Also see the archival list of the Essays on Science and Society.
PERCEPTIONS IN SCIENCE:
Prebiotic Soup--Revisiting the Miller Experiment
Jeffrey L. Bada and Antonio Lazcano
Modern research in prebiotic chemistry effectively began with a publication of a paper in Science 50 years ago by Stanley L. Miller on the spark discharge synthesis of amino acids and other compounds using a mixture of reduced gases that were thought to represent the components of the atmosphere on the primitive Earth. On the anniversary of this milestone publication, Bada and Lazcano provide an account of the events surrounding the publication of the paper and discuss the historical studies that led up to the Miller experiment.
J. L. Bada is at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. E-mail: jbada{at}ucsd.edu A. Lazcano is with the Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407, Cd. Universitaria, 04510 Mexico D.F., Mexico. E-mail: alar{at}correo.unam.mx