The solar system formed from a cloud of interstellar gas and dust cloud about 4.6 billion years ago. Life began on earth about 3.5 billion years ago following a period of intense bombardment by asteroid fragments and comets, intense volcanism and finally development of a stable crust and a hospitable atmosphere. Thanks to ever more powerful telescopes and other state-of-the-art observational methods we are now able to directly see "stellar nurseries" and young stars at various stages of formation. In this talk we will learn about what triggers star formation in clouds, circumstellar disks and planet formation within the disks. Finally, we will discuss early life on earth. (#17644)