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In Origins of Existence astrophysicist
Fred Adams takes a radically different approach from the
long tradition of biologists and spiritual leaders who have
tried to explain how the universe supports the development
of life. He argues that life followed naturally from the
laws of physics -- which were established as the universe
burst into existence at the big bang. Those elegant laws
drove the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets -- including
some like our Earth. That chain of creation produced all
the tiny chemical structures and vast celestial landscapes
required for life. Ultimately, physical laws and the complexity
they generate define the kind of biospheres that are possible
-- from an Amazon rain forest to a frigid ocean beneath
an ice sheet on a Jovian moon.
Adams suggests that life was not merely
some lucky break but rather a natural outcome of the ascending
ladder of complexity supported by our universe. Since our
galaxy seems to harbour millions of planets with the same
basic elements of habitability as Earth, the emergence of
life is probably not a rare event. If life emerges deep
inside planets and moons, as new research suggests happened
on our planet, the number of viable habitats is truly enormous.
Seven chronological chapters take the reader from the laws
of physics and birth of the universe to the origins of life
on Earth -- showing how energy flowed, exploded, and was
repeatedly harnessed in replicating structures and organisms.
In his groundbreaking first book, Fred Adams
established the five eras of the universe with a focus on
its long-term future. It is perhaps not surprising that
he now turns his attention to the mystery of our astronomical
origins. Here is a stunning new perspective, a book of genesis
for our time, revealing how the laws of physics created
galaxies, stars, planets, and even life in the universe.
Fred Adams is a professor of physics
at the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. from
the University of California, Berkeley, and continued his
research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
He is the recipient of the Robert J. Trumpler Award from
the astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Helen B. Warner
Prize from the American Astronomical Society and the National
Science Foundation Young Investigator Award. He lives in
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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