Robert Shapiro (chemist)
American scientist and academic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Shapiro (28 November 1935 – 15 June 2011[1]) was professor emeritus of chemistry at New York University. He is best known for his work on the origin of life, having written two books on the topic: Origins, a Skeptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth (1986) and Planetary Dreams (1999). He opposed the RNA world hypothesis, and held that the spontaneous emergence of a molecule as complicated as RNA is highly unlikely. Instead, he proposed that life arose from some self-sustaining and compartmentalized reaction of simple molecules: "metabolism first" instead of "RNA first". This reaction would have to be able to reproduce and evolve, eventually leading to RNA. He claimed that in this view life is a normal consequence of the laws of nature and potentially quite common in the universe.[2]
Robert Shapiro | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 28, 1935 |
| Died | June 15, 2011 (aged 75)[1] |
| Alma mater | City College of New York (BS), Harvard University (PhD) |
| Known for | Work on origin of life |
| Awards | Trotter Prize (2004) with Paul Davies[1] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge, New York University |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert B. Woodward |
Works
- Life Beyond Earth: The Intelligent Earthling's Guide to Extraterrestrial Life (with Gerald Feinberg) Morrow, 1980. ISBN 0-688-08642-X.
- Origins: A Skeptic's Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth Summit Books (January 1986) ISBN 0-671-45939-2.
- Planetary Dreams: The Quest to Discover Life Beyond Earth Wiley; 1 edition (1999) ISBN 0471407356.
