The Origin and Evolution of Sidney Walter Fox, Experimentalist

Abstract

My purpose in underscoring “experiment(s)” in the above quotations is to emphasize the theme of this chapter. Experiment is of course a sine qua non for most research aimed at answering questions in science. When the question is “How did life begin?”, however, the situation becomes quite different. Man has puzzled about this question for millenia and has sought answers through religion and philosophy, theory and speculation. Such roads of thought have led to much heat but little light. Witness, for example, the ongoing arguments over creationism (Numbers, 1982). The experimental road paved by Sidney Walter Fox during the past four decades has provided a far more intellectually satisfying solution of the puzzle of our primordial origins. The construction of that road has encountered many formidable thought obstacles, rooted in religious, philosophical and theoretical preconceptions. Fox has at times been disappointed but not discouraged by what amounted to anti-experimental opponents. For example, in a letter of 7 February 1965, he commented: “I don’t believe that they can indefinitely prefer undisciplined conjecture to vigorous experimentation bonded with careful interpretation, in this particular area.”

As for me, reason and experiment take the place of the authorities. (Paracelsus, 1493–1541)

The proteinoid theory is based primarily on experiments in which mixtures of amino acids yield, under geologically relevant conditions, heteropolyamino acids that are highly ordered internally and limited in heterogeneity. (Fox, 1974)