Authors:
- Offers a relatively unbiased account of the likelihood that extraterrestrial life exists Presents a text that has been class tested and reviewed in undergraduate and freshmen courses over many years Provides material that is suitable to teach at a large number of courses offered on this subject in the U.S. and elsewhere
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Astronomy (BRIEFSASTRON)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Bottom Up: What We Learn from Basic Science About the Likelihood of Extraterrestrial Life
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Front Matter
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”Bottom Up”: What we learn from Basic Science About the Likelihood of Extraterrestrial Life.
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Top Down: What We Learn from the Failure of Attempts to Detect Extraterrestrial Life
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Front Matter
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’Top Down’: What we learn from the failure of attempts to detect Extraterrestrial Life
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Back Matter
About this book
This book reviews the various scientific issues that arise in considering the question of how common extraterrestrial life is likely to be in our galaxy and whether humans are likely to detect it. The book stands out because of its very systematic organization and relatively unbiased treatment of the main open question. It covers all relevant aspects of many disciplines required to present the different possible answers.
It has and will provide undergraduates with a stimulating introduction to many of these fields at an early stage in their university careers, when they are still choosing a specialty. The difficulties and the range of possible answers to the title question are carefully addressed in the light of present understanding. The resulting perspective is distinctly different from those suggested by most other books on this topic.
Authors and Affiliations
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University of Minnesota, MN, School of Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis, USA
J. Woods Halley
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: How Likely is Extraterrestrial Life?
Authors: J. Woods Halley
Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Astronomy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22754-7
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: The Author(s) 2012
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-22753-0Published: 05 January 2012
eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-22754-7Published: 05 January 2012
Series ISSN: 2191-9100
Series E-ISSN: 2191-9119
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 151
Number of Illustrations: 22 b/w illustrations, 27 illustrations in colour
Topics: Astrobiology, Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics), Biogeosciences, Planetology