In this course we will discuss the “Great Ideas in Biology” as presented in the book What Is Life? by Paul Nurse, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine. What distinguishes a living cell from a virus, like Covid-19, or a human-engineered device, like a cell phone?

Please note: this course has an enrollment limit of 25 persons.

About the Instructor: Dr. John Tyson

Before retiring to Dock Woods with his wife, Linda, John Tyson was university distinguished professor of biological sciences at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. John earned a B.S. degree in chemistry from Wheaton College in 1969 and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Chicago in 1973. As a graduate student John began his transition from chemical physics to theoretical biology because many open problems in molecular cell biology caught his attention. After postdoctoral studies in biophysical chemistry and cell biology in Germany and Austria, John and Linda moved to Blacksburg in 1979, where they raised their four children (Jeremy, Christopher, David and Anna). At Dock Woods John continues to write scientific papers with his colleagues at Virginia Tech and other universities in the USA and Europe.