Jack Szostak at Harvard University

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, and the Harvard Library welcome Dr. Jack Szostak—professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago, leading the Center for the Origin of Life, and Nobel laureate—for a discussion of his latest book Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life. This event will take place at the Harvard University in Jefferson Lab 250 Science Center Hall D, located at 17 Oxford St, Cambridge. Following the presentation will be a book signing.

Ticketing

There are two ticket options available for this event.

Free General Admission Ticket: Includes admission for one.

Book-Included Ticket: Includes admission for one and one hardcover copy of Is Earth Exceptional?.

About Is Earth Exceptional?

A New York Times–bestselling astrophysicist and a Nobel laureate take us on "a mesmerizing exploration" (Jennifer Doudna) to discover how and where the universe breathed itself into life.

For a long time, scientists have wondered how life has emerged from inanimate chemistry, and whether Earth is the only place where it exists. Charles Darwin speculated about life on Earth beginning in a warm little pond. Some of his contemporaries believed that life existed on Mars. It once seemed inevitable that the truth would be known by now.

It is not. For more than a century, the origins and extent of life have remained shrouded in mystery. But, as Mario Livio and Jack Szostak reveal in Is Earth Exceptional?, the veil is finally lifting. The authors describe how life’s building blocks—from RNA to amino acids and cells—could have emerged from the chaos of Earth’s early existence. They then apply the knowledge gathered from cutting-edge research across the sciences to the search for life in the cosmos: both life as we know it and life as we don’t.

Why and where life exists are two of the biggest unsolved problems in science. Is Earth Exceptional? is the ultimate exploration of the question of whether life is a freak accident or a chemical imperative.

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.