Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-gwv8j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-17T19:35:27.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Elements for the history of a long quest: search for life in the Universe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2013

Danielle Briot
Danielle Briot*
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014, Paris, France e-mail: danielle.briot@obspm.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Drake formula, it appears timely to briefly review the history of Astrobiology from the origins up to the epoch of the Drake formula. After reminding the main steps of this history during Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, we point out some little known or unknown studies published during the Modern and Contemporary epochs. Then we review the importance of Astrobiology and the search for life in the Universe in scientific publications during the 20th century.

Keywords

astrobiologyastrobotanyastronomyhistory

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 12 , Special Issue 3: The Drake Equation , July 2013 , pp. 254 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Badinter, E. (2008). L'infant de Parme. Fayard, Paris.Google Scholar
Briot, D. (2012a). Is it the first use of the word Astrobiology? Astrobiology 12(12), 1154–1156.Google Scholar
Briot, D. (2012b). The creator of astrobotany, G.A. Tikhov. In Astrobiology, History, and Society: Life Beyond Earth and the Impact of Discovery, ed. Vakoch, D.A., Springer, Heidelberg, pp. 175–185.Google Scholar
Condillac, E.B.de (1775). Cours d’étude pour l'instruction du prince de Parme, T. 8, L'art de raisonner. Imprimerie Royale, Parma.Google Scholar
Copernicus, N. (1543). De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. Johan Petreius, Nuremberg.Google Scholar
Crowe, M.J. (2008). The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, Antiquity to 1915. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana.Google Scholar
Democritus, according to Hippolytus, Reflexions of the Heresies, 1 13 2, in Diels and Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, vol. 2, Section 68 A 40, p. 94, Translation from Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 2, p. 405.Google Scholar
Dick, S.J. (1982). Plurality of Worlds – The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Fontenelle, B.l.B.d. (1686). Entretien sur la Pluralité des Mondes. VVe, Paris. [Blageart C.– Engl. transl. used here: (1803). Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, translated by Gunning, E., J. Cundee, London]Google Scholar
Galilei, G. (1610). Sidereus Nuuncius. Thomas Baglioni, Venice.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruntman, M. (2007). From Astronautics to Cosmonautics. Book-Surge, LLC, North Charleston, SC.Google Scholar
Kepler, J. (1610). Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidero. Sedesanus, D., Praha.Google Scholar
Lafleur, L.J. (1941). Astrobiology. Astron. Soc. Pacific. Vol. 35, Leaflet no. 143, 133.Google Scholar
Lederberg, J. (1960). Exobiology: approaches to life beyond the Earth. Science 132, 393–400.Google Scholar
Mamikunian, G. (1965). In Current Aspects of Exobiology. ed. Mamikunian, G. & Briggs, M.H.Pergamon Press, New-York, p. viii.Google Scholar
Raulin-Cerceau, F. (2011). D'autres planètes habitées dans l'Univers? Ellipses, Paris.Google Scholar
Schiaparelli, G.V. (1882a). On some observations of Saturn and Mars. Observatory 5, 221–224.Google Scholar
Schiaparelli, G.V. (1882b). Découvertes nouvelles sur la planète Mars. L'Astronomie 1, 216–221.Google Scholar
Secchi, A. (1858). Schreiben des Herrn professors Secchi, directors des Sternwarte des Collegio Romano, an den Herausgeber. Astron. Nachr. 49, 73–74.Google Scholar
Sternfeld, A.J. (1935). La vie dans l'Univers. La Nature, Masson et Cie Eds. N◦2956, July 1, pp. 1–12, Paris.Google Scholar
Tiphaine de la Roche, C.-F. (1753). Amilec ou la graine d'hommes. Ch. Hugéné, Lunéville-English translation : Tiphaine de la Roche, C.-F. (1753). Amilec or the seeds of mankind (published anonymously), W. Needham, London.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.G. (1958). Problems common to the fields of astronomy and biology: a symposium-introduction. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific 70, 41–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar