by Bill Mesler
sensational newspaper stories about, 75–76, 77, 86–87, 88, 90
and spontaneous generation, 75, 76
and Vestiges, 88–91
Crosse, Richard, 83
Cryptozoon, 161–62, 163, 213
crystallography research, 201, 203
crystals:
aperiodic, 195
aragonite, 85
and chirality, 228
electromagnetic properties of, 138
formation of, 74, 86, 87, 123–24
magnetosomes, 214
Cuvier, Georges, 120–23, 127
cytoplasm, 196
Dalí, Salvador, 204
Darwin, Charles, 88, 187, 200
autobiography of, 102, 108
at Cambridge, 105
on common ancestor, 97, 225, 228, 236
comparison with, 226
critics of, 112–13, 114, 115
The Descent of Man, 115
and evolution, 97–98, 106–8, 129, 155, 157–59
and fossils, 94, 95, 96, 99, 100, 101, 160–61, 163
on Galápagos, 9–10, 91, 93–98, 100
and HMS Beagle, 92–98, 105, 110
and Huxley, 130
influence of, 114–16, 155
on life from nonlife, 113–14, 145
and Lyell, 98–99, 107–9
on natural selection, 60, 107, 108, 158–59, 167, 228, 235
and “one primordial form,” 225, 228
On the Origin of Species, 10, 107–14, 118, 126, 127, 130, 155–56, 158, 160–61, 224, 228
and origin of life, 98, 134–35, 147, 157, 161, 224
reputation of, 98–99, 110, 111, 113, 130
time as enigma for, 157–58, 216
and transmutation, 97, 102, 103, 106, 110
and tree of life, 228–29, 233
Voyage of the Beagle, 100–101
“warm little pond” of, 153, 198, 225
Darwin, Emma Wedgwood (wife), 105–6
Darwin, Erasmus (brother), 101–2
Darwin, Erasmus (grandfather), 93, 104–5, 114
The Temple of Nature, 78
and transmutation, 77–78, 102, 103
Darwin, George (son), 158
Davy, Humphrey, 86, 118, 151
Dawkins, Richard, 253, 256–57
deists, 65, 66, 67
della Molera, Count Bruto, 18
della Rovere, Vittoria, 17–18, 23
Democritus, 7n
dental plaque, 39–40
Descartes, René, 59, 61, 66, 82
De la formation de l’animal, 53–54
Diderot, Denis, 15, 68
Encyclopedia, 67
Dinosauria, coining of term, 98
diphtheria, 234–35
disease:
and bacteria, 40
germ theory of, 129, 137, 138–39, 141, 142–44
infections, 234–35
miasmatic theory of, 136, 138
nature of, 135–37
transmission of, 137–39, 218
war followed by, 27
Disraeli, Benjamin, 73, 88
DNA:
built in a laboratory, 246
and the cell’s “internal fossil record,” 229
and genetic code, 206
and genetic inheritance, 201, 202, 204–5
lingering before decaying, 236
name of, 202
repair of, 244
and RNA, 206–7, 241
role of, 241
structure of, 185, 200–204, 205, 206, 226
and viruses, 274n
X-ray images of, 203
domains, 231
Doval, Marie, 116
Dumas, Alexandre, 117
Dunn, Max, 192
dust mites, 90
Earth:
age of, 145, 146–47, 148, 157–60, 163, 216
and Big Bang theory, 148, 206, 218–19
biomarkers on, 214
circumference of, 4n
creation of, 146, 148
daily rotation of, 158
early atmosphere of, 145, 164–65, 176–78, 177, 197
first life on, 157, 160, 178–79, 185
life migration via meteorites, 216
magnetic field of, 213–14
ozone layer of, 165, 223
in space, 7
ultraviolet radiation on, 165
volcanic activity on, 165
Edinburgh Review, 89–90
Edwards, William Henry, A Voyage up the River Amazon, 109
“eels,” 50–51, 56, 66, 69
egg, life originating from, 23, 24, 40
Egypt:
creation stories in, 1–4
frogs of the Nile, 2–3, 2
Eigen, Manfred, 248
Einstein, Albert, 114, 147, 226
élan vital, 81, 82
electic capacitor, 85
electric battery (voltaic cell), 81
electricity:
“animal,” 79–81
and formation of crystals, 74, 87
as life-giving force, 81
mathematical formula for, 84
roles in the body, 81
and spontaneous generation, 75, 76, 79
studies in, 83–88
electrolysis, 86
electromagnetism, 83, 84, 138
elements:
and CHON, 164, 222
in early atmosphere, 164–65, 176
identification of, 6–7
origins of, 174
Elizabeth I, queen of England, 265n
embodiment, theory of, 52
Engels, Friedrich, Dialectics of Nature, 169
Enlightenment, 28–30, 36, 46, 67
enzymes, 20, 195
Epicurus, 10, 45
Eratosthenes, 4n
eukaryotes, 196, 229, 231, 232, 235, 243, 244
evolution:
abiogenesis, xvii, 141, 145, 148
acquired characteristics, Lamarck’s theory of, 104, 106, 121, 167–68
adaptation, 101
archebiosis, 134–35, 141
beginning of life, 97–98, 113–14, 141
of cells, 229
common ancestor, 97, 116, 224, 228, 234, 236
as continuous process, 135
creation of new species, 102, 103
critics of the theory of, 140, 141
and Darwin, 97–98, 106–8, 129, 155, 157–59
debate on, 131
developers of the theory, 114
evidence of, 115
extinction, 96, 97, 121
and genetics, 153, 227, 238
history of life traced via, 234
and horizontal gene transfer, 235
humans from apes, 115, 131
and molecular clock, 230
and mutation, 194, 207, 235
natural selection, 60, 102, 106, 110, 114, 115, 157–59, 167, 228, 235
origin of life, 97–98, 110–14, 116, 194, 208, 228
pace of, 157
Pasteur on, 118–19
as revolutionary force, 155–56
species similarity, 164
survival of species, 102, 109
survival of the fittest, 167
transmutation, 78, 88, 97, 102–3, 106, 110, 113, 114
variations in species, 96–97, 100–101, 104, 109
and the Vatican, 208, 254
and X Club, 130, 139
exobiology, 184–85, 186, 187, 191, 193, 218, 221, 230
experimentation, observation and deduction, 4, 21, 24
extinction, 96, 97, 121
extraterrestrial life, 184–85, 219, 221
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
&n
bsp; 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
H
uxley, 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