Addy Pross

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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 the physics-chemistry-biology relationship and the origin of life. [1]

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.

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 . [2] 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. [3]

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 [4] and has been produced in nearly a dozen languages. [5] Regarding a definition of life Pross has come to see both life and Abiogenesis as processes governed by the laws of chemistry. [6]

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." [7] In 2024 Pross appeared on Sean M. Carroll's Mindcsape podcast. [8]

References

  1. ↑ "Andy Pross". mitpress.mit.edu. MIT Press. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Pross, Addy (2012). What is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology. UK: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  5. ↑ "Addy Pross". iai.tv. The Institute of Art and Ideas. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ "294 - Addy Pross on Dynamics, Stability, and Life". preposterousuniverse.com. Sean Carroll. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
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