Beginning with the ancient Greeks, this reference charts the development of ideas that have sought to explain life scientifically. Robert Olby's survey covers all the major areas of the subject: its foundation in the ancient world, the overt and covert influences in social, political and religious concerns on our concepts of birth, life and death, the impact of Charles Darwin's discovery of evolution, the revolution in knowledge precipitated by the discovery of the double helix and DNA, and the future direction of genetic manipulation.