This paper presents in a concise way the main characteristics of life from the physical point of view and the most successful theories of biogenesis, together with a mathematical formulation and simulation of protobiogenesis. Part 1 is a state-of the-art report on the genetic foundations (genetic code, DNA, RNA, protein synthesis), the building blocks (amino acids, nucleobases), the structure and hierarchy of life (cells, tree of life) and the chemistry of life (metabolic pathways). Part 2 describes the evolution of terrestrial life according to the current knowledge. For the first three stages (extra-terrestrial prebiotic synthesis, prebiotic evolution, proto-PNA-RNA world) plausible scenarios are presented, for the next two stages (LUCA, DNA world) the evolution is described according to our current knowledge. Part 3 presents the mathematical formulation and simulation of the genetic proto-code model based on an empirical reaction model developed for life chemistry. Here the transition from the prebiotic chemistry to the first life cycle is calculated for two realistic scenarios: hydrothermal vent and lipid-bubbles.