"Wissenschaft für jedermann": Chemical evolution

How could life develop from inanimate matter? Before the first cells formed, the chemical building blocks of life first had to develop on the early Earth - a development that researchers refer to as chemical evolution.

Prof. Dr. Oliver Trapp's lecture sheds light on this fascinating transition from simple chemistry to complex, life-like systems. One possible scenario begins with carbon dioxide from the Earth's early atmosphere, which could be converted into simple organic molecules under the conditions prevailing at the time - supported by catalytic processes on volcanic rock and meteoritic material. From these first building blocks, increasingly complex and functional organic molecules were able to develop step by step.

The research is part of the ORIGINS Cluster of Excellence and the physics departments of LMU and TUM.

Information and registration