science

History of research into the origin of life

History of research into the origin of life is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand History of research into the origin of life rather than just read about it. In short: The history of research into the origin of life encompasses theories about how life began, from ancient times with the philosophy of Aristotle through to the Miller-Urey experiment in 1952. Panspermia Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe, distributed by meteoroids, asteroids, comets and planetoids.

Key takeaways

History of research into the origin of life belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect History of research into the origin of life to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of History of research into the origin of life from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The history of research into the origin of life encompasses theories about how life began, from ancient times with the philosophy of Aristotle through to the Miller-Urey experiment in 1952.

Panspermia

Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe, distributed by meteoroids, asteroids, comets and planetoids. It does not attempt to explain how life originated, but shifts the origin to another heavenly body. The advantage is that life is not required to have formed on each planet it occurs on, but rather in a single location, and then spread across the galaxy to other star systems via cometary or meteorite impact. Evidence for this is scant, but it finds some support in studies of Martian meteorites found in Antarctica and of extremophile microbes' survival in outer space tests. Terrestrial bacteria, particularly Deinococcus radiodurans, highly resistant to environmental hazards, could survive for at least three years in outer space, based on studies on the International Space Station. An extreme speculation is that the biochemistry of life could have begun as early as 17 My (million years) after the Big Bang, during a supposedly habitable epoch, and that life may exist throughout the universe. Carl Zimmer has speculated that the chemical conditions, including boron, molybdenum and oxygen needed to create RNA, may have been better on early Mars than on early Earth. If so, life-suitable molecules originating on Mars would have later migrated to Earth via meteor ejections.

Spontaneous generation

General acceptance until 19th century

Traditional religion attributed the origin of life to deities who created the natural world. Spontaneous generation, the first naturalistic theory of abiogenesis, goes back to Aristotle and ancient Greek philosophy, and continued to have support in Western scholarship until the 19th century. The theory held that "lower" animals are generated by decaying organic substances. Aristotle stated that, for example, aphids arise from dew on plants, flies from putrid matter, mice from dirty hay, and crocodiles from rotting sunken logs. The basic idea was that life was continuously created as a result of chance events. In the 17th century, people began to question spontaneous generation, in works like Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica. His contemporary, Alexander Ross, erroneously rebutted him. In 1665, Robert Hooke published the first drawings of a microorganism. In 1676, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek drew and described microorganisms, probably protozoa and bacteria. Many felt their existence supported spontaneous generation, since they seemed too simplistic for sexual reproduction, and asexual reproduction: cell division had not yet been observed. Van Leeuwenhoek disagreed with spontaneous generation, and by the 1680s convinced himself, using experiments ranging from sealed and open meat incubation and the close study of insect reproduction, that the theory was incorrect. In 1668 Francesco Redi showed that no maggots appeared in meat when flies were prevented from laying eggs. In 1768, Lazzaro Spallanzani demonstrated that microbes were present in the air, and could be killed by boiling. In 1861, Louis Pasteur's experiments demonstrated that organisms such as bacteria and fungi do not spontaneously appear in sterile, nutrient-rich media, but could only appear by invasion from without.

Considered disproven in 19th century

By the middle of the 19th century, biogenesis was supported by so much evidence that spontaneous generation had been effectively disproven. A key demonstration in 1859 was Louis Pasteur’s swan-neck flask experiment, in which boiled beef broth remained free of microbial growth because the flask’s long, curved neck prevented airborne contaminants from reaching the broth; when the neck was broken, microbes quickly appeared, supporting the conclusion that microorganisms arise only from other microorganisms. Pasteur remarked about this finding, "Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow struck by this simple experiment." This gave a mechanism by which life diversified from a few simple organisms to a variety of complex forms. Today, scientists agree that all current life descends from earlier life, which has become progressively more complex and diverse through Charles Darwin's mechanism of evolution by natural selection. Darwin wrote to J.D. Hooker on 29 March 1863 stating that "It is mere rubbish, thinking at present of the origin of life; one might as well think of the origin of matter". In On the Origin of Species, he had referred to life having been "created", by which he "really meant 'appeared' by some wholly unknown process", but had soon regretted using the Old Testament term "creation".

Oparin: Primordial soup hypothesis

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Illustrations

History of research into the origin of life: Stanley Miller — Stanley Miller

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with History of research into the origin of life

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what History of research into the origin of life claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to History of research into the origin of life before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about History of research into the origin of life ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of History of research into the origin of life

In research: History of research into the origin of life appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses History of research into the origin of life in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: History of research into the origin of life is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Origin of life, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for History of research into the origin of life outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is History of research into the origin of life in simple terms?

The history of research into the origin of life encompasses theories about how life began, from ancient times with the philosophy of Aristotle through to the Miller-Urey experiment in 1952. Panspermia Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe, distributed by meteoroids…

Why does History of research into the origin of life matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study History of research into the origin of life?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on History of research into the origin of life.