Media

NASA scientist to speak on the origin of life at HKU

10 Jul 2006

 

Since ancient times, human beings have been searching for the origin of life. Studies of the carbon compounds in meteorites show that amino acid, the basic component of proteins and our DNA, is falling on the Earth every day from space! Did the ingredients of life come from space?

The HKU Faculty of Science is pleased to have invited Dr Max Bernstein, Research Scientist at the Astrochemsitry Lab at NASA Ames Research Center, to speak on how the NASA intends to search for life, and how the search is linked to one of the great puzzles of all time: how life first arose on Earth.

Media representatives are cordially invited to cover the event. The details are:

Title:"The Search for Life in the Solar System: Lessons from Studies of Meteorites and the Origin of Life"
Date: July 13, 2006 (Thursday)
Time: 6pm to 7pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU
Medium: English

Dr Bernstein is a Research Scientist and Deputy Chief of the Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA Ames Research Center where he studies the organic photochemistry of interstellar/cometary ices. He has published a number of technical papers in peer reviewed scientific journals, including in the prestigious Science and Nature.

For more information about the lecture and the speaker, please visit http://www.hku.hk/science/solar/. Members of the public are welcome to attend the lecture.

For media enquiries please contact Ms. Cherry Cheung, External Relations Office, The University of Hong Kong at (852) 2859 2606.