The Origin,Development And Institutionalization Of Astrobiology From The 1950s

Astrobiology is an interdiscipline that thrives with the development of origin of life research and space activity.It has been more than 60 years since Nobel prize winner Joshua Lederberg put forward the conception of exobiology,which is the historical antecedent of Astrobiology.Astrobiology has been taken in different disciplines through the years of development,such as aerolitics,radio communication,extremophile and genetics.From the perspective of technology,the advance of Astrobiology is deeply related to technological innovation in space and life science.In turn it promote our understanding of the two fields.In the 1990s,USA had accomplished the institutionalization of Astrobiology,followed by many other countries such as Spain,Russia,Sweden,Brazil etc.But China is an exception of the space powers.This dissertation aims to promote the institutionalization of Astrobiology in China from analyzing the history in the past half century of Astrobiology.Chapter 1 is about the historical backgrounds of origin of Astrobiology in the 1950s.The breakthrough of Miller-Urey experiment made the origin of life research convert from speculative way to experimental way.In the meantime the opening of the first international symposium on the origin of life on the earth in Moscow marked the institutionalization of origin of life research.With these conditions,Lederberg put forward the conception of exobiology.And NASA became the sponsor for early exobiology research activities.Chapter 2 is about another tradition in the US academic circle,which is Mars life tradition.In the late 1890s the debates about Martian canals had advanced the boom of Mars science fiction,both in novels and movies.This made Martian life a cultural conception in the US society,which deeply influenced the next generation of astronomers,for example Carl Sagan.In the middle of the 20^thcentury,Mars had become No.1 target to search for extraterrestrial life with the development of planetary astronomy.And with the background of Cold War,NASA launched numbers of spacecrafts to Mars.Exobiologists made huge contributions in the process,especially on the research and development of life detection devices.This is the Golden Age of exobiology.However,with the negative results of Viking life detection experiments,exobiology nose dive in the following years.Chapter 3 is about other fields except space activities.These research may not be so influential at the time,but they are crucial to the revival of Astrobiology in the 1990s.The discovery of amino acids in the Murchison meteorite and interstellar medium proves that organics are widespread in the universe,which is a proof for panspermia.The research of extremophile shows that life can adapt to extreme environments beyond imagination.The theory and practice of SETI makes extraterrestrial civilization a hot topic both in academic and public circles.New theories like RNA world theory promote origin of life research to a higher level.These research broaden the discipline boundary of Astrobiology.Chapter 4 is about the revival of Astrobiology in the 1990s.NASA discovery of Martian life relic in meteorite ALH84001 makes the world excited about the conception of extraterrestrial life again.Support from political power in the US attributes to the institutionalization of the discipline.With the foundation of NASA Astrobiology Institute（NAI）and professional academic journal such as Astrobiology and international journal of Astrobiology,Astrobiology accomplishes its institutionalization step by step.Compared to the traditional exobiology,Astrobiology focuses more on training of the next generation of astrobiologists.Chapter 5 is about new breakthroughs in the 21^st century in two directions.One is the discovery of exoplanets and new conception of habitable zone,the other is the better understanding of Titan and Europa.These new discoveries are the foundation of Astrobiology in the new century.Chapter 6 is about the dissemination of origin of life knowledge and Astrobiology research in China.The former is mainly about the first half of the 20^th century,which is not only associated with scientific ideas but also deeply influenced by ideology.The latter is about the 21^st century.There are numerous articles in the two academic journals of Astrobiology from Chinese scholars.However,there is still no specialized agency in China dealing with the discipline of Astrobiology.The importance of Astrobiology in modern science history can be emphasized through these discussions.Its development is always deeply connected with the improvement of science and technology,in turn it promotes the development of modern science and technology.The practice of Astrobiology leads to rethinking of human position in the universe.Astrobiology is also important in history of science,philosophy of science and sociology of science.Nowadays,new trend to explore Mars is inevitable.China,as the new space power,should have its own Astrobiology institute in the next few years.It’s the most important purpose of the dissertation to call for attention on this field.