A Brief History of Creation (49 page)

magic, 20, 81

magnetism, 81, 82, 83, 85

magnetite (lodestone), 81, 213–14, 221

magnetosomes, 214

magnifying glasses, 31

malaria, 136

Malebranche, Nicolas, 52

Malthus, Rev. Thomas,
An Essay on the Principle of Population,
102, 109

Manhattan Project, 172, 174, 182

Manichaeism, 12

Mare Tranquillitatis,
186

Maria Maddalena, Archduchess of Austria, 18

Maria Theresa, Empress, 71

Mariner
missions, 213

Mars:

ALH84001 from, 211–16, 218

asteroids falling from, 210, 213

atmospheric pressure on, 213

exploration of,
see
NASA

possible fossils from, 214–15,
215

proof of life on, 214, 219

Sea of Tranquility, 186

Martineau, Harriet, 89, 101–2

Marx, Karl, 68

Marxism, 155, 166, 167, 168

mastodon, 121

materialism, 53–54, 59, 66, 82, 122, 127, 128, 153

Mathilde, Princess, 117

Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis, 61, 63–65, 66

Mayr, Ernst, 231, 274n

McCarthy, Joseph, 180

McKay, David, 191, 212–15, 221

Medicis, 17, 18, 256

Mendel, Gregor, 167, 168, 202

Mesmer, Franz, 84

mesmerism, 115

metabolism:

cellular, 166, 178, 195, 197, 242

and energy, 231

and origin of life, 195, 207, 238, 240, 242

and proteins, 197, 206

and Schrödinger, 194

meteorites, 210, 211–16, 218, 220, 250, 273–74n

Methanococcus jannaschii,
genome structure of, 232

methanogens, 230–31

Meyerhoff, Howard, 179

miasmas, 136,
136
, 138, 268n

mice, creation of, 20–21, 259

Michelet, Jules,
La mer
(“The Sea”), 119

microbes, 27, 40, 137, 161

Bastian's recipes for, 259

magnetosomes in, 214

nanobes, 222

origins of, 44, 119

microbial mats, 224–25,
225

microbiology:

father of, 38, 43

and universal ancestor, 196, 229

microorganisms:

asexual reproduction of, 235

horizontal gene transfer of, 235

ingesting discarded DNA, 236

microscopes:

and camera obscura, 33–34

chromatic aberration in, 34

coining of term, 31

of Galileo, 31

of Hooke, 31–33, 37

lenses for, 31, 34

of Needham, 50–51, 57–58, 66, 69

and Royal Society, 36, 39

stacking lenses of, 31, 34

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

microspheres, 198–99, 207–8, 218, 255–56, 260

Miescher, Friedrich, 201–2

Miller, Stanley:

amino acids created by, 173

classical apparatus of, 176–77,
177

and DNA, 207

and first living organism, 241

Miller-Urey experiment, 175–80, 182, 184, 185, 194, 195, 197, 198, 199, 245

origin-of-life research of, 172–73, 174, 184, 204, 233–34, 237

minerals, electrical formation of, 86

miracles, 48–49, 60, 66, 71–72, 81, 107, 240

molecular aggregates, 165

molecular biology, 255

molecular clock, 230

molecules:

homochiral, 124

mutable, 207

in outer space, 220

molybdenum, 209

Monighetti, Ippolit, 155

moon landing, 188–90

moon rocks, 189–90, 191, 193

“moon speech” (Kennedy), 212

Morgan, Thomas Hunt, 192, 195, 197

Morris, Dick, 215

Mount Tambora, eruption of, 76n

Mount Vesuvius, 74

Muller, Hermann, 202

multicellular species, 196, 229

Mumma, Michael, 176n

Murchison, Australia, meteorite, 220, 222, 250

murex (snail), 5

mutation, 194, 202, 207, 235

Mycoplasma,
247

mysticism, 20

Nagy, Bartholomew, 217

nanobes, 222

NASA:

and ALH84001, 212–15, 218, 219, 220, 221–22

Antarctic missions of, 211

Apollo
missions of, 185, 186–90,
190
, 193, 213, 220, 244

and archaea, 231

and cosmic dust, 220

exobiology program of, 184–85, 186, 187, 191, 193, 218, 221, 230

meteorite collections of, 220

Viking
missions of, 185, 213, 220

National Academy of Sciences, 221, 231

natural selection,
see
evolution

nature, classification in, 227–28

navigation, 213–14

Neckam, Alexander, 13

Needham, John Turberville, 48–51, 128, 255

and Buffon, 56–60,
57
, 71–72

“eels” of, 50–51, 56, 66, 69

and miracles, 49, 60, 66, 71–72

and preformation, 82

and Spallazanti, 70, 258

and spontaneous generation, 56, 119, 134

and Voltaire, 48–49, 60, 64, 65, 66, 69–71, 263n

Neoplatonism, 11, 12

Nepal, Kali Gandaki Gorge, 163

Nero, 31

neuroscience, 133

Newcastle disease, 226

Newton, Sir Isaac, 61, 72, 82, 266n

Principia mathematica,
62

Voltaire on, 63, 66

New York Academy of Sciences, 218

Nile:

and creation stories, 1–2, 14, 146

frogs of, 2–3,
2

Nixon, Richard M., 189

Noah, 13

Nu (water), 3, 6

nuclear physics, 271n

nucleic acids, 199

DNA, 202–6, 226

in genetics, 207, 226

RNA, 206–7, 227,
232

nucleotides, 198, 206

Oken, Lorenz,
The History of Creation,
140

Oldenburg, Henry, 34

and Royal Society, 35–37

van Leeuwenhoek's letters to, 36–38, 39

Olsen, Gary, 232

Oparin, Alexander, 154–57

and cellular metabolism, 166, 178

on coacervates, 165

and Communism, 168–69

and Earth's age, 157, 160, 163

and Earth's atmosphere, 164–65

and evolution, 155, 156, 208

and Miller-Urey experiment, 174–80

and Moscow conference, 180–82

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

and origin of life, 149, 156–57, 165–66

and plant biology, 271n

Oppenheimer, Robert, 246n

Orestes, 11

organic compounds:

inventory of, 178

synthesis of, 165

Orgel, Leslie, 209, 218

“Evolution of the Genetic Apparatus,” 241

Orgueil meteorite, 216–18, 220, 273–74n

origin of life,
see
life, origin of

osmosis, 13

Owen, Richard, 98, 107, 112–13, 130

On the Anatomy of Vertebrates,
113

oxygen, discovery of, 84

ozone:

composition of, 138

protective layer of, 165, 223

paleontology, 121, 161–63, 229

Paley, Archdeacon William,
Natural Theology,
105

panspermia, 216, 218–19, 255

parthenogenesis, 235n

Pasteur, Louis, 123–26, 127–29, 132, 166n, 244, 258

and chirality, 124

and crystals, 123–24, 125, 228

and fermentation, 124–26, 128

and Orgueil meteorite, 217

and pasteurization, 126

Sorbonne lecture by, 118–19, 126, 128, 253, 254, 268n

and spontaneous generation, 118–19, 120, 126, 128–29,
129
, 134, 148, 217, 257, 268n, 273n

and swan-necked flask, 128, 143

on transmission of disease, 120, 129, 137–38, 139, 256

and vitalism, 83, 124, 128–29, 253, 254

pasteurization, 126

Patagonia, fossils of, 96, 100

Paul, apostle, 11, 12

Pauling, Linus, 192, 203, 229

Paul VI, Pope, 254

peroxisomes, 244

Perutz, Max, 201

Peter the Great, Tsar, 41–42

Phanerozoic eon, 160

Philosophical Society of Oxford, 35

Philosophical Transactions
(Royal Society), 36, 37, 51, 58–59, 85

photosynthesis, 20, 165, 175–76, 223, 271n

physicalism, 133

Pinch, Trevor, 91n

Pisa, Italy, 15, 16

Pius XII, Pope, 254

planets, creation of, 147

plants, seasonal growth patterns of, 13

Plato, 9, 10

Platonists, 13

pneuma,
82

polarimeter, 123

Polidori, John William,
The Vampyre,
77

poliovirus, 246, 247

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 214, 221

polymers, 198

Ponnamperuma, Cyril, 191, 193

Popper, Karl, 237

population growth, 102, 109, 148

potassium salts, 91n

Pouchet, Félix, 118, 126–28, 257, 268n

Powell, John Wesley, 163

Precambrian eon, 160, 163

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

Priestley, Joseph, 83, 102–3, 266n

The History and Present State of Electricity,
84

printing press, 75, 254

prokaryotes, 196, 229, 231, 235

proteinoid microspheres, 198–99, 207–8, 218, 255–56, 260

proteins, 196–97

and chemical reactions, 242

cyto-skeleton-based motor protein, 244

and molecular clock, 230

protein-first model, 207

roles of, 205, 240, 241, 242

sequencing, 198, 226–27, 229

structures of, 203

in viruses, 202

protocell, 195

protoplasm, 196

protozoa, 27, 38, 243–44,
243

provando e riprovando,
16, 17, 18, 21

quantum chemistry, 192

quantum mechanics, 147, 194

radioactive decay, 158, 159

radioactivity, coining of term, 159

radiometric dating, 159–60, 212, 229, 254

Ranieri, Saint, 24

rationalism, 131

rationality, 28

recipes:

for creating a cell, 260

for creating bees, 18–19

for creating mice, 20–21, 259

for microbes, 259

for proteinoid microspheres, 260

Redi, Francesco, 15–18, 30, 43, 254–55, 258

Bacco in Toscana,
24

and Cosimo III, 24

experiment on flies, 21–23,
22

Experiments on the Generation of Insects,
22–23,
22
, 24, 40

regeneration, 56, 60

religion:

agnostics, 106, 131

atheists, 65, 66, 68, 69, 78, 120, 132, 155

and creation stories, 102, 107, 147

and Crick, 208–9

deists, 65, 66, 67

immortality, 142

literalism, 255

politicization in France, 127

proof of God's existence, 105

science vs., 89–90, 102–3, 107, 112–13, 118, 130, 131–32, 141–42, 254–55

and superstition, 67

and Voltaire, 65–66, 67, 105

warnings against secular learning, 11–12

Renaissance, 14, 17, 19, 20, 28, 255

“Renaissance science,” phases of, 19

reproduction, 195, 207, 240

cloning, 153, 224

as generation, 60

horizontal gene transfer, 234–36

parthenogenesis, 235n

Rey, Marc-Michel, 68

ribonuclease P, 242

ribosomes, 227, 230

ribozymes, 242, 245

Riccioli, Giovanni, 186

RNA (ribonucleic acid), 206–7, 241–43

building RNA organism from scratch, 249

and first living organism, 207

and gene splicing, 240, 241–42

and ribonuclease P, 242

ribosomes, 227, 230

roles of, 206

self-replicating, 245, 248–49, 250

16S RNA genes, 230

and Woese,
232
, 239

RNA polymerase, synthesis of, 249n

RNA world, 243, 247–50

Rockefeller University, New York, 197

Rosa, Salvator, 1

Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel, 180

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 28, 67

Rowlands, Sherry, 215

Royal Geographical Society, 98

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 232

Royal Society:

and Bastian, 134, 144

and Copley Medal, 130

and Darwin, 98, 130

and Davy, 86

formation of, 35–36

and Hopkins, 148

and Huxley, 129–31

and Needham, 49

and Oldenburg, 35–37

Philosophical Transactions
of, 36, 37, 51, 58–59, 85

and social class, 132

and van Leeuwenhoek, 37–41, 42, 43

Royer, Clémence, 127

Rucellai, Giovanni di Bernardo,
Le Api
(“The Bees”), 31

Russell, Mike, xiii–xvi, 238

Russian Academy of Sciences, 156

Saccharomyces cerevisiae
(yeast), 244–45

Sagan, Carl, 184, 251

Cosmos,
210

St. Jago (Santiago), 94, 96, 160

Sand, George, 117, 122

Sanger, Fred, 230

Schopf, William,
Cradle of Life,
269n

Schrödinger, Erwin,
What Is Life?,
194–95, 201, 226

Science,
179

science:

advancement of, 115, 130, 257–58

democratization of, 75

history of, 75, 257

nature of, 253, 255

origins of, 6

popular, 91, 107, 153

religion vs., 89–90, 102–3, 107, 112–13, 118, 130, 131–32, 141–42, 254–55

sexism in, 203–4n

and social change, 256, 258

specialization in, 151

subjectivity in, 256

use of term, 30

Scientific American,
177

scientific discovery, phases of, 257

scientific method:

experimentation, 4, 21, 24, 70, 118, 129, 143

provando e riprovando,
16, 17, 18, 21

publication of results, 179

testing hypotheses, 4, 140, 178, 256

Scopes Monkey Trial, 182