Origins of Life On Earth and in the Cosmos

Praise for the First Edition "Geoffrey Zubay's Origins of Life on the Earth and in the Cosmos is the most readable and even-handed general treatment of the problem of the origins of life since Miller and Orgel's 1974 monograph." --Gerald F. Joyce, Scripps Research Institute Origins of Life on the Earth and in the Cosmos suggests answers to the age-old questions of how life on the earth and how it might arise elsewhere. This thorough revision of a successful First Edition describes the key events in the evolution of living systems, starting with the creation of an environment suitable for the origins of life. Whereas we may never be able to reconstruct the precise pathway that led to the origin of life on earth, we can make some plausible reconstructions of how it took place. Such exercises have greatly expanded out understanding of the principles of chemical evolution and how they compare and contrast with the principles of biological evolution. Key Features Provides an excellent review of basic biochemistry an evolution Written in a clear, concise style for scientists, students, and readers interested in a scientific inquiry into the origins of life Written by an authority in the field, and brought fully up-to-date in light of new research Pulls together valuable information not found in a single source Organized and presented in a manner conductive for use in a college course Heavily illustrated to make difficult concepts concrete Geoffrey Zubay is professor of biology at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1963. Dr. Zubay received and M.S. in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1952 and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Harvard University in 1957. Dr. Zubay is currently an editorial board member of three scholarly journals, Origins of Life, Chemtracts: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Methods: A Companion to Methods in Enzymology. In 1984, he was awarded the Selman A. Waksman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Microbiology. He has published numerous articles in the field as well as two textbooks: Principles of Biochemistry (1995), with William W. Parson and Dennis E. Vance, and the First Edition of Origins (1996).