Life in the Universe

by John Billingham

Overview

Life in the Universe was originally published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as the proceedings of a conference held at the NASA Ames Research Center in 1979. It was designed to address the broad questions of life in a roughly chronological sequence, dealing in turn with present theories of the physical and chemical events in the story of cosmic evolution, with the environments in which life can originate and evolve, to the evolutionary patterns which allow the emergence of complex biological systems, including intelligent beings, and finally to the possibility that we may now be able to detect the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781410202420
Publisher:	University Press of the Pacific
Publication date:	09/30/2002
Pages:	472
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.95(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John Billingham is Chief of the Extraterrestrial Research Division at NASA Ames Research Center.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A fascinating and richly eventful tapestry of cosmic evolution... Eric Chaisson of Harvard University began... by compressing 18 billion years of cosmic history into a 30-minute overview, tantalizing his audience with a number of insights and observations... Lynn Margulis of Boston University gave a very lively presentation of the profound interrelationships and interdependence between life forms and the planetary environment... Philip Morrison of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ended... with some philosophical reflections... We see here the merging of many disciplines and the coming together of many points of view - all of which lend strength to the enterprise. Enough has been learned to suggest strongly to many scientists that the rise of organic life, and probably of intelligence, may be an intrinsic part of cosmic evolution and not a mere accident of the earth's history." Cosmic Search

Editorial Reviews

"A fascinating and richly eventful tapestry of cosmic evolution... Eric Chaisson of Harvard University began... by compressing 18 billion years of cosmic history into a 30-minute overview, tantalizing his audience with a number of insights and observations. Lynn Margulis of Boston University gave a very lively presentation of the profound interrelationships and interdependence between life forms and the planetary environment. Philip Morrison of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ended... with some philosophical reflections... We see here the merging of many disciplines and the coming together of many points of view—all of which lend strength to the enterprise. Enough has been learned to suggest strongly to many scientists that the rise of organic life, and probably of intelligence, may be an intrinsic part of cosmic evolution and not a mere accident of the earth's history." Cosmic Search

From the Publisher