Miller, Stanley Lloyd, 1930-2007

Stanley Miller, a prominent biologist and chemist, was best known for his studies into the origins of life. He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1951 and his Ph.D from the University of Chicago in 1954. It was there, as a graduate student studying under Harold Urey, that Miller gained attention for his research into the origins of life. His publications resulted in attracting attention from both the scientific community and the popular press. Miller was a fellow at Caltech before going on to teach at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University from 1955 to 1960. He then joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1960 as a professor of chemistry. Along with his origins of life research, Miller helped to design and build a steam powered automobile, worked to create instrumentation for the search for life on Mars, and investigated in the natural occurrence of clathrate hydrates. In 1995 Miller retired from teaching and became professor emeritus.

Biography

Stanley Miller was born in Oakland, California, in 1930. He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1951 and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1954. It was there, as a graduate student studying under Harold Urey, that Miller gained attention for his research into the origins of life. As part of his graduate research, Miller created an electric discharge experiment which showed how amino acids could be generated from chemicals thought to have been present on the primitive earth. Miller's results were published by the journal Science in 1953, attracting attention from both the scientific community and the popular press.

After graduating from the University of Chicago, Miller took a year-long fellowship at Caltech. He went on to teach at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University from 1955 to 1960. He then joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1960 as a professor of chemistry. While at UCSD Miller served as a director of the NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training (NSCORT) for studies in exobiology.

Miller devoted much of his career to studying the origins of life, winning the Oparin Medal from the International Society of the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL) in 1983. Along with his origins of life research, Miller helped to design and build a steam powered automobile, worked to create instrumentation for the search for life on Mars, and investigated the natural occurrence of clathrate hydrates. In 1995 Miller retired from teaching and became a professor emeritus.

Stanley Miller passed away in 2007.