I am glad that one of Miller's students had the vision to analyze the simulated volcanic samples. There is a saying in science, particularly true in the life sciences, chemistry and molecular biology, that science gets more difficult with each generation. As discoveries are made, scientists cherry pick the "easy" answers, leaving the more difficult questions for someone else. That seems to be the case with Miller choosing the simulated lightening created samples that created batches of amino acids overnight rather than trying to figure out the more complex mixtures created in the presence of steam. Which direction to go was likely made by Urey who had to consider the time, cost and likelihood that a more complex sample would yield significantly more data than the low-lying fruit. Given the lack of high-throughput analyzers that we have today, I understand his position. After all, it won him a Nobel prize and he and his student's names are in every advanced microbiology and biochemistry textbooks on the planet.
I remember reading about all that in the early 60's in National Geographic and Readers Digest. The pictures of the vessels creating the primordal soup were awesome to me.
