21 



An accidental event of considerable importance at about this 

 time was the fall of the Murchison meteorite in Australia. The tech- 

 niques developed for the analysis of the lunar samples were soon 

 applied to this fresh carbonaceous chondrite. Although meteorites 

 had been analyzed before this fall, the finding of equal amounts of 

 D- and L-amino acids and nonprotein amino acids in a meteorite 

 provided unambiguous evidence of nonbiological and indigenous 

 organic compounds for the first time. Prebiotic organic matter had 

 been discovered in the solar system. 



In 1973, the Fourth International Conference of the Origin of 

 Life was held at Barcelona, Spain. The subject of chemical evolution 

 had come of age. A quarterly journal, Origins of Life, devoted to 

 the interdisciplinary approach to the subject, has been published 

 since 1974. The Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biosy stems 

 often publish papers on the biochemical aspect of the question. 

 Precambrian Research highlights those aspects related to the Archaen 

 sediments. 



The pace of research has quickened. The Viking Mission to Mars 

 gave man the first opportunity to sample the soil of another planet 

 and search for clues for life. The results of the Martian program were 

 carefully analyzed at the Fifth International Conference on the 

 Origin of Life which was held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1977, and, at the 

 sixth meeting in Jerusalem in 1980. 



Since that time, the growing interest in the subject has been 

 demonstrated by the number of scientists from different disciplines 

 and from different countries who have joined the Society for the 

 Study of the Origin of Life. Apart from the international meetings 

 held every 3 years, regional meetings in the United States, Europe, 

 Japan, and India keep alive the expanding interest in the subject, of 

 fundamental importance to all science. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 



Bernal, J. D.: The Origin of Life. World Publishing Co., Cleveland, 

 Ohio, 1967. 



Haldane, J. B. S.: The Rationalist Annual, 1929. 



Oparin, A. I.: The Origin of Life on Earth, Third edition. Academic 

 Press, New York, 1957. 



