ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH 5 One of the revolutionary characteristics of Oparin's work'now came to the fpre—the sharp dissociation from those materialists who could not sec the qualitative and revolutionary leap that occurred when inanimate matter became animate, who could not comprehend the essence of the problem as the problem of the origin of a highly developed form of motion of matter. In what follows is highlighted the most significant work that has brought us closer to an understanding of how life arose on earth. All the scientific data suggest that there were, based on the increasing complexity of the organization of matter over millions of years., three main stages in the evolution of matter towards life on earth. Stage I was the formation of simple molecules or monomers; stage II was the transformation of monomers to large chains of molecules, or polymers; stage III was the evolution of polymers to living cellular structures. MATTER TO LIFE: SIMPLE MOLECULES In order to comprehend the evolution of inanimate matter towards life, it is essential to go back to the period during which the earth itself was formed. The manner in which the earth formed and the natural conditions that existed on it determined the nature of the primitive compounds that first arose on the planet. Studies of this type, carried out largely by astronomers, tell us why particular compounds Were more important to the existence of life than others, and how organic compounds (the form of matter indispensable to life) arose under the conditions of the primitive earth. Contempoajary cosmological theories for the formation of the earth are based largely on data accumulated from tbe study of our solar system and hence are not entirely reliable.* The point that contemporary cosmologists do agree on—and this represents a major departure from Oparin's 1925 thesis—is that the earth was formed with a relatively cool surface and not as a ce cloud of incandescent gas."7 There arc three major hypotheses for the formation of the earth. One hypothesis, first proposed by G Kuiper,^ is that part of a large cloud of gas and dust condensed to form a low-density proto-sun with a cloud disc floating around it. Eddy .currents in the various parts of the disc merged into individual clusters of gas and dust to form proto-plancts. The proto-carth was about 500 times its present mass with a gaseous part made up mainly of hydrogen and helium along with neon, methane, ammonia and some water vapour. The solids on the proto-earth which spiralled towards its centre were mainly water arid minerals. As the sUn condensed, it gave off heat and intense light, raising the temperature of the proto-planets. About 99 per cent of the proto-earth's mass, consisting of the lighter elements that comprised the earliest atmosphere, is estimated to have escaped in the process. According to another theory, proposed by 0 Schmidt in 19449,