Editing Stanley Miller (section)

==Miller's experiment==
{{Main|Urey-Miller experiment}}
The Miller experiment was described in his technical paper in the 15 May 1953 issue of [[science (journal)|''Science'']],<ref name=mill>{{cite journal |author = Miller SL |title=Production of amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions|journal=Science |year=1953 |volume=117 |issue=3046 |pages=528–529 |doi=10.1126/science.117.3046.528 |pmid=13056598|bibcode=1953Sci...117..528M|s2cid=38897285}}</ref> which transformed the concept of scientific ideas concerning the origin of life into a respectable [[empiricism|empirical]] inquiry.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Bada JL, Lazcano A |title= Miller revealed new ways to study the origins of life |journal= Nature |volume= 416 |issue= 6880 | pages= 475 |year= 2002 |pmid=11932715 |doi= 10.1038/416475a|bibcode= 2002Natur.416..475B |doi-access= free }}</ref> His study has become a classic textbook definition of the scientific basis of origin of life, or more specifically, the first definitive experimental evidence of the [[Alexander Oparin|Oparin]] and [[J.B.S. Haldane|Haldane]]'s [[abiogenesis|"primordial soup" theory]]. Urey and Miller designed to simulate the ocean-atmospheric condition of the primitive Earth by using a continuous stream of [[water vapour|steam]] into a mixture of [[methane]] (CH<sub>4</sub>), [[ammonia]] (NH<sub>3</sub>), and [[hydrogen]] (H<sub>2</sub>). The gaseous mixture was then exposed to electrical discharge, which induced chemical reaction.  After a week of reaction, Miller detected the formation of [[amino acids]], such as [[glycine]], α- and β-[[alanine]], using [[paper chromatography]]. He also detected [[aspartic acid]] and [[Gamma amino butyric acid|gamma-amino butyric acid]], but was not confident about them. Since amino acids are the basic structural and functional constituents of cellular life, the experiment showed the possibility of natural organic synthesis for the origin of life on earth.<ref name=ucsd>{{cite web| author=UCSD News Center |title= Father of 'Origin of Life' Chemistry at UC San Diego Dies|date= 21 May 2007| url= http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/05-07OriginofLifeKM-.asp |work= ucsdnews.ucsd.edu |publisher=University of California, San Diego |access-date= 2013-07-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Lazcano A, Bada JL |title= The 1953 Stanley L. Miller experiment: fifty years of prebiotic organic chemistry  |journal  =Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere|volume= 33 |issue= 3 | pages=235–242  |year=2003 |pmid= 14515862|doi= 10.1023/A:1024807125069|bibcode= 2003OLEB...33..235L |s2cid= 19515024 }}</ref>

===Publication problem===

Miller showed his results to Urey, who suggested immediate publication. Urey refused to be the co-author lest Miller receive little or no credit. The manuscript with Miller as the sole author was submitted to the magazine ''Science'' on 10 February 1953. After waiting several weeks, Urey inquired and wrote to the chairman of the editorial board on 27 February on the lack of action in [[peer review|reviewing]] the manuscript. A month passed, but still there was no decision. On 10 March the infuriated Urey demanded the manuscript to be returned, and he himself submitted it to the ''[[Journal of the American Chemical Society]]'' on 13 March. By then, the editor of ''Science'', apparently annoyed by Urey's insinuation, wrote directly to Miller that the manuscript was to be published. Miller then withdrew the manuscript from the ''Journal of the American Chemical Society''.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Bada JL, Lazcano A |title= Perceptions of science. Prebiotic soup – revisiting the Miller experiment |journal= Science |volume= 300 |issue= 5620 | pages= 745–746 |year= 2003 |pmid= 12730584|doi= 10.1126/science.1085145|s2cid= 93020326 |doi-access= free }}</ref>

===Follow-up===

Miller continued his research until his death in 2007. As the knowledge of the Earth's early atmosphere progressed, and techniques for chemical analyses improved, he continued to refine the details and methods. He succeeded not only in synthesizing more and more varieties of amino acids, he also produced a wide variety of inorganic and organic compounds essential for cellular construction and metabolism.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Miller SL |title= Current status of the prebiotic synthesis of small molecules |journal =Chemica Scripta|volume= 26 |issue= B | pages= 5–11 |year= 1986 |pmid= 11542054}}</ref> In support, a number of independent researchers also confirmed the range of chemical syntheses.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors = Hough L, Rogers AF |title = Synthesis of amino-acids from water, hydrogen, methane and ammonia |journal = The Journal of Physiology|volume = 132|issue = 2| pages = 28–30 |year = 1956 |pmid = 13320416 |doi = 10.1113/jphysiol.1956.sp005559 |doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author = Oro J |title = Chemical evolution and the origin of life.|journal = Advances in Space Research|volume = 3 |issue = 9 | pages = 77–94 |year = 1983 |pmid = 11542466|doi = 10.1016/0273-1177(83)90044-3|bibcode = 1983AdSpR...3h..77O}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Basile B, Lazcano A, Oró J |title= Prebiotic syntheses of purines and pyrimidines  |journal= Adv Space Res   |volume= 4 |issue= 12 | pages=125–131 |year= 1984 |pmid= 11537766|doi= 10.1016/0273-1177(84)90554-4|bibcode= 1984AdSpR...4l.125B }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Jakschitz TA, Rode BM |title= Chemical evolution from simple inorganic compounds to chiral peptides |journal= Chemical Society Reviews|volume= 41 |issue= 16 | pages=5484–5489 |year= 2012 |pmid=22733315|doi= 10.1039/c2cs35073d }}</ref> With the recent revelation that, unlike the original Miller's experimental hypothesis of a strongly reducing condition, the primitive atmosphere could have been quite neutral, containing other gases in different proportions.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Zahnle K, [[Laura K. Schaefer|Schaefer L]], Fegley B |title= Earth's earliest atmospheres  |journal =Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology|volume= 2 |issue= 10 | pages= a004895 |year= 2010 |pmid= 20573713|pmc=2944365|doi=10.1101/cshperspect.a004895 }}</ref> Miller's last works, published posthumously in 2008, still succeeded in synthesizing an array of organic compounds using such conditions.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Cleaves HJ, Chalmers JH, Lazcano A, Miller SL, Bada JL |title= A reassessment of prebiotic organic synthesis in neutral planetary atmospheres  |journal  =Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres|volume= 38 |issue= 2 | pages=105–115 |year= 200 |pmid= 18204914|doi= 10.1007/s11084-007-9120-3 |bibcode= 2008OLEB...38..105C |s2cid= 7731172 }}</ref>