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Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Biosciences Année : 2007

Fifty years ago: The beginnings of exobiology

Résumé

My aim is neither to retrace the complete history of exobiology and astrobiology - this would take too long, and has already been excellently done (Dick and Strick 2005) - nor to focus on questions of science policy, the action of NASA as a scientific entrepreneur or how the politic context, the Cold War, impacted on space research in general, and exobiology in particular (Wolfe 2002). Instead, I intend to describe the contrasting attitude of biologists towards the rise of exobiology, and the search for life on planets other than Earth, from the enthusiasm of Lederberg, Alexander Rich and Norman Horowitz to the harsh criticisms of George Simpson, Ernst Mayr, and most evolutionary biologists. The debate which was initiated then is still active today, and knowledge of this historical episode can help us avoid repeating the same arguments as those exchanged at this period. More interestingly, a careful description of this past debate reveals different opinions about what life is and how it evolved that are still prevalent among biologists.
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halshs-00791759 , version 1 (21-02-2013)

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  • HAL Id : halshs-00791759 , version 1

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Michel Morange. Fifty years ago: The beginnings of exobiology. Journal of Biosciences, 2007, 32 (6), pp.1083-1087. ⟨halshs-00791759⟩
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