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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Robert Hazen, a research scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Geophysical Laboratory, will present the 2012 Thomas Condon Lecture on Thursday, Nov. 1, at Oregon State University.

The free public lecture, which is designed for a non-specialist audience, is titled "Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins." It begins at 7:30 p.m. in Austin Auditorium of the LaSells Stewart Center on campus, located at 26th Street and Western Boulevard in Corvallis.

Hazen also is the Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University. His research encompasses the origins of life and emergence of pre-biotic chemical complexity. Topics of particular interest include the interactions between minerals and organic molecules and how the living and non-living parts of Earth have co-evolved through time.

After receiving bachelor and master's degrees at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, Hazen earned a Ph.D. in mineralogy and crystallography from Harvard University in 1975.

Hazen will also give a more technical presentation on the topic "Mineral Evolution: The Co-Evolution of the Geosphere and Biosphere" in the George Moore Lecture. That event will begin at noon on Friday, Nov. 2, in Gilbert Hall Room 124. It is sponsored by the OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, and the OSU Research Office.

The Thomas Condon Lecture, named after a pioneer of Oregon geology, helps to interpret significant scientific research for non-scientists.