Bioastronomy : the search for extraterrestrial life, the exploration broadens : proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Bioastronomy, held at Val Cenis, Savoie, France, 18-23 June 1990

This book collects together a selection of the best papers presented at the Third International Bioastronomy Symposium held in 1990. The subject is bioastronomy, the search for life in the universe, andthe book is devided according to the five main stages of life as recognized by this new branch of science: cosmic organic, prebiotic, primitive biological, and advanced. Thereader will find here the most recent results obtained by top specialists from all over the world on hot topics such as the formation and discovery of planets, organic chemistry in meteorites and comets, prebiotic chemistry in the atmosphere of Titan, the search for primitive life in the permafrost of Mars, and, SETI itself, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Complemented by live discussions each presentation forms a review of the state-of-the-art treatment of a particular area and also looks toward those developments in bioastronomywhich will surely be realized in the next few years. Contains a selection of papers presented at a symposium on the search for intelligent life in the universe. The contributors discuss such topics as the formation and discovery of planets, organic chemistry in meteorites, the search for primitive life in our galaxy and the SETI project. J. Heidmann, M.j. Klein, Eds. Includes Bibliographical References.