Personal
Born - Oakland, California, March 7, 1930

Education
B.S. - University of California, Berkeley, Berkely, California (1951)
Ph.D. - University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (1954)

Professional
1954-1955 F. B. Jewett Fellow, California Institute of Technology
1955-1960 Instructor and Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry,
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
1960-present Assistant, Associate and Full Professor, Department of Chemistry,
University of California, San Diego

Professional Societies
American Chemical Society
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Society of Biological Chemists
International Society for the Sudy of the Origin of Life (ISSOL), President (1986-89)

Honors:
Phi Beta Kappa
Sigma Xi
National Academy of Sciences
Honorary Councilor of the Higher Council for Scientific Research of Spain (1973)
(Consejeros de Honor del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifices)
Oparin Medal from the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL), (1983).

Reseach Interests

Synthesis of organic compounds under primitive Earth conditions and the origin of life.

In l953, he showed that amino acids can be synthesized by sparking a mixture of methane, ammonia, water and hydrogen and that such syntheses would have taken place on the primitive Earth when it had an atmosphere of these gases. Such syntheses would have formed the basis for the development of the first living organisms.

The natural occurrence of clathrate hydrates on the Earth and other parts of the Solar system.

Mechanism of action of general anesthetics with particular reference to possible clathrate hydrate formation and to alteration of water structure near the nerve.