Stanley Miller in 1953, who was then a graduate student of Harold Urey at the University of Chicago, circulated four gases - methane, ammonia, hydrogen and water vapour in an air tight apparatus and passed electrical discharges from electrodes. He passed the mixture through a condenser. He circulated the gases continuously in this way for one week and then analysed the chemical composition of the liquid inside the apparatus. He found a large number of simple organic compounds including some amino acid such as alanine, glycine and aspartic acid. Glutamic acid was not found.