Chemistry
FEATURED GRANT
Water for Life
Ruth M. Lynden-Bell, Emeritus Professor in the Condensed
Matter Simulation
Queen's University – Belfast (Northern Ireland UK)
Professor Simon Conway Morris
Department of Earth Science
University of Cambridge (Cambridge UK)
John D. Barrow, Research Professor of Mathematical Sciences
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
University of Cambridge (Cambridge UK)
Pamela Bond Contractor, President
Ellipsis Enterprises, Inc. (Flemington NJ)
This
grant supported a two-day symposium to explore the gap between the
investigation of fine-tuning in physics and cosmology with the investigation
of fine-tuning in chemistry and biochemistry. The core question under
investigation was whether the physiochemical properties of water may or may
not be considered biocentrically fine-tuned for the existence and evolution
of life.
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Sample Grants
| Grant Title |
Award Date |
Grant Amount |
| |
- The Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning
Pamela Bond Contractor, President
Ellipsis Enterprises, Inc. (Flemington NJ)
Dr. Owen J. Gingerich, Professor of Astronomy
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Cambridge
MA) - This
grant supported an exploratory interdisciplinary conference and publication project
commemorating a dual anniversary in science: L.J. Henderson's 1913
"biocentric" hypothesis and Fred Hoyle's 1953 discovery of the "triple-alpha"
reaction synthesis of carbon-12 in stars. Fitness explored the question
of whether analogs exist in biochemistry that broadly correspond to
"fine tunings" in physics and cosmology. The conference was held
in 2003 and an edited volume is forthcoming.
|
August 2003 |
$238,000 |
- The Emergence of Biological Complexity
Professor Derek Burke, Former Vice Chancellor
University of East Anglia (Norwich UK)
Dr. Jonathan Doye
Department of Chemistry
University of Cambridge (Cambridge UK)
Dr. Ard A. Louis, Royal Society Research Fellow
Cambridge University (Cambridge UK)
Professor Simon Conway Morris FRS
Department of Earth Science
University of Cambridge (Cambridge UK)
Professor Graeme Barker FBA, Director
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Head, Department of Anthropology
University of Cambridge (Cambridge UK)
Professor Chris Scarre, Deputy Director
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
University of Cambridge (Cambridge UK) - This
grant initiated a Request for Proposals [RFP] program to stimulate and sponsor
new empirical research and theoretical insights directly pertinent to the
'great debate' over the emergence of increasing biological complexity. The
scope of funded research ranges from the biochemical level to the evolution
of life, and the emergence of society and culture.
|
March 2005 |
$3,584,147 |
- What is Life?: The Search for Biological Laws at the Hierarchical Level of Intermediary Metabolism
Dr. Harold J. Morowitz, Robinson Professor of Biology and
Natural Philosophy
George Mason University (Fairfax VA) - This
grant supported research into the transition from inorganic and organic
chemistry to biochemistry, thereby opening the dialogue on "What is Life?"
This research contributes to the understanding of the origins of life from a
biological perspective that would delineate a possible set of rules governing
the earliest metabolism, inevitably leading to the evolution of the Last
Universal Common Ancestor [LUCA]. Research was published as "Universality in
intermediary metabolism."
|
June 2003 |
$184,423 |
