Addy Pross

Addy Pross (born 1945) is an Israeli academic and author who is Emeritus Professor of chemistry at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His research interests lie in the physics-chemistry-biology relationship and the origin of life.^[1]

Born in Tel Aviv in 1945, Pross attended University of Sydney, receiving his B.A. with First Class Hons. in 1966 and then a Ph.D in Organic chemistry in 1970 under Sever Sternhell. He worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University and Lund University before being appointed professor of chemistry at the Ben Gurion University in 1986.

In 2004 Pross co-authored with Vladimir Khodorkovsky a research paper called "Extending the concept of kinetic stability: toward a paradigm for life" which was published in the Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry.^[2] With regard to the Genes-first hypothesis he argued that though unlikely, the emergence of a replicating system that then develops metabolism is more likely than the emergence of a metabolic system that becomes replicative or a replicative metabolic system.^[3]

In 2010 Pross became a member of the editorial board at Life (journal). His 2012 book What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology was published by Oxford University Press^[4] and has been produced in nearly a dozen languages.^[5] Regarding a definition of life Pross has come to see both life and Abiogenesis as processes governed by the laws of chemistry.^[6]

In 2014 Pross started working as a visiting professor at New York University Shanghai. In 2023 the book Evolution "On Purpose": Teleonomy in Living Systems co-edited by Pross along with Peter Corning, Stuart Kauffman, Denis Noble, James A. Shapiro and Richard I. Vane-Wright stated in the introduction that "Teleonomy in living systems is not, after all, only "apparent". It is a fundamental fact of life."^[7] In 2024 Pross appeared on Sean M. Carroll's Mindcsape podcast.^[8]