Page 210 - The Miracle of Protein

208 THE MIRACLE OF PROTEIN

port for Oparin's theory of chemical evolution. Some scientists,
aware of this point, sought to provide their own support for it.
The famous astronomer Carl Sagan, for instance, described the
Miller-Urey experiment "as the single most significant step in
convincing many scientists that life is likely … abundant in the
cosmos." 110

Considerable space began to be devoted to the Miller ex-
periment in textbooks and public media such as Time maga-
zine. Inspired by the Miller experiment, fictitious evolutionary
scenarios based on chemical evolution—and describing it as
the origin of life—lost no time in appearing in schoolbooks. In-
deed, as a result of this experiment, the belief known as ‘neovi-
talism’—the idea that matter possesses the inherent ability to
reproduce itself—was resurrected. 111

However, the Miller experiment was based on Oparin's
preconceptions and actually contained a great many elements
far removed from scientific fact. The experiment was prepared
to confirm the theory of chemical evolution that Oparin had
dreamed up, and was intended to prove the validity of the the-
ory of evolution. The setup used to produce amino acids bore

no relation to the actual atmospheric conditions on the primor-
dial Earth. Furthermore, it included several multilateral mech-
anisms for the production of amino acids that were not found
in any natural environment. In the light of scientific standards,
this experiment clearly was contrived.

Unrealistic Elements in the

Miller Experiment
Shortly after Miller carried out his experiment that was
formulated to prove that amino acids could form spontaneous-
ly under primordial world conditions, it was realized that this