The scope, accessibility, impact, and relevance of biophysics to many different
areas of inquiry have grown tremendously in recent years, driven by major conceptual
advances, innovations in instrumentation, and powerful new analytical, computational,
genomic, and imaging methods. These advances enable us to visualize the
structures and dynamics of proteins and nucleic acids at atomic resolution, observe
single molecules in real time, monitor processes within living cells at high resolution,
identify and determine the chemical structures of individual molecules in complex
biological samples, and defi ne the complex network of interactions that regulate
cellular function. Biophysical insights into plant, animal, and human inheritance,
development, physiology, health, and disease have driven and will continue to drive
many of the major advances in our quality of life. As a result, many people who are
not professional biophysicists increasingly have a need to learn about biophysics.