How did life begin on the early Earth? We know that life today is driven by the universal laws of chemistry and physics. By applying these laws over the past ?fty years, en- mous progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms that are the foundations of the living state. For instance, just a decade ago, the ?rst human genome was published, all three billion base pairs. Using X-ray diffraction data from crystals, we can see how an enzyme molecule or a photosynthetic reaction center steps through its catalytic function. We can even visualize a ribosome, central to all life,...

How did life begin on the early Earth? We know that life today is driven by the universal laws of chemistry and physics. By applying these laws over the past ?fty years, en- mous progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms that are the foundations of the living state. For instance, just a decade ago, the ?rst human genome was published, all three billion base pairs. Using X-ray diffraction data from crystals, we can see how an enzyme molecule or a photosynthetic reaction center steps through its catalytic function. We can even visualize a ribosome, central to all life,...

Der Entschluss, ein Buch uber den Ursprung (bzw. die Ursprunge) des - bens zu verfassen, setzt voraus, dass man von diesem wissenschaftlichen grossen Problem noch immer fasziniert ist, wenn auch die erste intensive Beschaftigung mit dieser Thematik mehr als drei Jahrzehnte zuruckliegt. Experimentelle Arbeiten uber Protein-Modellsubstanzen unter den si- lierten Bedingungen der Urerde fuhrten zur Entstehung eines der ersten deutschsprachigen Bucher uber Chemische und Molekulare Evolution, das ich mit Klaus Dose (Mainz), von dem auch die Initiative ausging, v- fasste. Die enorme Erweiterung und...