Origin of Life

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Interstellar Molecules and the Origin of Life

   • R. D. Brown

   Pages 1-9

3. Molecules in Interstellar Clouds

   • W. M. Irvine, Å. Hjalmarson, O. E. H. Rydbeck

   Pages 11-17

4. On the Origin of Organic Molecules in Interstellar Space and Some of its Consequences

   • Kjell L. V. Johansson

   Pages 19-25

5. Comets and the Origin of Life

   • W. M. Irvine, S. B. Leschine, F. P. Schloerb

   Pages 27-32

6. Nature and Origin of Organic Molecules in Comets

   • A. H. Delsemme

   Pages 33-42

7. Liquid Water on a Planet over Cosmic Periods

   • Michael D. Papagiannis

   Pages 43-50

8. Organic Analysis of the Antarctic Carbonaceous Chondrites

   • R. K. Kotra, Akira Shimoyama, Cyril Ponnamperuma, P. E. Hare, K. Yanai

   Pages 51-57

9. Nitrogen Compounds in Carbonaceous Meteorites: A Reassessment

   • Peter G Stoks, Alan W Schwartz

   Pages 59-64

10. Abiotic Organic Synthesis in Space

    • M. R. Bloch, H. L. Wirth

    Pages 65-71

11. Formation of Prebiotic Precursors from Model Reducing Atmospheres: Role of Hydrogen Escape

    • D. Mourey, F. Raulin, G. Toupance

    Pages 73-82

12. Organic Chemical Evolution of Reducing Model of the Atmosphere of the Primitive Earth. Role of UV Light and Electric Discharges

    • A. Bossard, F. Raulin, D. Mourey, G. Toupance

    Pages 83-92

13. Far UV Photolysis of Methane-Water Gaseous Mixtures and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Aldehydes

    • Alain Bossard, Gérard Toupance

    Pages 93-100

14. Photolysis of CH4-NH3 Mixtures and PH3 as Models for the Photochemical Transformations on the Primitive Earth and Jupiter

    • James P. Ferris, John Y. Morimoto, Robert Benson

    Pages 101-105

15. Possible Role of Phosphine in Chemical Evolution

    • F. Raulin, C. Ponnamperuma

    Pages 107-114

16. Clays as Prebiotic Photocatalysts

    • Lelia M. Coyne, James Lawless, Noam Lahav, Stephen Sutton, Michael Sweeney

    Pages 115-124

17. Clay-Mediated Reactions of HCN Oligomers. The Effect of the Oxidation State of the Clay

    • J. P. Ferris, K. W. Alwis, E. H. Edelson, N. Mount, W. J. Hagan Jr.

    Pages 125-128

18. Chemical Evolution and Plate Tectonics

    • Dale E. Ingmanson, Michael J. Dowler

    Pages 129-134

19. The Strecker Synthesis in the Primitive Ocean

    • Stanley L. Miller, James E. Van Trump

    Pages 135-141

20. Photoassisted Carbon Dioxide Reduction and Formation of Two- and Three-Carbon Compounds

    • M. Halmann, B. Aurian-Blajeni, S. Bloch

    Pages 143-150

This volume is a record of the 6th International Conference on the Origins of Life and the 3rd Meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Origins of Life. The conference was held under the auspices of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities at Jerusalem from June 22nd to June 27th 1980. A few weeks prior to the conference, Academician Aleksander Ivanovich Oparin passed away. Oparin, the father and founder of the study of the origins of life, proposed over 50 years ago that modern biological molecules had abidogical origins in the past, thus the beginning of life on Earth was preceded by a long period of abiogenic molecular evolution. Oparin was planning to report on his latest work in the opening session of the meeting - "Natural Selection: A Leading Factor in Transition from the Non-Living Matter to Life". This lecture will never be delivered. In Hebrew we say of those who have died "may their memory be bound with the bonds of eternal life". For Aleksander Ivanovich Oparin those words have particular significance, for surely his pioneering work will endure as long as the spirit of scientific enquiry prevails. This meeting was dedicated to the memory of Aleksander Ivanovich Oparin.

• Cambrian
• Cloud
• Halophile
• Phanerozoic
• adsorption
• atmosphere
• bacteria
• clays
• energy
• formation
• metabolism
• ocean
• plate tectonics
• tectonics
• water

• Department of Organic Chemistry, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

  Yecheskel Wolman

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