Question to Contemplate
Who was among the first scientists begin to theorize about the Origins of Life?
a.  James Watson and Francis Crick
b.  Charles Darwin
c.  Gregor Mendel
d.  Sir Hans Krebs
e.  Stanley Miller

Charles Darwin...
in a letter he wrote, dated 1 February 1871, to his close friend, the naturalist James Dalton Hooker, Darwin outlined the beginning of a hypothesis that would intrigue scientist for decades to come.
"It is often said that all the conditions for the first production of a living organism are now present, which could ever have been present. But if we could conceive in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity etc. present, that a protein compound was chemically formed , ready to undergo still more complex changes, at the present day such matter would be instantly devoured, or absorbed, which would not have been the case before living creatures were formed."
Darwin imagined life began with a protein, but protein's amino acid structure wasn't known until 1902, nor DNA until 1953. But, Darwin envisioned the need for a range of chemicals to become concentrated in a small space and the need for an energy source that could drive chemical reactions.