1920–2013).