Alexander Oparin

Alexander Ivanovich Oparin was born in Russia on 2 March 1894. A Soviet biochemist, he spent years studying how plant cells process materials and how enzymes work inside them, but his lasting mark came from a different question: how did life start at all? His book *The Origin of Life* laid out the idea that organic compounds formed in early Earth's seas and grew more complex until something crossed the threshold into biology. He also turned that biochemical lens on industry, showing that food production ran on biocatalysis and building the framework for industrial biochemistry across the USSR.…