ISSOL
ISSOL is the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life. As of 2009, the society has over 500 members representing over 20 countries in disciplines as varied as astronomy and molecular biology. The society’s supporting journal, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres (OLEB), has been publishing work in the field since 1968 and is the longest established and most authoritative journal for Astrobiology and origins of life research. ISSOL: the International Astrobiology Society has two current members who were awarded the Nobel prize for 2009 in Medicine (shared) and Chemistry, Jack W. Szostak and Ada Yonath, respectively. The leadership of the organization strives to be inclusive of ethnicity and gender, having elected the first woman president, Janet Siefert (2008–2011).
History
In 1957, the first International Conference of the Origin of Life (ICOL) met in Moscow, following with two more meetings, in 1963 in Wakulla Springs and in 1970 in Pont-à-Mousson. During a meeting in 1967 of the Radiation Research Society in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Alexander Oparin and his wife, Sidney Fox, Cyril Ponnamperuma and others discussed the possibility of gathering together those researchers who were studying origin of life initiatives using varied approaches, specifically with the intent of fostering interactions among the international community as an official society. Their idea was to gather together the various disciplines under one banner - ISSOL. In 1973, the Society was officially formed and had their first meeting in Barcelona, Spain The society’s beginning marked a confluence of scientific thought that made considering investigating the origin of life as more than speculative : Alexander Oparin’s work on the primordial soup, Sidney Fox’s efforts to understand autosynthesis of protocells; Cyril Ponnampenuma’s ideas of chemical evolution, and Stanley Miller’s and Harold Urey’s test of early earth conditions ability to produce organic compounds.
The society grew to sponsor international meetings on a three year cycle, varying the locales to enable fair access to all international partners. International participation in spaceflight programs in the 60’s provided an impetus to the growing origin of life community and specifically in the United States and the society through financial support from NASA. [...] Young, the first head of NASA’s Exobiology program, and the program itself was instrumental in providing direction and funding over the next several decades, which supported ISSOL and it’s members . As manned and unmanned space travel matured, the origin of life research initiatives and the interdisciplinary approaches needed became important to the space community. Real possibilities of detecting life on other bodies in our solar system became an attractive goal. The origin of life field became increasingly interdisciplinary, augmenting its membership with geologists, paleoatmosphere chemists, and astronomers and the society began reaching out to the wider community, providing a more astrobiological context to its meetings.
The term Astrobiology, though once outside the mainstream of scientific inquiry, was a formalized field of study as early as 1960, and in 1998 NASA established the Astrobiology Institute to perform research in astrobiology. Astrobiology became a global endeavor with international partners in Europe, Australia, Spain and England. In 2005 at the ISSOL meeting in Beijing, ISSOL determined that developments in interdisciplinary approaches of origin of life projects and the maturing Astrobiology discipline, provided an overlap in interest that needed to be reflected by ISSOL. The society voted and adopted a change to the name, as the International Astrobiology Society.
Medals and Honors
As the 3rd ISSOL meeting in 1980 in Jerusalem, the first Oparin medal was awarded to Cyril Ponnamperuma. The Oparin Medal, named in honor of the original founder, was created to recognize extraordinary achievement in the field. Subsequently a Urey Medal was also created and one or the other of these medals is presented to a recipient at each conference, voted on by his or her peers. At the conference in Florence in 2008, The Stanley L. Miller award was announced, providing recognition for outstanding researchers under the age of 37. Every three years ISSOL Fellows are voted on by the society and recognized.
Education Outreach and Growth of ISSOL
The International Astrobiology Society having served as the primary conference venue for Origin of Life Researchers is now actively pursuing activities to unite with the wider Astrobiology community. 2011 will see the first joint conference between ISSOL: The International Astrobiology Society and Bioastonromy 51. With substantially increased endowment and contribution from members, the society now has the ability and leadership to provide a wider scope of professional growth at all levels of expertise and from all disciplines, with a special emphasis on the young researcher.