In the year 2015, 100 years after Fred Hoyle was born, the ideas relating to the cosmic origins of life are slowly gaining credence in scientific circles. Once regarded as outrageous heresy, evidence from a variety of disciplines — astronomy, geology, biology — is converging to support these once heretical ideas.

This volume opens with recent review articles pointing incontrovertibly towards our cosmic heritage, followed by a collection of published articles tracing the development of the theory throughout the years. The discovery that microorganisms — bacteria and viruses — are incredibly resistant to the harshest conditions of space, along with the detection of an estimated 144 billion habitable planets around other star systems in our galaxy alone, makes it virtually impossible to maintain that life on one planet will not interact with life elsewhere. The emerging position is that life arose exceedingly rarely, possibly only once, in the history of the cosmos, but its subsequent spread was unstoppable. “Panspermiology” can no longer be described as an eccentric doctrine, but rather is the only doctrine supported by an overwhelming body of evidence. Fred Hoyle's work in this area may in the fullness of time come to be regarded as his most important scientific contribution.

Contents:Recent ReviewsPapers from 2000–2014Papers from 1990–2000Papers from 1980–1990Papers from 1970–1980Prospects for the FutureReadership: University students, researchers and historian of science interested in astrobiology or the work of Sir Fred Hoyle.Key Features:Compiled by the foremost proponent of the theory of panspermiaTraces the history of development of the idea of cometary panspermia from the time of its first proposal in 1979 to the present time

Chandra Wickramasinghe