Astrobiología: Del Big Bang a Las Civilizaciones

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Astrobiología: Del Big Bang a Las Civilizaciones Astrobiología: del Big Bang a las Civilizaciones Guillermo A. Lemarchand y Gonzalo Tancredi (eds.) Tópicos especiales en ciencias básicas e ingeniería - vol. 1 ii Las opiniones aquí expresadas son responsabilidad de los autores, las cuales no necesaria- mente reflejan las de la UNESCO y no comprometen a la organización. Las denominacio- nes empleadas y la forma en que aparecen los datos no implica de parte de UNESCO ni de los autores, juicio alguno sobre la condición jurídica de países, territorios, ciudades, perso- nas, organizaciones, zonas o de sus autoridades, ni sobre la delimitación de sus fronteras o límites. Los contenidos de la presente publicación no tienen fines comerciales y pueden ser reproducidos haciendo referencia explícita a la fuente. © UNESCO 2010 Oficina Regional de Ciencia para América Latina y el Caribe Edificio MERCOSUR Dr. Luis Piera 1992 11200 Montevideo, Uruguay Tel. (598) 2413 2075 Fax: (598) 2413 2094 e-mail: [email protected] web: www.unesco.org.uy Primera edición: diciembre de 2010 ISBN 978-92-9089-163-5 Diseño de tapa: María Noel Pereyra Diseño de interior: Silvia Diez Revisión de textos: Mariana Martínez Diseño artístico de la tapa: Marcelo Luis Bonfanti La concepción artística de la tapa incluye una versión imaginaria en la cual se representa un código genético de triple hélice para indicar otras posibles biologías en el universo. iii Dedicado a Frank D. Drake inspirador de varias generaciones GHFLHQWt¿FRVTXHWUDEDMDURQ\WUDEDMDQEXVFDQGRHYLGHQFLDVTXH GHPXHVWUHQTXHODYLGDSXHGHOOHJDUDVHUXQIHQyPHQRFyVPLFR\ DODQLYHUVDULRGHVX3UR\HFWR2=0$TXHLQDXJXUyOD E~VTXHGDUDGLRDVWURQyPLFDGHYLGDLQWHOLJHQWHHQHO8QLYHUVR Foto: Cortesía de NRAO © 2010 iv Segunda Escuela de Posgrado Iberoamericana de Astrobiología 7-11 de septiembre de 2009 - Montevideo, Uruguay &RPLWp2UJDQL]DGRU&LHQWt¿FR 62& Julián Chela-Flores, International Centre of Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italia Frank D. Drake, SETI Institute, Mountain View, EEUU Julio A. Fernández, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay Álvaro Giménez, Director, Centro de Astrobiología de Madrid (INTA-CSIC), España Guillermo Giménez de Castro, McKenzie University, Brasil Jordi Gutiérrez, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, España Antonio Lazcano Araujo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México *XLOOHUPR$ /HPDUFKDQG 8QLYHUVLGDG GH %XHQRV$LUHV$UJHQWLQD \ 2¿FLQD 5HJLRQDO GH Ciencia de la UNESCO para América Latina y el Caribe, Uruguay (Presidente) Pablo Mauas, Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (CONICET) Argentina Eduardo Mizraji, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay Rafael Navarro González, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México Adriana Ocampo, NASA Headquarters, EEUU Gustavo Porto de Mello, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, (UFRJ), Brasil Juan G. Roederer, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, EEUU Antígona Segura, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México Comité Organizador Local (LOC) Andrea Sánchez, Departamento Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias, UDELAR, Uruguay Gonzalo Tancredi, Departamento Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias, UDELAR, Uruguay /HQtQ+HQUtTXH]2¿FLQD5HJLRQDOGH&LHQFLDGHOD81(6&2SDUD$PpULFD/DWLQD\HO&DUL- be. Leda Sánchez, Departamento Geología, Facultad de Ciencias, UDELAR, Uruguay Jean Philippe Gibert, Departamento Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, UDELAR, Uruguay Mariana Martínez, Observatorio Astronómico Los Molinos, MEC, Uruguay Álvaro Cabana, Facultad de Ciencias, UDELAR, Uruguay v Participantes de la Segunda Escuela de Posgrado en Astrobiología (Montevideo, 7 al 11 de septiembre 2009) Astrobiología (Montevideo, 7 al 11 Participantes de la Segunda Escuela Posgrado en vii Prólogo En septiembre de 2009, el Programa de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería (SC %(6 GHOD2¿FLQD5HJLRQDOGH&LHQFLDGHOD81(6&2SDUD$PpULFD/DWLQD y el Caribe, organizó, junto a la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad de la República (UDELAR) y el auspicio de la Academia de Ciencias de los Países en Desarrollo (TWAS), la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), el Instituto de Física Teórica Abdous Salam (ICTP), e instituciones como Insti- tuto Argentino de Radioastronomía (IAR), el Programa de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Básicas (PEDECIBA) y la Dirección de Innovación, Ciencia y Tec- nología para el Desarrollo (DICYT) de Uruguay, la 6HJXQGD(VFXHODGH3RV- JUDGR,EHURDPHULFDQDGH$VWURELRORJtD'HO%LJ%DQJDODVFLYLOL]DFLRQHV. Esta importante escuela de posgrado, que reunió casi una veintena de destacados profesores de renombre internacional y más de 60 estudiantes re- presentando a 15 países de Iberoamérica coincidió con la celebración de un conjunto de aniversarios que conmemoraron importantes hitos en la historia de la ciencia. Éstos últimos cambiaron para siempre nuestra visión del univer- so y de la vida en él. Por un lado, se cumplieron 400 años desde que Galileo Galilei utilizó por primera vez el telescopio para observar el cielo, y también 400 años desde la publicación de $VWURQRPtD1RYD, por Johannes Kepler, en donde se propuso acertadamente, la audaz hipótesis que los planetas orbitan en forma elípti- ca. En un solo año nuestra posición en el cosmos cambió para siempre. En 1609, Galileo descubrió que nuestra luna tenía cráteres y montañas, nuestro sol manchas que variaban su tamaño con el tiempo, que la llamada Vía Lác- tea estaba conformada en realidad por millones de estrellas. Galileo descu- EULyFRQVXÀDPDQWHWHOHVFRSLRTXH-~SLWHUWHQtDFXDWUROXQDVRUELWDQGRD su alrededor y Saturno anillos. Estas observaciones publicadas en su Siderius Nuncius (El Mensajero Sideral) demostraron contundentemente que la visión Aristotélica del mundo, dominante por más de dos mil años, era completa- mente incorrecta. (OFRVPRVFRQFHELGRDVtSRU¿JXUDVGHODWDOODGH&RSpUQLFR*DOLOHR Kepler y más tarde Newton, detallaba con mayor precisión la descripción del universo. Galileo desarrolla el método experimental y con él nace la ciencia moderna, desencadenando la Revolución Copernicana. Una nueva manera de articular la visión de la naturaleza que persistió sin cambios hasta principios del siglo XX. En solo cuatro siglos, nuestro conocimiento del cosmos en que vivimos expandió sus fronteras hasta límites jamás imaginados. viii Términos como Big Bang, agujeros negros, materia oscura, exoplanetas, cuásares, pulsares, suelen poblar las noticias habituales de los periódicos. Vi- vimos en una época en donde nuestro conocimiento y tecnología disponible nos permite comenzar a especular acerca de la vida en otros mundos. La Organización de las Naciones Unidas, a través de la UNESCO, si- guiendo una propuesta de la Unión Astronómica Internacional declaró al 2009 como Año Internacional de la Astronomía. Un año especial en el cual la UNESCO, en cooperación con otras organizaciones, ha apoyado actividades para que los habitantes del planeta Tierra, en especial los jóvenes, adquieran más consciencia acerca de las maravillas del universo en el cual estamos in- sertos. Debemos señalar que durante el 2009, también, se celebraron 200 años desde que Jean Baptiste Lamarck editó su libro 3KLORVRSKLD =RRORJLFD en donde expone una primera teoría de evolución, ese mismo año nace Charles Darwin, quien con la publicación de ³(O2ULJHQGHODV(VSHFLHV´ exactamente 50 años después revolucionó completamente la biología proponiendo un me- canismo de evolución por selección natural y estableciendo un paradigma que permanece vigente hasta nuestros días. La poderosa visión de Darwin sirvió para fundamentar y articular hallaz- gos en la paleontología, ecología, genética de poblaciones, biología molecu- lar, biología del desarrollo, genómica y hasta fundamentar los principios de la sociobiología. El paradigma de la selección natural explica con un mismo mecanismo ODQDWXUDOH]DGHODYLGDTXHVHPDQL¿HVWDHQGLVWLQWRVQLYHOHVGHRUJDQL]DFLyQ del molecular al social. Nuevamente, otra mente brillante, la de Darwin, pro- duce un cambio fundamental de nuestra visión de la naturaleza. Desde enton- ces nuestra percepción de la vida como fenómeno natural adquiere una noción mucho más sutil y totalizadora. No hay duda, que estos aniversarios que vinculan los 400 años del uso del telescopio para observar el universo y los 150 años de la teoría de evolución por selección natural, encierran las claves para un próximo gran descubrimien- to que cambiará substancialmente nuestra manera de percibir el universo: “el descubrimiento de la primera evidencia que existe vida en otros mundos”. No podemos dejar de mencionar que hace 40 años el comandante Neil Armstrong fue el primer miembro de la especie Homo sapiens, que pisó la VXSHU¿FLHGHRWURPXQGROD/XQD3DUDIUDVHiQGRORGH¿QLWLYDPHQWHIXHXQ pequeño paso para un hombre pero un gran salto para nuestra humanidad… ix Finalmente, también durante el 2009, se cumplieron 10 años desde la 3ULPHUD(VFXHOD,EHURDPHULFDQDGH$VWURELRORJtD. Esta fue oportunamente organizada en la ciudad de Caracas, por Julián Chela-Flores, Guillermo A. Lemarchand y el desaparecido pionero de los estudios de origen de la vida, Joan Oró. En aquella oportunidad también se había contado con el apoyo de la UNESCO, el Centro de Física Teórica de Trieste y la Academia de Ciencias de los Países en Desarrollo. Una década después, muchos de los estudiantes de aquella primera es- FXHOD, concurrieron a la segunda escuela en carácter de “profesores”, otros se encuentra dirigiendo ya sus propios grupos de investigación y algunos han llegado a la dirección de centros de investigación en la región. Estos hechos muestran tibiamente los resultados invisibles que se pueden generar, en el largo plazo,
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