Robert Shapiro (chemist)

{{short description|American scientist and academic}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Robert Shapiro

|image =

|image_size =

|caption = Robert Shapiro

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|11|28}}

|birth_place = New York City, United States

|residence =

|nationality = American

|death_date = {{death date and age|2011|6|15|1935|11|28}}

|death_place =

|field = Chemistry

|work_institution = University of Cambridge, New York University

|alma_mater = City College of New York (BS), Harvard University (PhD)

|doctoral_advisor = Robert B. Woodward

|doctoral_students =

|known_for = Work on origin of life

|prizes = Trotter Prize (2004) with Paul Davies

|religion =

|footnotes =

}}

{{distinguish|text=chemist Robert H. Shapiro who discovered the Shapiro reaction}}

Robert Shapiro (28 November 1935 – 15 June 2011{{cite web|title=Bob Shapiro Passes Away at Age 75|url=http://chemistry.fas.nyu.edu/object/chem.news.bobshapiropassesaway|publisher=New York University|accessdate=15 August 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928070906/http://chemistry.fas.nyu.edu/object/chem.news.bobshapiropassesaway|archivedate=28 September 2011}}) was professor emeritus of chemistry at New York University. He is best known for his work on the origin of life, having written two books on the topic: Origins, a Skeptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth (1986) and Planetary Dreams (1999). He opposed the RNA world hypothesis, and held that the spontaneous emergence of a molecule as complicated as RNA is highly unlikely. Instead, he proposed that life arose from some self-sustaining and compartmentalized reaction of simple molecules: "metabolism first" instead of "RNA first". This reaction would have to be able to reproduce and evolve, eventually leading to RNA. He claimed that in this view life is a normal consequence of the laws of nature and potentially quite common in the universe.Alvin Powell, [http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/10/nyu-chemist-robert-shapiro-decries-rna-first-possibility/ NYU chemist Robert Shapiro decries RNA-first possibility], Harvard University Gazette, 23 October 2008