As a young student in Russia, Alexander Oparin learned about Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. However, even though it was a convincing theory of how life on earth had evolved, it did not have anything to say about how it started.

Oparin decided to devote his scientific career to this important problem. In 1924 he published a short book (in Russian) with the straightforward title The Origin of Life. Inspired by Darwin, Oparin basically outlined a theory of chemical evolution.

Read Wim HORDIJK´s part 2 of his article series on the history of life research: https://orbitermag.com/how-did-life-begin-part-2/