The contents include evidence of early life from the oldest known fossil in the geological record, as well as the prior events of chemical evolution and self-organization; the question of the chirality of protein amino acids is discussed. The book provides an excellent introduction to this ever-growing interdisciplinary area of research in chemistry, physics, and the life sciences. This volume is a Festschrift for the late Professor Cyril Ponnamperuma in whose honor the Second Trieste Conference was held.

Contents