The decadal report from the US National Academy of Science on Biological Physics. Biological Physics provides a very comprehensive overview of the field.

Some classic readings

An early essay on the interface between physics and life

  • N. Bohr. Light and life. Nature, 131(3309):457–459, 1933

Two assays by Delbruck, one of the most influential biophysicsts of the last century.

  • M. Delbruck. A physicist looks at biology. Trans Conn Acad Arts Sci, 38:173, 1948
  • M. Delbrück. A physicist’s renewed look at biology: twenty years later. Science, 168(3937):1312–1315,1970.

Remond Goldstein from Cambridge University has accrued a list of classic papers in biological physics and nonlinear dynamics.