The Biological Universe: The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science

About this book

Throughout the twentieth century from the furor over Percival Lowells claim of canals on Mars to the sophisticated Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence otherworldly life has often intrigued and occasionally consumed science and the public. The Biological Universe provides a rich and colorful history of the attempts during the twentieth century to answer questions such as whether "biological law" reigns throughout the universe and whether there are other histories religions and philosophies outside those on Earth. Covering a broad range of topics including the search for life in the solar system the origins of life UFOs and aliens in science fiction Steven J. Dick shows how the concept of extraterrestrial intelligence is a world view of its own a "biophysical cosmology" that seeks confirmation no less than physical views of the universe. This book will fascinate astronomers historians of science biochemists and science fiction readers.