Abstract
Irving R. Epstein is a university professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at Brandeis University, where he has served as chemistry chair, dean of arts and sciences, and provost. His research focuses on nonlinear chemical dynamics and pattern formation in chemical, biological, and social systems.
Systems chemistry provides potential insights into the origin of life, but a full understanding of how life might arise requires understanding heterogeneous mixtures subject to temporally changing influences, such as light, temperature, and mechanical forces. Such complex systems are best studied by interdisciplinary teams with a range of expertise. One such effort involves the quest to build “reflexively autocatalytic and food-generated sets,” collections of molecules interacting on mineral grains and capable of catalyzing the reproduction of the entire set.