The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life

Pekka Teerikorpi · Mauri Valtonen · Kirsi Lehto · Harry Lehto · Gene Byrd · Arthur Chernin The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life The Search for Our Cosmic Roots Second Edition The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life Pekka Teerikorpi • Mauri Valtonen • Kirsi Lehto • Harry Lehto • Gene Byrd • Arthur Chernin The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life The Search for Our Cosmic Roots Second Edition 123 Pekka Teerikorpi Mauri Valtonen Department of Physics and Astronomy Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Turku University of Turku Turku, Finland Turku, Finland Kirsi Lehto Harry Lehto Department of Biology Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Turku University of Turku Turku, Finland Turku, Finland Gene Byrd Arthur Chernin Department of Physics and Astronomy Sternberg Astronomical Institute The University of Alabama Moscow University Tuscaloosa, AL, USA Moscow, Russia ISBN 978-3-030-17920-5 ISBN 978-3-030-17921-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17921-2 1st edition: © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2nd edition: © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky horsehead nebula credit NASA/ESA/HST This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface to the Second Edition After our book was first published in 2008, many new discoveries have widened and deepened our knowledge of the physical universe, both the macroscopic realm of planets, stars, and galaxies and the microscopic world of atoms and elementary particles. Some example numbers illustrate this development. In 2008, about 300 exoplanets around other stars were known. Now, the number is almost 4000. The Hipparcos space telescope had measured some 100,000 parallaxes (distances) for stars in the Milky Way, while now its successor Gaia has collected more accurate data for more than one billion stars, used for studies of the structure and history of our Galaxy. There have been also important single discoveries, quickly highly esteemed by the Nobel Committee. For example, in 2017, the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the first direct detection of gravitational waves from deep space, and in 2013 for the theoretical work on the Higgs boson, which had led to its actual detection one year earlier. Also, we have come to know better the conditions on other planets in our Solar System and the properties of exoplanets increasingly discovered around stars. This has given, together with new discoveries and ideas on the phenomenon of life and its origin, exobiology more material in its fascinating quest for the role of life in the universe. The chains of scientists and thinkers go back to very distant times, indeed to “our forefathers to whom we owe everything and about whom we know nothing,” as said the French eighteenth-century mathematician d’Alembert. Our book was written with a historical perspective, as described in the Preface to the First Edition, and here, we have further emphasized this aspect by adding some more bits of interesting information about the scientists (about whom “we know something”) whose efforts have led to important discoveries during the last several centuries. We have pointed out lines of scientists leading to the present knowledge. It is fascinating how science advances from generation to generation in such a special way that the past scientists could not know where his or her achievement actually will lead after many years. We are, of course, in the same position. v vi Preface to the Second Edition One hundred years have passed since the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was founded just after the Great War, in Brussels, Belgium, in 1919. Initially, there were seven member states, which number has now grown to about 80, while there are some 13,500 member astronomers, professional researchers of the universe. The aim of the IAU has been not only to advance astronomical research in the world but also to promote knowledge and understanding of astronomy among general public. In this special year, the IAU celebrates the past century of astronomical achievements and makes it with the central theme Under One Sky. Different activities and events are arranged. With our updated book, we wish to make a contribution to this common goal to spread knowledge of astronomy and other physical sciences among wide circles of people, both laymen and students. In an attached data file to a Researchgate entry, there are over 200 questions labeled according to chapter making the book very useful for an in-class or online course. They are numbered within each chapter. Answers are given immediately below each question labeled according the chapter, the question number in the chapter and the letter of the correct answer. Here is the link for the file, https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/331154207_EvolvingUnivMultChoice_w_Answerspdf. For remarks, questions, or requests, email [email protected]. For other related publications, see https:// www.researchgate.net/profile/Gene_Byrd2. We are grateful to Hannah Kaufman, Ramon Khanna, and Neil Scriven, of Springer-Verlag, for very good collaboration and patience during the preparation process of this second edition. Similarly, we thank Kavithanchaly Thirumoorthy of Scientific Publishing Services, Chennai - India. August 2019 The authors Preface to the First Edition A golden thread runs through the history of humanity—even in prehistory, when writing was unknown, there was the need to understand, that restless spark within us. We have written this book for anybody interested in the quest of knowledge—at least to the extent that he or she wishes to appreciate the main results of science, which has changed our way of thinking about the world. Born in a society filled with applications of science and engineering, we often take all this for granted and do not stop to think of the steps, invisible as they are in the distant past, that had to be taken before our world emerged. We take our readers on a voyage from the treasures of the past to the frontiers of modern science which includes physics, cosmology, and astrobiology. We divide the presentation into four parts, which approximately correspond to the major waves of scientific exploration, past to present. The first wave, The Widening World View arose in Antiquity and re-emerging at the end of the Middle Ages, was based on visual observations of the world. Quite a lot was accomplished with the naked eye, together with simple devices and rea- soning. Both Ptolemy and Copernicus belonged to this great era. Around 1600, when the new sun-centered worldview was advancing and the telescope was invented, Galileo followed by many others, could see deeper and deeper in space. This led, among other things, to determination of the distance to the Sun and to the other stars faintly glimmering in the sky. In the twentieth century, remote galaxies were reached and observing windows other than optical were opened to astronomers. A parallel wave we call Physical Laws of Nature was powered by the experimental/mathematical approach to physics, started by Galileo as well, and accelerated by the work of Newton toward modern physics. This wave took us to the realm of atoms and elementary particles, and together with the parallel astronomical work finally led to the modern wave of exploration, the Universe, describing the earliest processes in its origin and expansion from a superdense state 14 billion years ago to our universe of galaxies today. In our own times a new and fascinating wave of exploration of the universe began which we call Life in the Universe, when humanity learned to launch devices and even people beyond the Earth. One is reminded of the words by Tsiolkovski vii viii Preface to the First Edition “The planet is the cradle of intelligence, but you do not live in the craddle for ever”. Up to now only the Moon has been visited by humans, but numerous space probes have delivered new and impressive information about the planets, asteroids, and comets of the Solar System, and about the Sun itself. Astrobiology, the new interdisciplinary field of science, has thus received a strong boost forward, as now it has become possible to map in detail the wide range of conditions inside our planetary system and to see where life might have originated in addition to the Earth. At the same time, thanks to the advancements in telescopes, astronomers have been able to discover other planetary systems and the count of known extrasolar planets now reaches hundreds. These developments have given new perspectives for the role of life and the human race in the universe.

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