Where Did We Come From?: Life Of An Astrobiologist

Book excerpt: 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.