The Search For Our Cosmic Ancestry

by Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe

Overview

The idea that life is a cosmic, rather than a purely terrestrial phenomenon, has progressed from scientific heresy to mainstream science within the short timespan of a few decades. The theory of cometary panspermia developed by Fred Hoyle and the present author in the 1970's has been vindicated by a spate of new discoveries in astronomy and biology, and also with startling new evidence of microbial fossils in meteorites and micrometeorites. The recent Kepler Telescope searches for exoplanets have indicated the presence of over 100 billion habitable planets separated by only a few light years, thus making panspermia and the transfer of microbial life between such planets an inevitable fact. The book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe theory of cometary panspermia in a manner accessible to a wide general readership.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814616973
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	12/18/2014
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Dedication v

Preface vii

List of Tables xi

List of Figures xiii

Prologue xix

Chapter 1 The Genesis of Panspermia 1

Chapter 2 The Primordial Soup and Evolution 10

Chapter 3 Cosmological Context 21

Chapter 4 From Dust to Life 29

Chapter 5 Comets 41

Chapter 6 Cosmic Viruses in Our Genes 58

Chapter 7 Evidence from Epidemics 68

Chapter 8 Microorganisms Entering the Earth 84

Chapter 9 Planets of Life in the Solar System 96

Chapter 10 Search for Exoplanets 108

Chapter 11 Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 117

Chapter 12 Meteorite Clues 126

Chapter 13 Comet Impacts and Civilisation 143

Chapter 14 The Mystery of the Red Rain 159

Epilogue 170

Bibliography 176

Index 187