For hundreds of years, however, the origin of life was thought to be well understood and did not pose any problems to naturalists and laypersons alike. Doubts began to rise with the growth of biological knowledge, and the question became a mystery, especially at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Only in the last decade has the emergence of life on earth entered the realm of investigation as a scientific problem.

In The Origin of Life on Earth, Iris Fry traces these theoretical developments, including a detailed discussion of current lines of research devoted to the origin of life. The book's first part offers an overview of the main ideas on the origin of life as they have developed from antiquity until the present century. The second part explores the major prevailing and often contentious scientific theories that are now fueling the origin-of-life debate within and beyond the scientific community. To come full circle, Fry returns to the age-old question: Is there life beyond Earth? and examines the most recent scientific discoveries that suggest possible life elsewhere in the universe.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Iris Fry is adjunct teaching associate at The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University. She is the author of "The Origin of Life: Mystery or Scientific Problem".