A Brief History of Creation (48 page)

extremophiles, 236, 237

Faber, Giovanni, 31

Faraday, Michael, 87–88, 138

Fawkes, Guy, 149

Ferchault de Réaumur, René-Antoine, 56

Ferdinando II of Tuscany, 15–18, 23

fermentation, 124–26, 128

Fermi, Enrico, 172, 173, 251

fertilizer, 148

Feynman, Richard, 247n

fission, binary, 224

FitzRoy, Robert, 92–93, 94, 131

Narrative of the Surveying Voyages,
99–100

Flaubert, Gustave, 122

fleas,
32
, 40

flies:

emergence of, 21–23,
22

microscopic studies of, 40

FLO (first living organism), 241, 245, 249, 250

Florence, Palazzo Pitti in, 17

flu pandemic, 218

Fontenelle, Bernard de, 54

fossils, 146

and Darwin, 94, 95, 96, 99, 100, 101, 160–61, 163

dating, 163

and evolution, 97, 228

as historic record, 66, 97, 121, 122, 160–63, 214, 221–22, 228, 229

and Linnaean classification, 228

Martian, 162–64, 214–15,
215
, 217, 221–22

microscopic, 161–63, 214–15,
215
, 217, 221–22, 256, 258

subjective interpretation of, 121, 122, 221, 256

Fox, George, 230, 231

Fox, Sidney, 191–94, 197–99, 255–56

and abiogenesis, 207

as adviser to Vatican on evolution, 208, 254

The Emergence of Life,
207

and first living organism, 241

legacy of, 208

and moon rocks, 191

and NASA exobiology program, 193

and Orgueil meteorite, 218

and origin of life, 192–93, 194, 197, 208

recipe for proteinoid microspheres, 260

and spontaneous appearance of early life-forms, 192, 194, 233–34

and Wakulla Springs conference, 170, 193

France:

Bourbon restoration in, 121

silk industry in, 137

Francis, Pope, 254

Francis, Saint, 15

Franciscans, 15–16

Franklin, Benjamin, 67, 83–84, 85n, 266n

Franklin, Rosalind, 203, 204

Frederick, king of Prussia, 63–64

freeloaders, 249

Freeman, Victor, 234–35

French Academy of Sciences, 118, 122–23, 126, 127, 128, 257

French Revolution, 83, 120

frogs:

in electricity experiments, 79–81

of the Nile, 2–3,
2

Früh-Green, Gretchen, xii, xiii

Fyne Court, 73–74, 83, 86, 90

Gaia hypothesis, 185

Galápagos Islands, 92–98

birds, 96, 97, 100–101, 109

Chatham Island, 93

Darwin's specimens from, 95, 96, 100

Darwin's studies on, 9–10, 91, 93–98, 100

hydrothermal vents off coast of, 237

James Island, 93, 94–95, 96–97

phosphorescent jellyfish, 95–96

tortoises of, 95, 96, 97

volcanic activity on, 93, 94–95

Galen, 16, 19, 82

Galileo Galilei, 14, 17, 18

Mechanics,
30

microscope of, 31

Galvani, Luigi, 75, 79–81

galvanize, coining of the term, 80

Gamow, George, 206

gas, coining of term, 20

gas sylvestre, 20

generation, 60

genes:

horizontal sharing of, 234–36

nucleotides in, 198, 206

translation to proteins, 240

gene sequencing, 230, 254

gene splicing, 241

genetic code, 205–6, 209, 226–27, 228–29, 234–35, 239, 241

genetic inheritance, 52n, 167, 194–95, 201, 202, 204–5

genetics, 153, 166–70, 197, 226, 234, 238, 241

genome, human, mapping of, 253

genomes, synthesizing, 246

geochemistry, 165

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Étienne, 120, 121, 122, 127, 195–96, 227

Geological Society of England, 98, 99

geology:

and age of Earth, 146–47, 158, 159–60

and
Apollo
mission, 187–91,
190

basalts studied in, 237

and fossil record, 97, 121, 122, 160, 163, 214

Lyell on, 93–94, 97, 110, 145

and radiometric dating, 159–60

transformational force of, 97, 145

Geoponica,
18–19

George II, king of England, 61

George III, king of England, 77

George IV, king of England, 80

germ theory of creation, 52–53, 59, 71, 119, 268n

germ theory of disease, 129, 137, 138–39, 141, 142–44

Gilbert, Walter, 240, 241

“The RNA World,” 243

Gilbert, William, 265–66n

God:

living world created by, 120, 126, 145, 253

proof of existence of, 105

in science vs. religion, 142

see also
religion

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 122–23

Goldwin, William, 78

Gould, John, 100

Gould, Stephen Jay, 219

Graaf, Regnier de, 34, 36

Graham, Loren, 169n

Grand Canyon, 162–63,
162
, 213

Grant, Robert, 103–5, 107, 134, 200

Gray, Asa, 127

Great October Socialist Revolution, 156–57, 183

Greider, Carol, 244–45

Grimaldi, Francesco, 186

Grotius, Hugo, 43

Haber, Fritz, 148

Haeckel, Ernst, 140

Haig, Sir Douglas, 151–52

Haldane, Charlotte Burghes, 152

Haldane, J. B. S., 149–54,
150
, 269n

and Communist Party, 152–53, 169–70

and genetics, 166–67, 168, 169–70, 204

and “half-living” stage, 165, 166, 193, 195, 198

Oparin-Haldane hypothesis, 149, 157, 163–64, 165–66, 170–71, 178, 237

“The Origin of Life,” 153–54, 170

half-life, 159

Hall, Allan, 238

Hall, James, 161, 162, 163

Halley's Comet, 95

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 28

Helmont, Johannes van, 19–21, 29, 30, 254, 258

and gas, 20

and magnetism, 81

recipe for mice, 20–21, 259

and Renaissance, 19–20

and spontaneous generatio, 21, 119

Henslow, John, 93–94, 95, 97, 98, 105

Herelle, Félix d', 166

Herodotus, 5, 14, 146

Herrera, Alfonso, 148

Hippocrates, 19, 82

Hiroshima, atomic bomb dropped on, 76n

HMS
Beagle,
92–98, 100, 105, 110, 131

Holbach, Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d', 25, 67–69, 78

Christianity Unveiled,
68

The System of Nature,
68–69

Holland:

colonies of, 29

Enlightenment in, 28–30

Golden Age of, 29

religious freedom in, 29, 46

scientific progress in, 29–30

women's rights in, 29

Holliger, Philip, 249n

Holwell Cavern, 85, 86

Homer,
Iliad,
4, 21, 253

homochirality, 124

Hooke, Robert, 37

essay on microscopy, 42

Micrographia,
31–33,
32
, 34, 36, 196

and Royal Society, 35, 36

Hooker, Joseph, 1, 107, 109, 110, 113, 130

Hoover, Richard, 273–74n

Hopkins, Sir Frederick, 148

horizontal gene transfer, 234–36

Hotel of the Philosophers (Boulangerie), 67, 68

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), 180

Hoyle, Fred, 218–19, 220, 221

Hugo, Victor, 127

Huguenots, 46

human genome, mapping of, 253

Humboldt, Alexander von, 109, 257

Hume, David, 67

Hutton, James, 147

Huxley, Aldous,
Brave New World,
153

Huxley, Thomas, 130–31, 132–33, 139–41, 150, 157

and abiogenesis, 141, 145, 160

and
Bathybius haekelii,
140,
140

“eat your leek” (origin of term), 133

and Tyndall-Bastian disagreement, 139–40

and X Club, 130, 132, 138, 139

Huygens, Constantijn, 36

hydras, 54–56,
55

hydrogen bomb, 271n

hydrothermal vents, xiii, 237–38

Hypatia, 11–12

hyperthermophiles, 236–37

hypothesis, 4, 21

Iberian Peninsula, fossils in, 146

imponderable fluid, 82–83

industrial revolution, 81, 82, 160

Institute for Space Biosciences, Florida State, 193

Institute of Molecular Evolution, 193

intelligent design, 66

introns, 240, 241

in vitro fertilization, 69, 153

iron-sulfur world, 238

isotopes, 159

Ivanovsky, Dmitri, 166n

Jacobite rebellions, 50, 83

James II, king of England, 49

Janssen, Zacharias, 31

Jasmin, Jules, 118

Jefferson, Thomas, 46, 60n

John, Barbara, xii, xiii

John of Nikiû, 11

John Paul II, Pope, 208, 254

Jonson, Ben, 30

Joyce, James, 246n

Jupiter, astronomical observations of, 164

Kanada (philosopher), 7n

Kelvin, William Thompson, Lord, 158, 159, 216

Kennedy, John F., 212

Kepler, Johannes, 266n

kingdoms of the living world, 229

Kingsley, Charles, 110

Kircher, Athanasius, 16–17

Koltsov, Nikolai, 204

Krakatoa, 76n

La Boulangerie, 67, 78

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste:

evolution theory of, 104, 106, 114, 120

final years of, 122, 144

and fossil record, 97

and Jardin des Plantes, 120, 122

and monads, 104

and spontaneous generation, 104, 120

theory of acquired characteristics, 104, 106, 121, 167–68

Zoological Philosophy,
92

Lamarckian transmutation, 88, 97, 110, 116, 134, 168

Lankester, Ray, 143

laser mass spectrometer, 214

Lavoisier, Antoine, 125

Lawrence, Ernest, 175

Lederberg, Joshua, 182–84, 190, 202

Leduc, Stéphane, 148

Leeuwenhoek, Antonie van, 25–28, 30, 32, 36–44, 58

and animalcules, 38–41

and dental plaque, 39–40

as first to see cells, 196

illness and death of, 42–43

legacy of, 43–44, 243

letters to Oldenburg, 36–38, 39

microscopes of, 26, 31, 33–34,
34
, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 50

and Peter the Great, 41–42

and polyps, 55

and Royal Society, 37–41, 42, 43

and yeast cells, 125

Leeuwenhoek, Maria van, 43

Leeuwenhoek, Philips van, 28

Leeuwenhoek's disease, 42

Leeuwenhoek Medal, 232

Lemaître, Georges, 148

Leonardo da Vinci, 121

Leo X, Pope, 31

Lesbos, 9–10

Leyden jars, 85

life, nature of, 194

biomarkers, 214

kingdoms, 229

metabolism,
see
metabolism

minimum size necessary for, 221

organizational, 54n

replication, 195

water as essential for, 213

life, origin of:

albiogenesis, xvii, 141, 145, 148, 153, 160, 207

archebiosis, 134–35, 141

biblical creation, 89–90

bottom-up approach to study of, 233–34

building blocks of (monads), 104

Chambers'
Vestiges,
88–91

chicken-or-egg paradox, 195, 240

and common ancestor, 97, 116, 228, 234

in community of organisms, 234

continuing enigma of, 247–51, 254, 256, 258

creation stories, 1–3, 69, 77, 102, 107

and creator, 70, 120, 126, 145, 253

and Darwin, 98, 134–35, 147, 157, 161, 224

decay into chaos, 194

egg, 23, 24, 40

and electricity, 81, 83

emergence from nonlife, xvii, 3, 10, 14, 24, 58, 69, 113, 135, 144–45, 148, 153, 164, 198

and evolution, 97–98, 102, 110–14, 194, 208, 228

first artificial organism, 247

first living being, 107, 113–14, 116, 192, 195, 228, 234, 237, 241, 245, 249, 250

germ theory of creation, 52–53, 59, 71, 119

Haldane on, 153–54, 170

intelligent design, 66

in a laboratory, 76, 79, 246, 253–54

in literature, 77–79

LUCA (last universal common ancestor), 224–25,
225
, 234, 237, 240

on Mars, 214–15,
215

by matter alone, 53–54

metabolism-first model, 207, 238

microbial life, 44, 119

Miller and Urey on, 173, 174, 175–80, 182, 185, 194, 195, 197, 198, 199, 245

as miracle, 240

as mystery of mysteries (Darwin), 98, 134

naturalistic explanation sought for, 79, 123

Oparin-Haldane hypothesis, 149, 157, 163–64, 165–66, 170–71, 178

preformation, 52–53, 54, 56, 59, 71–72, 82, 119

in primordial slime, 140

protein-first model, 207

and ribozymes, 242, 245

and RNA, 242–43, 248–50

in science fiction, 77

in space, 184–85, 187, 193, 219–21

spontaneous generation,
see
spontaneous generation

“vital spark,” 107, 110–14

Wakulla Springs conference on, 170, 193

Linnaeus, Carl,
Systema naturae
(
The Natural System
), 227–28

Linnean Society of London, 109

Lippershey, Hans, 31

Locke, John, 28

London fog, 136–37

Lost City, xiii, xv,
xv
, xvi, 238

Louis XIV, king of France, 51

Louis XV, king of France, 47

Lovelace, Ada, 89

LUCA (last universal common ancestor), 224–25,
225
, 234, 237, 240

Lucretius, 10, 216

Luisi, Pier Luigi, 249

Lumière, Auguste and Louis, 34, 159

Lyceum of Athens, 8–9

Lyell, Charles:

and Darwin, 98–99, 107–9

Principles of Geology,
93–94, 97, 110, 145

lysosomes, 244

Lysenko, Trofim, 167–69

machine, age of, 82

machine algorithm, first, 89

Macmillan, Alexander, 132n