Book excerpt: Our knowledge of the biochemistry and biophysics of dinitrogen fixa tion has developed rapidly in the 15 years since the first N2-fixing enzyme system was successfully extracted from a bacterium. This peri od has produced a literature that now describes the N2 fixation reac tion and the nitrogenase enzyme itself in sophisticated terms, though a detailed reaction mechanism at the chemical level has not yet emerged. It is the purpose of the present monograph to present an in-depth re view, analysis, and integration of this research as is possible with a non-contributed publication and to relate this work to considera tions of N2 fixation that reach beyond the confines of the biochem ist's laboratory. The first section is directed as much toward the general science read er as toward the specialist. It covers the agricultural origins of man's interest in N2 fixation and also pertinent areas of taxonomy, physiology, and evolution. Ecological aspects of the subject include a comprehensive evaluation of the nitrogen cycle leading to a sub stantially greater estimate of the rate of global N2 fixation than previous ones. The treatment is of a survey fashion, in part to pro vide a general over-view of N2 fixation and in part to provide context for the biochemistry and biophysics that follow in the second section.