This course explores one of the most enduring mysteries in science: the origin of life on Earth and, potentially, beyond. Emphasizing the feedback between laboratory experiments and geochemical evidence, we will examine how natural chemical systems could have given rise to biology with an interdisciplinary approach, spanning prebiotic chemistry, geochemistry, and planetary science. We will investigate early Earth environments alongside the chemistries these settings could have supported. From there, we will discuss key transitions from geochemistry to biochemistry, including the abiotic synthesis of biomolecules, the origin of homochirality, non-enzymatic replication of an early genome, and the emergence of metabolic networks. Extending beyond Earth, we will also explore environments across the solar system, particularly Mars and the icy moons, as well as exoplanetary systems. We will study space missions that constrain plausible abiotic chemistries and consider how these constraints guide the search for life beyond our planet. The course objective is to provide the student with a working framework for understanding life’s emergence based on the available geochemical evidence and laboratory studies.