Carsten Bresch (5 September 1921 – 1 March 2020) was a German geneticist and physicist. He was a professor at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

at the Faculty of Biology. Working in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

, he was a pioneer of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

bacteriophages A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a phage (), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. The term is derived . Bacteriophages are composed of proteins that encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome, and may have structures tha ...

, writing the standard ''Classical and Molecular Genetics''.

Biography

Bresch was born on 5 September 1921 in Berlin. He studied physics and in 1947 he was one of the first students of

Max Delbrück Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück (; September 4, 1906 – March 9, 1981) was a German–American biophysicist who participated in launching the molecular biology research program in the late 1930s. He stimulated physical science, physical scientist ...

in postwar Berlin. Since 1949, he worked as an assistant at the reestablished Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry (today

Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry The Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (), also known as the Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute (), was a research institute of the Max Planck Society, located in Göttingen, Germany. On January 1, 2022, the institute merged with ...

) in Göttingen, where he introduced

as an object of study in the

. In 1958, Bresch went from Göttingen to the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

, where he prepared the foundation of a Genetics-Institute by order of Delbrück and the botany professor . After completion, Bresch, Delbrück, Walther Harm, Peter Starlinger as well as the

nucleic acid Nucleic acids are large biomolecules that are crucial in all cells and viruses. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomer components: a pentose, 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main classes of nuclei ...

chemist Ulf Hennig moved into the Institute. In 1965, Bresch left the institute, in order to lead the Biology Division of Southwest Center for Advanced Studies (SCAS) in Dallas, Texas. Since 1968, Bresch held the chair for genetics at the

. At the same time he was the leader of the "Zentrallabor für Mutagenitätsprüfung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft" (Central Laboratory of Mutagenicity of the German Research Foundation). His main scientific work area was the genetics of bacteriophages. Bresch is the author of the book ''Classical and Molecular Genetics'', which was considered as the international definitive book of genetics for many years. In addition to his research and teaching activities he got involved with interdisciplinary subjects concerning theology and natural science. Bresch died on 1 March 2020 at age 98.

Work

Bresch's book ''Zwischenstufe Leben – Evolution ohne Ziel?'' (life as an intermediate stage – evolution without intention?) was much discussed and is his ideological main work. In this book he attempts to develop perspectives for the future of mankind based on secured evolutionary knowledge. All natural phenomena derive from the basic principle of increasing integration, which leads to higher integrated and thus more complex forms. Based on

Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (; 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit, Catholic priest, scientist, palaeontologist, theologian, and teacher. He was Darwinian and progressive in outlook and the author of several influential theologica ...

, he distinguishes three stages of evolution: the evolution of matter, life, mind and culture. At this point, he asks the question whether the evolution has come to an end or will go beyond? He is convinced that evolution will outlast mankind and end in a last destination called point omega. "Thus the book is a seminal contribution for a new world view of modern man, who is at a loss with the meaning of life." (From the introduction of "Zwischenstufe Leben", München 1977, Piper Verlag). Bresch's book ''Zwischenstufe Leben'' represents a scientific description of Teilhard de Chardin´s universal and theological evolutionary concept. His latest book ''Evolution'' appeared in November 2010.

Books

As author: * ''Klassische und molekulare Genetik''. Berlin: Springer, 1964 (3rd extended edition 1972) * ''Zwischenstufe Leben. Evolution ohne Ziel?'' Munich: Piper, 1977. * ''Des Teufels neue Kleider''. Munich: TR-Verlagsunion, 1978 * ''Evolution – Was bleibt von Gott''. Stuttgart: Schattauer, 2010 As editor: * ''AGEMUS - Rundbrief: Arbeitsgemeinschaften Evolution, Menschheitszukunft und Sinnfragen.'' Freiburg 1981 to 1983 * ''Kann man Gott aus der Natur erkennen?'' Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1990 * ''Gut und Böse in der Evolution. Naturwissenschaftler, Philosophen und Theologen im Disput.'' Stuttgart: S. Hirzel, 1995

References

External links

*
Strukturwandel, Personalstruktur & wissenschaftliches Profil
Fakultät für Biologie at the

* Simone Wenkel
Die Molekularbiologie in Deutschland von 1945 bis 1975 / Ein internationaler Vergleic
(dissertation, in German)

2013
Dr. Hans Bremer: About the origins of Molecular Biology and of our Department at UTD
(article about the scientific work)
Carsten Bresch: Evolution - Kluft und Brücke zwischen Glauben und Wissen (Evolution - gap and bridge between faith and knowledge) (1981, Podcast)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bresch, Carsten 1921 births 2020 deaths German geneticists Scientists from Berlin Academic staff of the University of Freiburg 20th-century German physicists 21st-century German physicists Academic staff of Max Planck Society Academic staff of the University of Cologne University of Texas at Dallas faculty