This review gathers astronomers, geologists, biologists, and chemists around a common question: how did life emerge on Earth? The ultimate goal is to probe an even more demanding question: is life universal? This not-so linear account highlights problems, gaps, and controversies. Discussion covers the formation of the solar system; the building of a habitable planet; prebiotic chemistry, biochemistry, and the emergence of life; the early Earth environment, and much more.
About the Author: Jacques Reisse: Professor of organic chemistry and physical chemistry- Université Libre de Bruxelles
Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium
Research activity: stereochemistry, study of intermolecular interactions in liquid phase, nuclear magnetic resonance, cosmochemistry, sonochemistry
Antonio Lazcano, Professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City.
President of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life
Research activity: origin and early evolution of life
He is the author of The Origin of Life, which has become a bestseller with over 600 thousand copies sold.
He is considered the foremost promoter of evolutionary biology and the study of the origins of life in Latin America. He has been member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Molecular Evolution, Nanobiology, Revista Latinoamericana de Microbiologia, and Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere.
