Cosmology and the Origins of Life

INTRODUCTION TO VOL. 30
by Editor-in-Chief Rudolph E. Schild and N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Ph.D. Executive Editor, Astrobiology and Cometary Panspermia

A Second Copernican Revolution

Forty years ago, Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe first launched their challenge of what was essentially considered as the bedrock of Western science. They had begun to question the time-hallowed dogma of "the primordial soup on the Earth" as being the site and mode of origin of life. This was by no means a step they took lightly, being fully aware of the societal stigma that would inevitably follow to haunt them. The idea of life emerging spontaneously on Earth from inorganic material had formed the central core of Aristotelean philosophy dating back to the 3rd century BCE, a philosophy that had dominated Western thinking for over two millennia. From the 1980's onwards, a veritable tide of new facts, driven by new space technologies and new telescopes, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe moved unerringly in the direction of challenging this time-hallowed point of view. Meticulously assessing the new facts to emerge from both astronomy and biology, and publishing such assessments in well over a hundred publications (many in the Journal Nature), these authors began to seriously challenge the prevailing ideas of an Earth-bound origin of life. It was argued that the first origin of life required a volume of space that far exceeded the scale of the solar system, the scale of the galaxy or even extending to much larger cosmological spaces. Once life has originated, however, its persistence through the mechanisms of "panspermia" seemed to be inevitable. It is precisely at this point that Hoyle and Wickramasinghe predicted the inextricable merger of astronomy and biology, eventually leading to the birth of the new discipline of astrobiology. ("The case for life as a cosmic phenomenon", F. Hoyle & N.C. Wickramasinghe, Nature, 322, 509, 1986). Although evidence in support of the idea of panspermia and cosmic life continued to grow from new developments in biology, geology and space science, societal disapproval showed little signs of abating. We should note here that a related paradigm that took centuries to overturn also had Aristotelean roots - the premise that the Earth was the centre of the solar system and the Universe. The Copernican revolution in astronomy that ultimately changed the status quo started with Galileo and Copernicus and concluded with Kepler and Newton, the whole process spanning the time period 1500-1700CE - nearly 200 years. The first Copernican revolution displaced the Earth from its hallowed status of centrality in the Universe. The developments in astrobiology and cosmology over the past four decades define a second Copernican-style revolution which is now rapidly moving from the long-held idea of Earth-centred biology to the concept of life being a truly cosmic phenomenon. In the papers constituting Vol.30 of the Journal of Cosmology, we find the strongest indications thus far that we are on the threshold of a major paradigm shift in Science. In fact, it would appear that discoveries made with new telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope have put the standard cosmological as well as biological theories on notice. All indications are that a major paradigm shift is just around the corner.

1. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Jayant V. Narlikar and Gensuke Tokoro, Cosmology and the Origins of Life, New evidence related to the origins of life in the cosmos combined with continuing progress in probing conditions of the early universe using the James Web Telescope suggest that long-held orthodox positions may be flawed. Only by objective evaluating the new facts and recognising the cultural forces at work can further progress be made towards resolving perhaps the most important and fundamental questions in science. pp 30001 - 30013.

2. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe Life Beyond the Limits of Our Planetary System, Evidence for the widespread distribution of biologically relevant molecules widely throughout the Galaxy and beyond has been in existence for many decades. The recent discovery of a nucleobase uracil adds to an already impressive body of evidence that supports a cosmic origin of the complex building blocks of life. pp 30020 - 30024.

3. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe and Gensuke Tokoro, Quest for Life on Jupiter and Its Moons, The final confirmation of the existence of multicellular life in aqueous habitats on the moons of Jupiter, will be a game changer for the societal approval and acceptance of panspermia which has been long overdue. pp 30030 - 30034.

4. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Gensuke Tokoro, Robert Temple and Rudy Schild Reluctance to Admit We Are Not Alone as an Intelligent Lifeform in the Cosmos, With an ever-increasing body of evidence from diverse scientific disciplines all pointing to the existence of alien life and alien intelligence on a cosmic scale, there has developed a growing tendency to maintain that we might still be alone as intelligent beings in the universe. This a stubborn resistance to admit facts may well signal the end of our civilization. pp 30040 - 30053.

5. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Rudy Schild and J.H. (Cass) Forrington Second Copernican Revolution, The recent discovery by the James Webb Space Telescope of organic molecules possibly related to life in a galaxy at redshift z=12.4 may well signal a concluding phase of the second Copernican revolution, thus removing the Earth from the centre and focus of biology and charting a new course in our understanding of the universe, and concluding a process that began 4 decades ago. pp 30060 - 30071.

6. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Rudy Schild, Gensuke Tokoro, Robert Temple and J.H. (Cass) Forrington Search For Aliens, and UFO's, The widespread existence of primitive life in the form of bacteria and viruses in the universe combined with the large numbers of habitable planets that are being discovered, leads to the serious possibility that intelligent life could be widespread throughout the cosmos. Discovering such alien intelligence in our vicinity continues to pose a challenge. pp 30080 - 30089.

7. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Rudy Schild and J.H. (Cass) Forrington A Note on a Biological Explanation for the ERE Phenomenon, Whilst we have attempted to account for many of the properties of interstellar dust with a primarily biological/bacterial model, one remaining set of observations that needs to be understood relates to the so-called Extended Red Emission (ERE) phenomenon. This phenomenon is also elegantly explained with a biological model of dust. pp 30100 - 30107.

8. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe Cosmicrobia: A New Designation for the Theory of Cosmic Life, The common belief is that the present author and Fred Hoyle in the late 1970ís embarked on a programme of work to revive the discredited, two and a half millennia-old, theory of panspermia on a whim. In this article I attempt to clear up this misconception and show that we were guided inexorably toward such a goal as a flood of new supporting data came to light from astronomy, geology as well as biology. This is an important record to set right as evidence continues to grow in the direction of supporting the theory of life being a cosmic phenomenon. pp 30120 - 30128.

9. Rudy Schild, J.H. (Cass) ForringtonN. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Robert Temple, Gensuke Tokoro, Rueben Wickramasinghe Search for UFOs and Aliens: Modern Evidence and Ancient Traditions, An important priority for the coming decades will be to face up to the possibility that as an intelligent life-form on Earth capable of wreaking untold damage to our biosphere, we may not be alone. The possible presence of intelligent alien life in our cosmic vicinity should be faced with honesty, fortitude, as well as creativity. Recent testimony presented at a US Congressional hearing will be all too easy to dismiss as delusions or inventions, but caution needs to be exercised before such action is taken. pp 30135 - 30145.

10. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe and Reuben C. Wickramasinghe Life and the Universe: a Final Synthesis, The long-overdue synthesis between microbiology and the universe, after many setbacks, may at long last be in sight. The full implications of the transition may well lie in the future for the benefit of the coming generations of scientists. pp 30160 - 30174.

Bibliography. Theodore Walker Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler, Hoyle, and Wickramasinghe, et.al., An Annotated Bibliography with Notes on ìCosmology and the Origins of Life and Evolution, including biological evolution, behavioral evolution, stellar evolution, life as a cosmic phenomenon, cosmic life, panspermia, astrobiology, cosmic biology, and cosmic evolution. pp 31000 - 31065.

MCR Panspermia Video Interview with Prof. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, MBE An in-depth Interview with Most Excellent Member of the British Empire recipient, Prof. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe.

Prof. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, MBE, Lecture on "The Origin of Life". An in-depth Lecture by Most Excellent Member of the British Empire recipient, Prof. N. Chandra Wickramasinghe.