Soopa! Soopa!

My favorite living chemist, James Tour:

September 3, 1993, at 6:00 AM in the hotel room on the edge of campus, I was on my knees reading the Scriptures and in prayer concerning the lecture that I was to deliver. I was a newly tenured Professor of Organic Chemistry at a major east coast university and I had been invited to give a lecture at Purdue University’s Department of Chemistry on the subject of molecular electronics.

As was my daily practice, I was reading the Bible precisely where I left off the day before, and that morning, I was in Matthew chapter 21. I always start reading in Genesis chapter 1 and then continue through Revelation chapter 22, and when I am done, I start again. I don’t read rapidly. In fact, I read the Bible slowly and deliberately. It can take 2-3 years for me to complete the Bible at the daily pace that I read. But that’s just fine with me, and I suspect it’s also okay with God. God speaks to me almost every day from the pages of that book. And that morning I read,

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.” (Matthew 21:21)

I responded to God saying, “Lord, you are raising my faith through this passage. So I pray that the chemistry seminar that I give today will be the best seminar that has ever been given in that department. The very best.” Then it occurred to me, How would I know if it is the best seminar that has ever been given in that department? So I said, “Lord, that department is probably 100 years old, so how will I know if it really is the best?” In light of the scripture that I had just read, I sensed that I should ask for some sign to know the level of quality of the seminar – a mountain of sorts, being cast into the sea. Then I said, “Lord, if it is the best seminar, I pray that Professor Negishi says that it was a super seminar.” s

Professor Negishi was the advisor for my Ph.D. research work that I completed several years earlier. He had never said that any of my work was super. On the contrary, when I was a graduate student in his research group, whenever I had done something that I thought was really good, he would face his palm downward and move his open hand horizontally in from of his belt buckle and say, “Pretty good, for your level.” I never seemed to get above his belt buckle. Therefore I was emphatic, “Lord, make it the best seminar, and confirm it by Professor Negishi saying that it was a super seminar.”

Before I ever give a seminar or a lecture, whether it be in my academic line of work such as a university chemistry lecture, or a Sunday school class exposition, I always pray and ask God to permit the Holy Spirit to overflow through my life. I cry, “Lord, blow them away through me. Hit them with the power of the Holy Spirit!” Yes, I find this equally important in the academic lectures that I administer. And it is always a delight to see God blow the socks off a bunch of unbelieving scientists and their students who think that they have the keys to the knowledge of life. As far as I’m concerned, there’s never a dull moment in service to Jesus in my secular line of work. And He certainly did not disappoint me on that day.

When I completed my seminar that afternoon, I knew that God had anointed and He had blessed. As soon as I concluded and thanked the audience for their attendance, Professor Negishi, who was sitting in the front row of the lecture hall, rose to his feet, raised his arm, pointed his index finger in the air and cried in his Japanese accent, “Soopa! Soopa!” Indeed, God had confirmed it! And I bowed my heart for a moment and quietly thanked Jesus before answering the audience’s questions.

As those in attendance were filing out, I walked over to 82-year-old Professor H. C. Brown, the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979. Professor Negishi had studied under the tutelage of Professor Brown, and due to the common academic lineage, Brown and I were also well acquainted. He was on the third row’s aisle seat, his common location. I extended my hand to shake his and I said, “Thank you for attending the seminar today.” While still holding my hand he said, “That was the best seminar I have ever seen in my life.” I replied, “That’s kind of you to say.” In a typical Nobel Laureate fashion, Professor Brown scolded, “I’m not saying it to be kind. I really mean it!” I again bowed my heart and praised God who fulfills His word in the lives of His children.

Indeed, the Lord confirmed His word that day as He has done for me many times through my simple practice of daily reading and meditating upon the words written in the Bible. Could that work for others? Yes! A thousand times, yes! How do I know? Because it is so written in the Bible. It’s God’s promise.

Every word of God proves true! (Proverbs 30:5a, ESV)

Tour's entire series of meditations Faith of a Scientist: The Impact of the Bible Upon a Christian Professor are well worth reading.

"Animadversions of a Synthetic Chemist"

From James Tour:

Life requires carbohydrates, nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins. What is the chemistry behind their origin? Biologists seem to think that there are well-understood prebiotic molecular mechanisms for their synthesis. They have been grossly misinformed. And no wonder: few biologists have ever synthesized a complex molecule ab initio. If they need a molecule, they purchase molecular synthesis kits, which are, of course, designed by synthetic chemists, and which feature simplistic protocols.

Polysaccharides? Their origin?

The synthetic chemists do not have a pathway.

The biologists do not have a clue.

[...]

Those who think scientists understand the issues of prebiotic chemistry are wholly misinformed. Nobody understands them. Maybe one day we will. But that day is far from today. It would be far more helpful (and hopeful) to expose students to the massive gaps in our understanding. They may find a firmer—and possibly a radically different—scientific theory.

The basis upon which we as scientists are relying is so shaky that we must openly state the situation for what it is: it is a mystery.

What would happen if we could arrange the atoms one by one the way we want them?

Some may already be familiar with Richard Feynman's classic lecture on nanotechnology (1959), which, by the way, contains assumptions as well as ideas overlapping with ID:

"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"

Philosopher's stone

Modern evolutionary theory posits descent with modification. Moreover, genetic modification occurs through various mechanisms - natural selection, mutation, gene flow, genetic drift. Most of this could be more or less acceptable to critics of neo-Darwinism like the ID theorists.

Panspermia

Naturalistic evolutionists often ask, what is the origin of life on Earth?

One theory is panspermia. This is the idea that life on Earth may have originated off-planet, and found a way to Earth. Perhaps "life" (e.g. microorganisms, molecules) hitched a ride from an asteroid that crash landed on Earth, where it found an environment in which it could replicate.

But how likely are microorganisms or molecules to survive a ride in space on an asteroid or the like all the way to Earth? Seems mighty unlikely to me. Isn't there still significant controversy over whether the meteorite dubbed "ALH 84001" may have contained "extraterrestrial life" (in the form of fossilized bacteria)?

However, even if life on Earth originated from a Martian meteorite, which originated from Mars, this only pushes the question back a step. Where did life on Mars originate?

Is the naturalistic evolutionist going to say another planet or moon or other celestial object? In our solar system? Outside our solar system?

If so, then this too pushes the question back a step. And the further steps we have to go back, the worse the probabilities would seem to become, no?

Particularly if all these steps are like ALH 84001 - a random happenstance. What are the chances that a Martian meteorite carrying life would land on Earth to produce life? If the bacteria from Mars originated on a different planet, then what are the chances it would have crashed on Mars? And so on and so forth until the odds would seem to be ridiculously absurd.

Perhaps one way the naturalistic evolutionist could improve the odds is by postulating directed panspermia. That is, intelligent aliens with the capacity for interstellar travel intentionally seeded various solar systems or planets with life. This is a staple of scifi films and literature. Take the most recent Aliens flick, Prometheus, for example.

However, I'm not sure how this improves probabilities either, for then we could likewise ask, from whence did these intelligent aliens with the ability to seed our planet with life come?

Another option is something like self-replicating molecules. If so, how is this essentially different to spontaneous generation, like flies emerging from spoiled foods?

Is it different because these molecules can "self-organize"? In that case, at a minimum, the right conditions for life to self-organize need to be met. This includes not only environmental conditions, but also the operation of specific physical, biochemical, and other forces. Moreover, what keeps "life" self-organized? Are we slipping into some variant of vitalism? And, again, probabilities?

Not sure there's a whole lot left to explain the origin of life on Earth. Certainly not "Godditit"!

Mystery of life's origin

The Mystery of Life's Origin: Reassessing Current Theories by Charles B. Thaxton, Walter L. Bradley, and Roger L. Olson is currently available to download for free (pdf).

What is macroevolution?

"A world-famous chemist tells the truth: there’s no scientist alive today who understands macroevolution."

Update: Here is a follow-up post.