From physics to biology: A journey through science accompanying the hydrogen bond and the water molecule

The ubiquity of the hydrogen bond in many various scientific domains comes for a great part from its fundamental geometrical, thermodynamical and dynamical properties, but also owes much to the existence of such an exceptional molecule as the water molecule H2O. Illustrative examples of up to date problems that are picked in various different scientific fields that extend from physics to biology and strongly involve H-bonds and/or the water molecule are examined. They hopefully show that if science is to propose solutions to newly arising problems humanity has to face, it absolutely needs knowing more about the subtle properties of hydrogen bonds and the often ignored crucial roles of water molecules. The interest of teaching more than is up to now done hydrogen bonds in university courses of physics, chemistry or molecular biology is stressed as a conclusion.