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If extraterrestrial intelligence exists, then positive detection
of it would be the greatest scientific discovery of all time. By what criteria
should we judge whether we are alone in the cosmos, and how we should set about
detecting extraterrestrials? Jean Heidmann answers these questions in this engaging
discussion of extraterrestrial intelligence. The author shows how planets fit
into the hierarchy of the universe, and discusses prebiotic stages of life, and
the emergence of primitive biological molecules in the solar system. From this
base the entire subject of extraterrestrials is explained: techniques and the
result of current projects, the expansion of searches for extraterrestrials, the
habitable zones in our universe, and what might happen if actual contact takes
place. Our generation is capable, in principle, of communication across interstellar
space, bound only by the speed of light, and soon it will be possible to set tight
limits on the presence or absence of extraterrestrials in our Galaxy. Jean
Heidmann is an astronomer at the Paris Observatory who specializes in the search
for advanced forms of life in space. Most of his research work as a radio astronomer
has been on the properties of galaxies and in cosmology. In the last dozen years
he has applied this background to the questions of whether intelligence exists
elsewhere in the universe, and, if so, how we can search for it. Heidmann is Secretary
of the Bioastronomy Commission of the International Astronomical Union, which
is the official body charged with responsibility for extraterrestrial intelligence.
He is also a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and in this
role he contributes to the Academy's work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
An author of more than 200 research papers, Heidmann has also been Editor-in-Chief
of the prestigious research journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. He has
written several books at a general level, and his cosmology book Cosmic Odyssey
was translated into five languages. |
