Addy Pross

{{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = 1945 | birth_place = Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel) | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | other_names = | fields = Chemistry, origin of life | workplaces = Stanford University, Lund University, Ben Gurion University, New York University Shanghai | education = University of Sydney | siglum = | pronounce = | citizenship =  | patrons = | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = Sever Sternhell | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = ''What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology'' | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | father = | mother = | relatives = | signature =  | signature_type = | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }} '''Addy Pross''' (born 1945) is an Israeli academic and author who is Emeritus Professor of chemistry at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His research interests lie in Theoretical chemistry, the physics-chemistry-biology relationship and the origin of life.<ref>{{cite web |title=Andy Pross |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/author/addy-pross-36751/ |website=mitpress.mit.edu |publisher=MIT Press |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref>

Born in Tel Aviv in 1945, Pross attended University of Sydney, receiving his B.A. with First Class Hons. in 1966 and then a Ph.D in Organic chemistry in 1970 under Sever Sternhell. He worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University and Lund University before being appointed professor of chemistry at the Ben Gurion University in 1986. Pross has also served as a Visiting Professor in a number of universities including Rutgers University, University of Auckland and as an ARC Professorial Fellow at Sydney University.<ref>{{cite web |title=Addy Pross |url=https://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/addy-pross |website=thethirdwayofevolution.com |access-date=30 December 2025}}</ref>

In 2004 Pross co-authored with Vladimir Khodorkovsky a research paper called "Extending the concept of kinetic stability: toward a paradigm for life" which was published in the ''Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pross |first1=Addy |last2=Khodorkovsky |first2=Vladimir |title=Extending the concept of kinetic stability: toward a paradigm for life |journal=Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry |date=April 2004 |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=312-316 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/poc.729}}</ref> With regard to the Genes-first hypothesis he argued that though unlikely, the emergence of a replicating system that then develops metabolism is more likely than the emergence of a metabolic system that becomes replicative or a replicative metabolic system.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pross |first=Addy |date=June 2004 |title=Causation and the Origin of Life. Metabolism or Replication First? |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1023/B:ORIG.0000016446.51012.bc |journal=Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere |language=en |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=307–321 |doi=10.1023/B:ORIG.0000016446.51012.bc |pmid=15068037 |bibcode=2004OLEB...34..307P |issn=0169-6149|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 2010 Pross became a member of the editorial board at ''Life (journal)''. His 2012 book ''What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology'' was published by Oxford University Press<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pross |first1=Addy |title=What is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=UK |url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/What_is_Life/M_6YSuKCzVsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref> and has been produced in nearly a dozen languages.<ref>{{cite web |title=Addy Pross |url=https://iai.tv/home/speakers-and-authors/addy-pross |website=iai.tv |publisher=The Institute of Art and Ideas |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref> Regarding a definition of life Pross has come to see both life and Abiogenesis as processes governed by the laws of chemistry.<ref name="Pross 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Pross |first1=Addy |last2=Pascal |first2=Robert |title=The origin of life: what we know, what we can know and what we will never know |journal=Open Biology |volume=3 |issue=3 |date=2013 |pmid=23466673 |pmc=3718341 |doi=10.1098/rsob.120190 |doi-access=free|article-number=120190}}</ref>

In 2014 Pross started working as a visiting professor at New York University Shanghai. In 2023 the book ''Evolution "On Purpose": Teleonomy in Living Systems'' co-edited by Pross along with Peter Corning, Stuart Kauffman, Denis Noble, James A. Shapiro and Richard I. Vane-Wright stated in the introduction that "Teleonomy in living systems is not, after all, only "apparent". It is a fundamental fact of life."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Corning |first1=P A |last2=Kauffman |first2=S A |last3=Noble |first3=D |last4=Shapiro |first4=J A |last5=Vane-Wright |first5=R I |last6=Pross |first6=A |title=Evolution "On Purpose": Teleonomy in Living Systems |date=2023 |publisher=MIT Press |location=USA |page=6 |url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Evolution_On_Purpose/ynOdEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref> In 2024 Pross appeared on Sean M. Carroll's ''Mindscape'' podcast.<ref>{{cite web |title=294 - Addy Pross on Dynamics, Stability, and Life |url=https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/10/28/294-addy-pross-on-dynamics-stability-and-life/ |website=preposterousuniverse.com |publisher=Sean Carroll |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref>

==Publications==

===Books===

*Addy Pross (2012) ''What is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology'' Oxford University Press *Addy Pross (1995) ''Theoretical and Physical Principles of Organic Reactivity'' Willey<ref>{{cite web |title=Theoretical and Physical Principles of Organic Reactivity |url=https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Theoretical+and+Physical+Principles+of+Organic+Reactivity-p-9780471555995 |website=wiley.com |publisher=Wiley |access-date=27 December 2025}}</ref>

===Journal articles===

*A Pross, R Pascal (2023) On the emergence of autonomous chemical systems through dissipation kinetics ''Life'' 13 (11), 2171 *R Pascal, A Pross (2023) Mind from Matter: The Chemical Connection ''Israel Journal of Chemistry'' 63 (7-8), e202300038 *R Pascal, A Pross (2022) On the chemical origin of biological cognition ''Life'' 12 (12), 2016 *A Pross, R Pascal (2022) Dynamic kinetic stability: Toward the physicalization of biology ''APS March Meeting Abstracts'' 2022, A14. 001 *A Pross (2021) How was Nature able to discover its own Laws — Twice? ''Life'' 11 (7), 679 *A Pross (2020) COVID‐19, Globalization, De‐globalization and the Slime Mold's Lessons for Us All ''Israel journal of chemistry'' 60 (8-9), 905-906 *A Pross (2019) Seeking to uncover Biology's Chemical Roots ''Emerging topics in life sciences'' 3 (5), 435-443 *R Pascal, A Pross (2019) Chemistry’s kinetic dimension and the physical basis for life ''Journal of Systems Chemistry'' 7 (1), 1–8 *A Pross (2018) Early life on Earth: Tracing the Chemical Path from Non-living to Living ''Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union'' 14 (S345), 206-214 *A Pross (2018) Purpose & Desire: What Makes Something “Alive” and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It ''The Quarterly Review of Biology'' 93 (1), 18-19 *A Pross, R Pascal (2017) How and why kinetics, thermodynamics, and chemistry induce the logic of biological evolution ''Beilstein journal of organic chemistry'' 13 (1), 665-674 *R Pascal, A Pross (2017) A roadmap toward synthetic protolife ''Synlett'' 28 (01), 30-35 *R Pascal, A Pross (2016) The logic of life ''Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres'' 46 (4), 507-513 *A Pross (2016) Physical organic chemistry and the origin of life problem: A personal perspective ''Israel Journal of Chemistry'' 56 (1), 83-88 *G Ashkenasy, A Pross (2015) Origin of Life: Special Issue Honoring Prof. Albert Eschenmoser on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday ''Israel Journal of Chemistry'' 55 (8), 835-836 *R Pascal, A Pross (2015) Stability and its manifestation in the chemical and biological worlds ''Chemical Communications'' 51 (90), 16160-16165 *R Pascal, A Pross (2014) The nature and mathematical basis for material stability in the chemical and biological worlds ''Journal of Systems Chemistry'' 5 (1), 3 *R Pascal, A Pross, JD Sutherland (2013) Towards an evolutionary theory of the origin of life based on kinetics and thermodynamics ''Open Biology'' 3 (11), 130156 *A Pross (2013) Dynamic kinetic stability (DKS) as a conceptual bridge linking chemistry to biology ''Current Organic Chemistry'' 17 (16), 1702-1703 *A Pross (2013) The evolutionary origin of biological function and complexity ''Journal of molecular evolution'' 76 (4), 185-191 *A Pross, R Pascal (2013) The origin of life: what we know, what we can know and what we will never know ''Open biology'' 3 (3), 120190 *A Pross (2012) How does biology emerge from chemistry? ''Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres'' 42 (5), 433-444 *R Armon, U Charpa, E Davidson, U Deichmann, R Falk, J Glass, S Glick, M Laubichler, M Morange, I Nevo, A Pross, S Roth, V Shoshan-Barmatz (2012) Final Discussion: Issues and Challenges for the Future ''Perspectives in Biology and Medicine'' 55 (4), 608-611 *A Pross (2011) Toward a general theory of evolution: Extending Darwinian theory to inanimate matter ''Journal of Systems Chemistry'' 2 (1), 1 *N Wagner, A Pross (2011) The nature of stability in replicating systems ''Entropy'' 13 (2), 518-527 *A Pross (2010) Commentary on "life as a unity or confederacy" ''Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere'' 40, 478-480 *A Pross (2010) Commentary on "plausibility of an RNA World" ''Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere'' 40, 434-437 *N Wagner, A Pross, E Tannenbaum (2010) Selection advantage of metabolic over non-metabolic replicators: a kinetic analysis ''Biosystems'' 99 (2), 126-129 *A Pross (2009) Seeking the chemical roots of Darwinism: bridging between chemistry and biology ''Chemistry: A European Journal'' 15 (34), 8374-8381 *A Pross (2008) How can a chemical system act purposefully? Bridging between life and non‐life ''Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry'' 21 (7‐8), 724-730 *A Pross (2008) How can a chemical system act purposefully ''Bridging between life and non-life''. J *A Pross (2005) On the chemical nature and origin of teleonomy ''Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres'' 35 (4), 383-394 *A Pross (2005) On the emergence of biological complexity: life as a kinetic state of matter ''Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres'' 35 (2), 151-166 *A Pross (2005)Stability in chemistry and biology: Life as a kinetic state of matter ''Pure and Applied Chemistry'' 77 (11), 1905-1921 *A Pross (2004) Causation and the origin of life. Metabolism or replication first? ''Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere'' 34 (3), 307-321 *A Pross, V Khodorkovsky (2004) Extending the concept of kinetic stability: toward a paradigm for life ''Journal of physical organic chemistry'' 17 (4), 312-316 *ML Coote, A Pross, L Radom (2004) Understanding Alkyl Substituent Effects in RO Bond Dissociation Reactions in Open-and Closed-Shell Systems ''Fundamental World of Quantum Chemistry: A Tribute to the Memory of Per-Olov'' … *ML Coote, A Pross, L Radom (2003) Variable Trends in R−X Bond Dissociation Energies (R = Me, Et, i-Pr, t-Bu) ''Organic Letters'' 5 (24), 4689-4692 *A Pross (2003) The driving force for life's emergence: kinetic and thermodynamic considerations ''Journal of theoretical Biology'' 220 (3), 393-406 *TI Sølling, A Pross, L Radom (2001) A high-level ab initio investigation of identity and nonidentity gas-phase SN2 reactions of halide ions with halophosphines ''International Journal of Mass Spectrometry'' 210, 1-11 *L Radom, MW Wong, A Pross (1998) Radical Addition to Alkenes: A Theoretical Perspective *L Radom, MW Wong, A Pross (1997) Theoretical aspects of radical reactions ''American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry'' … *L Radom, MW Wong, A Pross, JPA Heuts, RG Gilbert (1997) Theoretical aspects of free radical reactions ''Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society'' 213, 260-260 *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, HB Schlegel, RD Bach, L Radom (1996) Gas-Phase Identity SN2 Reactions of Halide Anions and Methyl Halides with Retention of Configuration ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 118 (45), 11258-11264 *MN Glukhovtsev, S Laiter, A Pross (1996 )Thermochemical assessment of the aromatic and antiaromatic characters of the cyclopropenyl cation, cyclopropenyl anion, and cyclopropenyl radical: A high-level computational study ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry'' 100 (45), 17801-17806 *JPA Heuts, A Pross, L Radom (1996) Hydrogen transfer between ethyl radical and ethylene: An example where kinetics does not follow thermodynamics ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry'' 100 (43), 17087-17089 *MN Glukhovtsev, RD Bach, A Pross, L Radom (1996) The performance of B3-LYP density functional theory in describing SN2 reactions at saturated carbon ''Chemical physics letters'' 260 (5-6), 558-564 *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom (1996) Gas-Phase Non-Identity SN2 Reactions of Halide Anions with Methyl Halides: A High-Level Computational Study ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 118 (26), 6273-6284 *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, MP McGrath, L Radom (1996) Erratum: Extension of Gaussian-2 (G2) theory to bromine-and iodine-containing molecules: Use of effective core potentials ''The Journal of Chemical Physics'' 104 (9), 3407 *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom (1996) Acidities, proton affinities, and other thermochemical properties of hypohalous acids HOX (X= F− I): A high-level computational study ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry'' 100 (9), 3498-3503 *A Pross, H Zipse (1996) Theoretical and Physical Principles of Organic Reactivity ''Angewandte Chemie''-English Edition 35 (16), 1866-1866 *A Pross (1995) Theoretical and physical principles of organic reactivity (No Title) *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom (1995) Gas-phase identity SN2 reactions of halide ions at neutral nitrogen: A high-level computational study ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 117 (35), 9012-9018 *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, MP McGrath, L Radom (1995) Extension of Gaussian‐2 (G2) theory to bromine‐and iodine‐containing molecules: Use of effective core potentials ''The Journal of chemical physics'' 103 (5), 1878-1885 *MN Glukhovtsev, S Laiter, A Pross (1995) Thermochemistry of cyclobutadiene and tetrahedrane: A high-level computational study ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry'' 99 (18), 6828-6831 *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom (1995) Gas-phase identity SN2 reactions of halide anions with methyl halides: a high-level computational study ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 117 (7), 2024-2032 *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, A Nicolaides, L Radom (1995) Is the most stable gas-phase isomer of the benzenium cation a face-protonated π-complex? ''Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications'', 2347-2348 *MN Glukhovtsev, JE Szulejko, TB McMahon, JW Gauld, AP Scott, B J Smith, A Pross, L Radom (1994) New theoretical and experimental proton affinities for methyl halides and diazomethane: A revision of the methyl cation affinity scale ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry'' 98 (50), 13099-13101 *MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom (1994) Addition of tert-butyl radical to substituted alkenes: a theoretical study of the reaction mechanism ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 116 (26), 11938-11943 *MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom (1994) Comparison of the addition of CH3. bul., CH2OH. bul., and CH2CN. bul. Radicals to substituted alkenes: A theoretical study of the reaction mechanism ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 116 (14), 6284-6292 *MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom (1994) Is SN2 substitution with inversion of configuration at vinylic carbon feasible? ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 116 (13), 5961-5962 *MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom (1994) The Mechanism of Radical-Addition to Alkenes ''Abstracts of Papers of The American Chemical Society'' 207, 242-ORGN *A Pross, SS Shaik, HB Schlegel, S Wolfe (1994) Theoretical Aspects of Physical Organic Chemistry. The SN2 Mechanism ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 116 (18), 8434-8434 *S Shaik, A Ioffe, AC Reddy, A Pross (1994) Is the avoided crossing state a good approximation for the transition state of a chemical reaction? An analysis of Menschutkin and ionic SN2 reactions ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 116 (1), 262-273 *MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom (1993) Are polar interactions important in the addition of methyl radical to alkenes? ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 115 (23), 11050-11051 *MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom (1993) Addition of methyl radical to substituted alkenes: a theoretical study of the reaction mechanism ''Israel journal of chemistry'' 33 (4), 415-425 *A Pross, S Shaik (1992) What is a Good Approximation for the Transition State of an SN2 Reaction? ''Croatica Chemica Acta'' 65 (3), 625-631 *A Pross, H Yamataka, S Nagase (1991) Reactivity in radical abstraction reactions: Application of the curve crossing model ''Journal of physical organic chemistry'' 4 (3), 135-140 *A Pross, RA Moss (1990) A curve crossing approach to carbenic reactivity ''Tetrahedron letters'' 31 (32), 4553-4556 *SS Shaik, A Pross (1989) Nucleophilic attack on cation radicals and cations. A theoretical analysis ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 111 (12), 4306-4312 *A Pross, SS Shaik (1987) Brønsted coefficients. Do they measure transition state structure? ''New Journal of Chemistry'' 13 (6), 427-433 *AJ Shusterman, I Tamir, A Pross (1988) The mechanism of organometallic migration reactions. A configuration mixing (CM) approach ''Journal of Organometallic Chemistry'' 340 (2), 203-222 *A Pross (1987) Relationship between Nucleophilic Reactions and Single-Electron Transfer: Application to Reactions of Radical Cations ''Nucleophilicity'' Chapter 23, 331-338 *A Pross, DM Chipman (1987) The single-electron shift as a basis of organic reactivity ''Free Radical Biology and Medicine'' 3 (1), 55-64 *A Pross (1986) Can nucleophiles attack radical cations directly? "Allowed" and "forbidden" polar reactions. ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 108 (12), 3537-3538 *A Pross (1985) The single electron shift as a fundamental process in organic chemistry: the relationship between polar and electron-transfer pathways. ''Accounts of Chemical Research'' 18 (7), 212-219 *A Pross (1985) Factors Governing the Competition Between Nucleophilic and Single-electron Transfer Processes. ''Abstracts of Papers of The American Chemical Society'' 190 (SEP), 92-ORN *A Pross (1985), Limitations of the Reactivity—Selectivity Principle. Application to Free Radical Addition to Alkenes and Nucleophilic Aliphatic Substitution. ''Israel Journal of Chemistry'' 26 (4) 390-394

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pross, Addy}} Category:1945 births Category:Academic staff of the University of Sydney Category:University of Sydney alumni Category:Organic chemists Category:20th-century Australian chemists Category:Israeli scientists Category:Academic staff of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Category:Living people