Thermodynamic correlates of evolution

The origins of Michael Conrad's research programs (1964-1979)

This paper summarizes Michael Conrad's academic and professional career from the time he began his Ph.D. studies in 1964 to his appointment at Wayne State University in 1979. It describes the origins of several of his major research interests and presents a personal evaluation of how this early work continues to be of fundamental importance.

Problems with entropy in biology

Entropy has been widely referred to as a measure of biological order. The validity of this notion is discussed in conjunction with it's relation to the spontaneous creation of order. Information theory offers a quantitative method for characterization of order, however, it is not fundamentally connected to formalisms of irreversible thermodynamics, and it is severely limited because the meaning and value of the information is neglected. A completely general notation is proposed for including measures of order of a biological system in the entropy balance equation of irreversible thermodynamics. Problems of assigning energetic equivalents to measures of order are indicated, with a final focus on the problem of meaning and value.