Addy Pross

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Addy Pross
Born1945 (age 80–81)
Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel)
Education University of Sydney
Known forWhat Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry, origin of life
Institutions Stanford University, Lund University, Ben Gurion University, New York University Shanghai
Doctoral advisor Sever Sternhell

Addy Pross (born 1945) is an Israeli academic and author who is Emeritus Professor of chemistry at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His research interests lie in Theoretical chemistry, the physics-chemistry-biology relationship and the origin of life. [1]

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Born in Tel Aviv in 1945, Pross attended University of Sydney, receiving his B.A. with First Class Hons. in 1966 and then a Ph.D in Organic chemistry in 1970 under Sever Sternhell. He worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University and Lund University before being appointed professor of chemistry at the Ben Gurion University in 1986. Pross has also served as a Visiting Professor in a number of universities including Rutgers University, University of Auckland and as an ARC Professorial Fellow at Sydney University. [2]

In 2004 Pross co-authored with Vladimir Khodorkovsky a research paper called "Extending the concept of kinetic stability: toward a paradigm for life" which was published in the Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry . [3] With regard to the Genes-first hypothesis he argued that though unlikely, the emergence of a replicating system that then develops metabolism is more likely than the emergence of a metabolic system that becomes replicative or a replicative metabolic system. [4]

In 2010 Pross became a member of the editorial board at Life (journal) . His 2012 book What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology was published by Oxford University Press [5] and has been produced in nearly a dozen languages. [6] Regarding a definition of life Pross has come to see both life and Abiogenesis as processes governed by the laws of chemistry. [7]

In 2014 Pross started working as a visiting professor at New York University Shanghai. In 2023 the book Evolution "On Purpose": Teleonomy in Living Systems co-edited by Pross along with Peter Corning, Stuart Kauffman, Denis Noble, James A. Shapiro and Richard I. Vane-Wright stated in the introduction that "Teleonomy in living systems is not, after all, only "apparent". It is a fundamental fact of life." [8] In 2024 Pross appeared on Sean M. Carroll's Mindscape podcast. [9]

Publications

Books

Journal articles

References

  1. ↑ "Andy Pross". mitpress.mit.edu. MIT Press. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  2. ↑ "Addy Pross". thethirdwayofevolution.com. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
  3. ↑ Pross, Addy; Khodorkovsky, Vladimir (April 2004). "Extending the concept of kinetic stability: toward a paradigm for life". Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry. 17 (4): 312–316.
  4. ↑ Pross, Addy (June 2004). "Causation and the Origin of Life. Metabolism or Replication First?" . Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere. 34 (3): 307–321. Bibcode:2004OLEB...34..307P. doi:10.1023/B:ORIG.0000016446.51012.bc. ISSN   0169-6149. PMID   15068037.
  5. ↑ Pross, Addy (2012). What is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology. UK: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  6. ↑ "Addy Pross". iai.tv. The Institute of Art and Ideas. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  7. ↑ Pross, Addy; Pascal, Robert (2013). "The origin of life: what we know, what we can know and what we will never know". Open Biology. 3 (3) 120190. doi:10.1098/rsob.120190. PMC   3718341 . PMID   23466673.
  8. ↑ Corning, P A; Kauffman, S A; Noble, D; Shapiro, J A; Vane-Wright, R I; Pross, A (2023). Evolution "On Purpose": Teleonomy in Living Systems. USA: MIT Press. p. 6. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  9. ↑ "294 - Addy Pross on Dynamics, Stability, and Life". preposterousuniverse.com. Sean Carroll. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  10. ↑ "Theoretical and Physical Principles of Organic Reactivity". wiley.com. Wiley. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
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