PART IV 



DESTRUCTION OF INFORMATION BY 

 IONIZING RADIATION 



The disorganization of highly ordered macromolecules of biological importance 

 by the action of ionizing radiation is a field of study owning a half-century of 

 history, a tremendous literature, and possibly a somewhat feeble accom- 

 plishment in terms of clear and unexceptionable conclusions. With the develop- 

 ment of information theory, and its subsequent application to biological systems, 

 there appears to be substantial basis for cherishing the hope that it may constitute 

 a valuable tool in the analysis of the experimental results of radiobiology and 

 their translation into knowledge concerning biological phenomena. The present 

 section of the symposium is dedicated to this goal. The first two papers, by 

 GoRDY and by Platzman and Franck, explore different aspects of the inter- 

 pretation of physical and chemical effects of ionizing radiation on proteins and 

 related substances; for without some measure of fundamental physical insight 

 into the mechanisms of this action, the utilization of information theory in 

 radiobiology would appear unlikely to emerge from an ineffectual state of 

 pleasant vagueness. In the third paper, by Morowitz, positive steps are taken 

 in the analysis of some relationships between information theory and ionizing- 

 radiation action. The following two short papers, which stem from discussion 

 by Koch and by Augenstine, are devoted to the almost perennial question of 

 the role of sulfur-bonding in radiobiology, as was also, to a large extent, the further 

 discussion at the symposium, part of which is summarized in the final pages of 

 the section. It is disquieting to have to record that the views on this perplexing 

 problem are still seriously discordant. 



R. L. P. 



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