Darwin também teve a maior ideia que toda a humanidade já teve sobre a origem da vida

Charles Darwin and the Origin of Life

Juli Peretó 1, Jeffrey L. Bada 2 and Antonio Lazcano 3

(1)Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva and Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat de València, Apartat Postal 22085, 46071 València, Spain

(2)Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0212, USA

(3)Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407, Cd. Universitaria, 04510 Mexico D.F., Mexico

Received: 25 June 2009 Accepted: 9 July 2009 Published online: 25 July 2009

Abstract When Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species 150 years ago he consciously avoided discussing the origin of life. However, analysis of some other texts written by Darwin, and of the correspondence he exchanged with friends and colleagues demonstrates that he took for granted the possibility of a natural emergence of the first life forms. As shown by notes from the pages he excised from his private notebooks, as early as 1837 Darwin was convinced that “the intimate relation of Life with laws of chemical combination, & the universality of latter render spontaneous generation not improbable”. Like many of his contemporaries, Darwin rejected the idea that putrefaction of preexisting organic compounds could lead to the appearance of organisms. Although he favored the possibility that life could appear by natural processes from simple inorganic compounds, his reluctance to discuss the issue resulted from his recognition that at the time it was possible to undertake the experimental study of the emergence of life.

Keywords Darwin - Warm little pond - Origin of life - Spontaneous generation

Invited Paper

Antonio Lazcano
Email: alar@correo.unam.mx

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Via EurekAlert.

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Fui, nem sei por que, rindo igual ao gato Cheshire sorridente em Alice no País das Maravilhas, de Lewis Carroll.