Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrodinger posed a profound question: 'What is
life, and how did it emerge from non-life?' This problem has puzzled
biologists and physical scientists ever since.
Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as
self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see
in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology? What could
have led the first replicating molecules up such a path? Now,
developments in the emerging field of 'systems chemistry' are unlocking
the problem. Addy Pross shows how the different kind of stability that
operates among replicating molecules results in a tendency for chemical
systems to become more complex and acquire the properties of life.
Strikingly, he demonstrates that Darwinian evolution is the biological
expression of a deeper, well-defined chemical concept: the whole story
from replicating molecules to complex life is one continuous process
governed by an underlying physical principle. The gulf between biology
and the physical sciences is finally becoming bridged.
This new edition includes an Epilogue describing developments in the
concepts of fundamental forms of stability discussed in the book, and
their profound implications.
Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science
writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we
think.
