Water for Life

This grant supported a two-day symposium to explore the gap between the investigation of fine-tuning in physics and cosmology and the investigation of fine-tuning in chemistry and biochemistry. The core question was whether the physiochemical properties of water may or may not be considered biocentrically fine-tuned for the existence and evolution of life. Water of Life: The Unique Properties of H2O, an edited volume based on the symposium, will be published by Taylor and Francis in 2009.

Grant Amount:

$302,850

Start Date:

December 2004

End Date:

January 2009

Grant ID:

11227

Core Participants:

Wesley D. Allen, Senior Research Scientist
Center for Computational Chemistry
University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia)

Philip Ball, freelance writer and consultant editor for Nature, Science Writer in Residence
Department of Chemistry
University College London (London, United Kingdom)

Steven A. Benner and Louise Jackson, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and of Anatomy and Cell Biology
Department of Chemistry
University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida)

Humberto Campins, Provost Research Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Head of the Astronomy Group
Departments of Physics and Astronomy
University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida)

Martin F. Chaplin, University Director of Research
Department of Applied Science
London South Bank University (London, United Kingdom)

Jonathan S. Dordick, Howard P. Isermann Professor and Chairman
Department of Chemical Engineering
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, New York)

John L. Finney
Department of Physics
University College London (London, United Kingdom)

Felix Franks, Founder and Director
BioUpdate Foundation (London, United Kingdom)

Giancarlo Franzese, Ramon y Cajal Fellowship recipient
Department of Fundamental Physics
University of Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)

Branka M. Ledanyi
Department of Chemistry
Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado)

Louis Lerman, Fellow
Explorer's Club (New York, New York)

Alister E. McGrath
Oxford Center for Evangelism and Apologetics
Department of Theology
University of Oxford (Oxford, United Kingdom)

Carlos Warnick Pace, McMullin Professor of Genetics, Regents Professor, Distinguished Professor
Department of Physics
Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas)

Wilson C.K. Poon
Department of Physics
University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, United Kingdom)

Lawrence R. Pratt, Technical Staff Member
Theoretical Chemistry and Molecular Physics Group (T-12)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, New Mexico)

Colin A. Russell, Emeritus Professor in History of Science Open University (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) and Affiliated Research Scholar
Department of History & Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge (Cambridge, United Kingdom)

Veronica Vaida, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Colorado – Boulder (Boulder, Colorado)

Bruce H. Weber
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
California State University - Fullerton (Fullerton, California) and Robert H. Woodworth Professor of Science and Natural Philosophy Bennington College (Bennington, Vermont)

Peter G. Wolynes, Francis Crick Professor of the Physical Sciences
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California – San Diego (San Diego, California)

Local Hosts:

Tommaso G. Bellini
Department of Physics
University of Milan (Milan, Italy)

Marco Bersanelli
Department of Physics
University of Milan (Milan, Italy)

Elio Sindoni
Department of Physics
University of Milan-Bicocca (Milan, Italy)