In human chemistry, Robert W. Sterner is an American biological ecologist and limnologist notable for the publication of his 2002 book Ecological Stoichiometry: the Biology of Elements from Molecules to the Biosphere, co-written with American limnologist James Elser, in which they calculate a 22-element empirical molecular formula for a human molecule:


This amounts to a 22-element human empirical molecular formula. [1] A similar 26-element empirical molecular formula calculation was made by American chemical engineer Libb Thims also in 2002. [2]

They conclude “this formula combines all compounds in a human being into a single abstract ‘molecule’”. They continues, “our main purpose in introducing this formula for the ‘human molecule’ is to stimulate you to begin to think about how every human being represents the coming together of atoms in proportions that are, if not constant, at least bounded and obeying some rules”.

They state that ecological stoichiometry is about “how chemical elements come together to form evolved, living species in ecosystems.” The abstraction followed in this science, according to Sterner and Elser, is that “organisms can be thought of as complex evolved chemical substances that interact with each other and the abiotic world in a way that resembles a complex, composite, chemical reaction” and that “ecological interactions invariably involve chemical rearrangements”. In summary, they state that “like any other normal chemical rearrangement at the surface of the Earth, when organisms interact, mass must be conserved and elements are neither created nor destroyed.” Moreover, “there is stoichiometry in ecology, just as there is in organic synthesis in a test tube”.

References
1. Sterner, Robert W. and Elser, James J. (2002). Ecological Stoichiometry: the Biology of Elements from Molecules to the Biosphere, (chapter one), (pg. 3-7, 47, 135). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
2. (a) Thims, Libb. (2008). The Human Molecule, (preview). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
(b) Molecular Evolution Table - Institute of Human Thermodynamics
(c) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One), (preview), (ch. 2: "The Human Molecule", pgs. 15-35). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.

External links

• Robert W. Sterner - University of Minnesota, faculty page
• Robert Sterner - Curriculum vitae
• The Sterner Lab