Sprecher
Beschreibung
One of the most fascinating questions arising from studies of our planet, and of the wider Universe, is the origin of life on Earth. There are two main hypotheses describing the source of the organic compounds that could have served as the basis of life: the formation of prebiotic molecules under the conditions assumed to have existed on the primitive Earth; and their formation in the Solar Nebula or in its parent molecular cloud and delivery to Earth via comets, asteroids and their meteoritic remains.
In my talk, I will discuss evidence supporting the exogenous hypothesis for the origin of life on Earth. This evidence comes from remote observations of astrophysical environments, data from space missions to comets and asteroids, analysis of extraterrestrial samples, and data from laboratory experiments and models simulating physico-chemical processes in astrophysical environments. Three main points will be highlighted: (i) many precursors of prebiotic molecules have been detected in astrophysical environments; (ii) prebiotic molecules have been identified in comets, asteroids, and meteorites; and (iii) experimental and modeling results demonstrate that the generation of prebiotic species under astrophysical conditions is possible and reveal potential reaction pathways. To conclude, I will touch on the big questions, remaining challenges, and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
