Günter Wächtershäuser

Günter Wächtershäuser ( * 1938 in Gießen ) is an honorary professor for evolutionary biochemistry at the University of Regensburg and Munich patent law. He developed the early 1980s, a theory about the chemical evolution first creatures on mineral surfaces, the theory of the iron-sulfur world.

Life

Wächtershäuser studied from 1958 to 1965 chemistry at the University of Marburg, where he became in 1965 a doctorate in chemistry. From 1966 he was in a German law firm and at Eastman Kodak Co. in the U.S. a patent attorney training, in 1969 he was admitted as a patent attorney in Munich, in 1970 he founded the law firm today Wächtershäuser & Hartz. He graduated in 1983, the personal acquaintance with the philosopher Karl Popper, whose recommendation allowed him to publish in journals. In 1988 he first published his theory of the origin of life. The chemist Claudia Huber led at the TU Munich experiments to verify his theory by, even with the microbiologist Karl Stetter worked together.

Origin of life in the iron -sulfur world

After Wächtershäuser life on earth to the surface of iron -sulfur minerals originated, ie sulfides today by geological processes at deep-sea volcanoes, so-called black smokers are formed, and thought to have occurred on the early Earth still significantly more likely. The advantage of this approach over other theories is that it can be explained by how the emergence of bio-molecules could be coupled to a continuously available and reliable source of energy. This energy source is the reduction of partially oxidized iron-sulfur minerals such as pyrite with hydrogen and provide enough energy for the synthesis reactions of monomeric units endergonic of biomolecules and their polymerization.

Awards

Wächtershäuser received in 1993 the annual ceremony of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, 1994 Honorary Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, and the 1999 Bonn chemistry prize.

Writings

• Origin of Life: Life as We Do not Know It In: Science. 289 ( 5483 ), August 25, 2000, pp. 1307-1308 (English)
• Evolution of the First Metabolic Cycles In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol 87, January 1990, pp. 200-204 (PDF, 1.09 MB, English)