On the Hypothesis of the Physical Mechanism Underlying the “Magnetism of Living Matter,” an Outstanding Discovery in Biophysics by L.A. Blumenfeld

Resumo

The experimental data that describe and confirm the validity of the physical event referred to as “the magnetism of living matter,” which was discovered by L.A. Blumenfeld and his team at the end of the 1950s, are discussed and analyzed, as well as the corresponding theoretical debate of the 1960s. This debate did not propose any explanations for the observed effects but rather questioned them; as a result, the discovery was not only forgotten, but even scientifically discredited. A new theoretical explanation (a physical hypothesis) for the experimental dataset was proposed by Blumenfeld et al. in a series of publications in the 1960s to the 1990s. The physical hypothesis on the magnetism of living matter relies on the analysis of the experimental results by Blumenfeld, the theoretical view of the authors on the physical principles underlying the functioning of living matter, and the known and earlier described data on the mitotic stages in eukaryotic cell division, which was the object of Blumenfeld’s experimental studies.