Robert Shapiro (chemist)

Robert Shapiro (28 November 1935 – 15 June 2011^[1]) was professor emeritus of chemistry at New York University. He is best known for his work on the origin of life, having written two books on the topic: Origins, a Skeptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth (1986) and Planetary Dreams (1999). He opposed the RNA world hypothesis, and held that the spontaneous emergence of a molecule as complicated as RNA is highly unlikely. Instead, he proposed that life arose from some self-sustaining and compartmentalized reaction of simple molecules: "metabolism first" instead of "RNA first". This reaction would have to be able to reproduce and evolve, eventually leading to RNA. He claimed that in this view life is a normal consequence of the laws of nature and potentially quite common in the universe.^[2]

Robert Shapiro
Born	(1935-11-28)November 28, 1935 New York City, United States
Died	June 15, 2011(2011-06-15) (aged 75)[1]
Alma mater	City College of New York (BS), Harvard University (PhD)
Known for	Work on origin of life
Awards	Trotter Prize (2004) with Paul Davies[1]
Scientific career
Fields	Chemistry
Institutions	University of Cambridge, New York University
Doctoral advisor	Robert B. Woodward

Not to be confused with chemist Robert H. Shapiro who discovered the Shapiro reaction.

Works

• Life Beyond Earth: The Intelligent Earthling's Guide to Extraterrestrial Life (with Gerald Feinberg) Morrow, 1980. ISBN 0-688-08642-X.
• Origins: A Skeptic's Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth Summit Books (January 1986) ISBN 0-671-45939-2.
• Planetary Dreams: The Quest to Discover Life Beyond Earth Wiley; 1 edition (1999) ISBN 0471407356.