Lecture for Vereniging Gemma Frisius

Astrobiologie: onderzoek naar de oorsprong van het leven met behulp van de ALMA-radiotelescoop

Where did the molecules of life come from? Astrochemistry, the interdisciplinary study of chemical reactions in space, is a powerful tool in addressing this question. Numerous recent discoveries of molecules in star- and planet-forming environments has strengthened the link between astronomy, chemistry, and biology bringing focus onto the question of the origin of life on Earth. Using the ground-based observatory Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the soon-to-launch James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we can study how prebiotic molecules (those that can lead to biological molecules) are formed and how they survive the planet-forming process. The prebiotic molecule formamide (NH2CHO) has become very important in the past decade because it is thought to lead to the simplest amino acid, glycine. Understanding how amino acids form is necessary, but the formation pathway for formamide in space is disputed. In this lecture, you will discover the connection between gas in space and yourself.