Caltech cosmologist Prof. Sean Michael Carroll has included a book by BGU Prof. (Emeritus) Addy Pross “What is Life?" in the top ten of his recommended popular science books. He recommended 60 books for the Medium website and Prof. Pross' book is in the top ten (at #10) along with leading authors Richard Dawkins, Daniel Kahneman, Paul Krugman and Frank Wilczek.
Sean Michael Carroll is a cosmologist and physics professor specializing in dark energy and general relativity. He is a research professor in the Department of Physics at the California Institute of Technology.
About the book:
Since the seminal experiments of Miller and Urey in 1952, the search for the origin of life has been a fantastic voyage through biology, chemistry and physics. There is an army of scientists trying to shed some light on some of the most important questions: How did life appear? How did we evolve ex nihilo? What were the basic chemical components of our primordial ancestors?
However, at the heart of these questions resides a more philosophical question: What is life?
With a clear and engaging style, Pross (from the Department of Chemistry) tries to answer that philosophical question from a scientific perspective. In his book, titled “What is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology", he engages head-on with this daunting task, and his answer is elegant, simple and enlightening. It is chemical kinetics!
The book is intended for both the non-scientist with a curious mind, as well as researchers in the field.
Pross is also known for having developed together with Sason Shaik (an earlier BGU faculty member), the Pross-Shaik model of chemical reactivity.
