The story of the origin of the elements is intimately intertwined with the
evolution of our universe. It is also a central part of the evolution of life on Earth.
The elements that make up our bodies reflect the cosmic abundance of the
elements, and their presents on the Earth is, itself, part of the evolutionary history
of stars. As Neil de Grasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and the director of New York
City’s Hayden Planetarium, has put it: “We are not simply in the universe; we are
born from it.” (Tyson 1998).