Random Walks in Biology

Howard C. Berg

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9780691279893
• eBook ISBN:
  9780691279886
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biochemistry
• Index: Biological Sciences

A landmark account of the dynamics of living systems and the methods for studying them

Random Walks in Biology provides a lucid, straightforward introduction to the concepts and techniques of statistical physics that students of biology, biochemistry, and biophysics must know. Howard Berg offers an essential foundation for understanding random motions of molecules, subcellular particles, and cells as well as the processes that are affected by such motions. Using the concept of “random walks” of individual particles, Berg illuminates the physics involved in diffusion, sedimentation, electrophoresis, chromatography, and cell motility. With an engaging foreword by theoretical biophysicist William Bialek, this Princeton Science Library edition can serve as a supplementary text for courses on biochemistry, molecular biology, biomechanics, physiology, biophysics, and physical chemistry. It is also an ideal reference volume.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword to the Princeton Science Library Edition
• Preface to the Expanded Edition
• Preface (1983)
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Diffusion: Microscopic Theory
• Chapter 2. Diffusion: Macroscopic Theory
• Chapter 3. Diffusion to Capture
• Chapter 4. Diffusion with Drift
• Chapter 5. Diffusion at Equilibrium
• Chapter 6. Movement of Self-propelled Objects
• Chapter 7. Other Random Walks
• Appendix A. Probabilities and Probability Distributions
• Appendix B. Differential Equations
• Appendix C. Addendum to Chapter 6
• Appendix D. Constants and Formulas
• Bibliography
• Index