Thus was one more step in cosmic evolution made plausible by midcentury, even though it was a premature and optimistic idea, since only in 1995 were the first planets found around Sun-like stars, and those were gas giants like Jupiter. But …The contingency or necessity of life would be one of the great scientific and philosophical questions of cosmic evolution, but in any case the Oparin-Haldane chemical theory of origin of life provided a basis for experimentation, beginning …
John Burdon Sanderson Haldane
scientist · 2 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Haldane was a biochemist and evolutionary theorist who, alongside Oparin, developed the foundational chemical theory of life's origins—the idea that organic molecules could spontaneously form under early Earth conditions. This theory appears in the course readings as a crucial bridge between cosmic evolution and the possibility of life, grounding mid-century optimism about life's emergence across the universe in experimentally testable biochemistry. His work enables the readings to move from physics into biology, establishing how the contingency or necessity of life itself becomes a scientific rather than purely philosophical question.
Mentioned in 1 reading
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