Word: sidney
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Toward Synthetic Cells. Biochemist Sidney W. Fox of Florida State University reported progress toward creating life in the laboratory. Experimenters have long known that when a mixture of methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide and water vapor (all probable constituents of the earth's primitive atmosphere) is bombarded with electric sparks or high-energy radiation, amino acids are produced. Amino acids are the building blocks that form the multitudinous proteins in living organisms, and Dr. Fox carried the process a step farther. When he heated a mixture of amino acids with polyphosphoric acid as a catalyst, he got big molecules with...