Category: Uncategorized

THE BACKWATER OF CURIOSITY. “The search for life in the universe is a major theme of astronomy and astrophysics for the next decade. This approach has been endorsed in prior Decadal Reviews and National Academies reports, and yet the field still receives almost no federal support in the US.” https://lnkd.in/djnMhU6 View in LinkedIn

MILESTONE FINDING ON RUSSIAN SPACESHIP (2020). “During the course of research investigation, viable spores of the microorganisms were periodically detected in the samples taken on the outer surface of the International Space Station. Among samples taken in 2016, a consortium of non-spore-forming bacteria was found on the outside of the porthole, which consisted of Agrococcus jenensis, Skermanella aerolata, Deinococcus aerolatus, and Staphylococcus hominis.” A first! https://lnkd.in/d7y7we4 View in LinkedIn

STUNNING PREDICTION. “On the nature of interstellar grains (1979), by F. Hoyle & C. Wickramasinghe. " "“The strongest of the diffuse interstellar bands are provisionally assigned to carotenoid-chlorophyll pigment complexes such as exist in algae and pigmented bacteria. The λ2200 Å interstellar absorption feature could be due to ‘degraded’ cellulose strands which form spherical graphitic particles, but could equally well be due to protein-lipid-nucleic acid complexes in bacteria and viruses. Interstellar extinction at wavelengths λ

ORGANIC MOLECULES IN SPACE PREDICTED. “Identification of the λ2, 200Å interstellar absorption feature (1977), by F. Hoyle & C. Wickramasinghe. “Here we identify this band as representing the integrated effect of a set of bicyclic compounds, each with the empirical formula C8H6N2. Such nitrogenated structures could form in stellar mass flows of the type which we have also discussed. A significant mass fraction of all interstellar material might exist in this form.” https://lnkd.in/dkEHZXn View in LinkedIn

NOT UNIQUE TO EARTH. “The implications of this point of view, which was developed in conjunction with the late Sir Fred Hoyle since the 1970s, are now becoming amenable to direct empirical test by studies of pristine organic material in the stratosphere. The ancient theory of panspermia may be on the verge of vindication, in which case the entire universe would be a grand crucible of cryomicrobiology.” (Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, 2004). https://lnkd.in/dFRBz2F View in LinkedIn

IT ONLY TAKES A TINY FRACTION. “A minuscule (10(−21)) survival rate of freeze-dried bacteria in space is all that is needed to ensure the continual re-cycling of cosmic microbial life in the galaxy. Evidence that terrestrial life may have come from elsewhere in the solar system has accumulated over the past decade.” (Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, 2004). https://lnkd.in/dFRBz2F View in LinkedIn

“PANSPERMIA, an ancient idea, posits that microbial life is ubiquitous in the Universe. After several decades of almost irrational rejection, panspermia is at last coming to be regarded as a serious contender for the beginnings of life on our planet. Astronomical data is shown to be consistent with the widespread distribution of complex organic molecules and dust particles that may have a biological" "provenance.” (Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, 2004). https://lnkd.in/dFRBz2F View in LinkedIn

THE QUESTION FRAMED. “The idea that in the whole Universe life is unique to the Earth is essentially pre-Copernican. Experience has now repeatedly taught us that this type of thinking is very likely wrong. Why should our own infinitesimal niche in the Universe be unique?” (Fred Hoyle & Chandra Wickramasinghe, Lifecloud, 1968) https://lnkd.in/dKwTbHA View in LinkedIn

COMPELLED TO FOLLOW THE DATA. “I was hesitating from taking the step of supposing diseases came from comets, still fearing ridicule, still hearing in my imagination the derisive laughter of university commonrooms (overlaid by a pervasive clink of coffee cups) when at last I was swayed by a curious and seemingly inconsequential detail.” (Professor Fred Hoyle). A passage that is hard to forget, https://lnkd.in/d6s_-HE View in LinkedIn

IT STARTED WITH INTERSTELLAR DUST. The speculations of Fred Hoyle & Chandra Wickramasinghe started with the unlikely subject of interstellar dust. Who would devote a chunk of their life to the study of such a subject? As unlikely a start to astrobiology, this was the beginning, most famously in the then outrageous idea that much of this dust was composed of desiccated bacteria and viruses. View in LinkedIn