Our PI Albert Rimola participated in a day of commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Prof. Joan Oró, which took place in his hometown, Lleida, giving a talk on the Chemistry of the origin of life.
Joan Oró is the most famous Catalan astrobiologist of all time, and developed his scientific career at the University of Houston. He discovered the synthesis of adenine (a key biomolecule in DNA/RNA and ATP) from HCN condensation reactions catalysed by NH3. He was also responsible for analysing lunar samples collected by the Apollo 11 mission and was a consultant to NASA on the Viking missions.
Link to the talk (in catalan):