How do humans construct their knowledge of the origin of life?

As well as observing the living beings (animal, vegetal, microorganisms, etc.) that inhabit our planet, the transition between the non-living and the living can be studied in rock forms and minerals, both on Earth and in extraterrestrial environments.

This first workshop on the ‘life of stones’ will bring together geosciences, history and anthropology to develop an interdisciplinary approach to this question.

Geosciences

9h00 Pierre Sans Jofre, Museum national d’histoire naturelle, The Geology Collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris: Origin of the collection and a dedicated collection for the origins

9h30 Sylvain Bernard, CNRS, Museum national d’histoire naturelle, Searching for extraterrestrial life: What would traces of ancient Martian life look like today?

10h00 Jean Duprat, CNRS, Museum national d’histoire naturelle, From terrestrial collections to spatial sample return missions, the National Center for Extraterrestrial Materials at MNHN

10h30 Tea break

Anthropology & History of Science

11h00 Perig Pitrou, CNRS, Maison Française Oxford, Life of Stones: Anthropological approaches

11h30 Charlotte Bigg, CNRS, Origins of Life and Earth: Historical Approaches

11h30 General Discussion 

12h15 Lunch