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Where did we come from? : autobiography of an astrophysicist / Chandra Wickramasinghe, Buckingham Center for Astrobiology, University of Buckingham, UK, & University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka ; edited by Kamala Wickramasinghe.
Van Pelt Library QB460.72.W53 W53 2015
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Wickramasinghe, Chandra, 1939-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Wickramasinghe, Chandra, 1939-.
- Hoyle, Fred, 1915-2001.
- Astrophysicists--Biography.
- Astrophysicists--Sri Lanka--Biography.
- Astrophysics.
- Exobiology.
- Life--Origin.
- Astrophysicists.
- Sri Lanka.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- Autobiographies.
- Physical Description:
- xi, 198 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Other Title:
- Autobiography of an astrophysicist
- Place of Publication:
- Hackensack, New Jersey : World Scientific, 2015.
- Summary:
- The life story of this book spans many stages of the life and scientific career of one of the foremost astrophysicists/astrobiologists of our times. Starting from his boyhood days, the book describes the author's scientific work over the past 50 years, the ground-breaking discoveries he had made, the controversies generated in the scientific community, and the gradual acceptance of his discoveries. Written in lucid non-technical language it captures the essence of the author's research at Cambridge, his lifelong collaborations with the legendary astronomer of the 20th century, Sir Fred Hoyle, the birth of the subject of astrobiology which they arguably "invented" in 1980, and his continuing ground-breaking research carried out while he was a Professor at Cardiff and later at Buckingham. The book traces the various influences that guided the author through his career, including that of his father who was a Cambridge Wrangler, and the profound influence of Buddhism in his early life. The author has published over 25 books and close to 300 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, over 60 of which were in the journal Nature. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- Chapter 1 To Begin at the Beginning 3
- Chapter 2 Through the Mists of Time 11
- Chapter 3 Sail Away on SS Scynthia 17
- Chapter 4 From School to University 25
- Chapter 5 Destination Cambridge 41
- Chapter 6 A Project Takes Shape 47
- Chapter 7 Grinding Out the Details 57
- Chapter 8 Launching the Carbon Dust Theory 69
- Chapter 9 The Data Leads the Way 81
- Chapter 10 From Cambridge to Cardiff 87
- Chapter 11 From Organic Dust to Ecodisasters 95
- Chapter 12 Diseases from Space 109
- Chapter 13 Galaxies Strewn With Micro-Organisms 119
- Chapter 14 Microfossils and Evolution 133
- Chapter 15 Arkansas and the Colombo Conference 141
- Chapter 16 The Lecture at SLBC 149
- Chapter 17 Archaeopteryx and the Return of Halley's Comet 159
- Chapter 18 Escape From Brewing Turmoil 167
- Chapter 19 Ice Ages and the Genesis of Racism 177
- Chapter 20 A New Millennium and the Taste of Things to Come 185.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9789814641395
- 9814641391
- 9789814641401
- 9814641405
- OCLC:
- 899138045
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