As in Volumes 35 and 36, the chapters in this new volume complement, with personal recollections, the History of Biochemistry that was covered in the Comprehensive Biochemistry Series, Volumes 30-33 by M. Florkin and Volume 34A by P. Laszlo. The biographical and autobiographical chapters will convey to the reader a lively, albeit at times subjective, view of the scientific and social environment in which the authors have worked, resulting in new concepts and theories on the biological sciences.

One of the most exciting developments in biological sciences has been their merging with chemistry and physics resulting in the new disciplines of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology. As the developments of these new disciplines has been so rapid many of the key discoveries have occurred within the life-time of a number of prominent scientists in the field. The chapters in this and in future volumes are meant to complement with personal recollections by these scientists, the History of Biochemistry in this series (vols. 30-33 by M. Florkin and Vol. 34 by P. Laszlo). These bibliographic and autobiographic chapters convey to the reader lively, albeit at times subjective, views on both the scientific and social environments of the authors. The editor cosidered it presumptuous to give the authors narrow guidelines or to suggest changes in the chapters he received. The contributions assembled in this volume will convey the flavour of each author's particular personality.

This book is the latest volume in the highly successful series Comprehensive Biochemistry. It provides a historical and autobiographical perspective of the developments in the field through the contributions of leading individuals who reflect on their careers and their impact on biochemistry. Volume 45 is essential reading for everyone from graduate student to professor, placing in context major advances not only in biochemical terms but in relation to historical and social developments. Readers will be delighted by the lively style and the insight into the lives and careers of leading scientists of their time.* Contributors are distinguished scientists in the field * Unique series of personal recollections * Presents scientific research in a historical perspective

The volumes of this classic series, now referred to simply as "Zechmeister" after its founder, L. Zechmeister, have appeared under the Springer Imprint ever since the series' inauguration in 1938. It is therefore not really surprising to find out that the list of contributing authors, who were awarded a Nobel Prize, is quite long: Kurt Alder, Derek H.R. Barton, George Wells Beadle, Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin, Otto Diels, Hans von Euler-Chelpin, Paul Karrer, Luis Federico Leloir, Linus Pauling, Vladimir Prelog, with Walter Norman Haworth and Adolf F.J. Butenandt serving as members of the editorial board. The volumes contain contributions on various topics related to the origin, distribution, chemistry, synthesis, biochemistry, function or use of various classes of naturally occurring substances ranging from small molecules to biopolymers. Each contribution is written by a recognized authority in his field and provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the topic in question. Addressed to biologists, technologists and chemists alike, the series can be used by the expert as a source of information and literature citations and by the non-expert as a means of orientation in a rapidly developing discipline.

The biological sciences cover a broad array of literature types, from younger fields like molecular biology with its reliance on recent journal articles, genomic databases, and protocol manuals to classic fields such as taxonomy with its scattered literature found in monographs and journals from the past three centuries. Using the Biological Litera