Thom, 1923-2002 (French mathematician)

Scope and Contents

Contains correspondence concerning Waddington's foreword to René Thom's book Stabilité Structurale et Biologie as well as Towards a Theoretical Biology and Tools for Thought, which was published after Waddington's death by Jonathan Cape in 1977.

Scope and Contents The correspondence between Crick and Waddington chiefly concerns a discussion of Waddington's theory of the epigenetic landscape, as well as the work of René Thom. Much of Lord Halsbury's correspondence (1952-1957) are photocopies of the originals. There is a letter from Waddington's secretary, Anne Brown (dated 29 June 1976) to Lord Halsbury noting that she was returning the original correspondence to him having made copies to 'go to the Archives along with the rest of Wad's...

Scope and Contents

Thom wrote letters to Waddington in both English and French. The correspondence also includes a draft typescript of Thom's essay 'Une théorie dynamique de la Morphogenèse' and three photographs of two circular moulds which possibly relate to the three pictures 'of the wet form of the epigenetic landscape' mentioned by Thom in a letter to Waddington (19 January 1968).

Scope and Contents The material includes letters from Maurice Dodson (as well as some of Dodson's handwritten notes) and a letter from René Thom concerning an article of Dodson's which Waddington was asked to read titled 'Darwin's Law of Natural Selection and Thom's Theory of Morphogenesis', a draft of which is included in this material. Also present are letters from John Lewis regarding Waddington's contribution to Beyond Chance and Necessity: A Critical Inquiry into Professor Jacques...