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Biological Motion: A History of Life by Janina Wellmann, 2024

Biological Motion studies the foundational relationship between motion and life. To answer the question, “What is Life?,” prize-winning historian of science Janina Wellmann engages in a transdisciplinary investigation of motion as the most profound definition of living existence.

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For decades, information and structure have dominated the historiography of the life sciences with its prevailing focus on DNA structure and function. Now more than ever, motion is a crucial theme of basic biological research. Tracing motion from Aristotle’s animal soul to molecular motors, and from medical soft robotics to mathematical analysis, Wellmann locates biological motion at the intersection of knowledge domains and scientific and cultural practices. She offers signposts to mark the sites where researchers, technologies, ideas, and practices opened up new paths in the constitution of the phenomenon of motion. An ambitious rethinking of the life sciences, Biological Motion uncovers the secret life of movement and offers a new account of what it means to be alive. Review “Motion has been the mark of life ever since scientific observation began. In this visually striking and beautifully written book, Wellmann retells the history of biology by tracking vital motions from Aristotle to right now. In the process, she educates the eye to see the kind of motion we call life in ever new ways.” — Lorraine Daston, Director emerita, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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