Abstract
Astrobiology, like many (but not all) sciences, must take into account questions of the “Why?”, “Where?”, “How?” and “When?” type. In this introductory chapter, we explain why, in this book, we will only consider two of these questions that are, moreover, deeply interrelated. Chronology is by definition related to the “when?” question but as soon as we are interested in the history of Earth or the history of life, it is impossible to treat these questions and their answers without explicit references to the “how?” questions. We also present in this chapter the genesis and the aim of the book.
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References
Klein, E. and Spiro, M.: 1996, Le temps et sa flèche. Champs-Flammarion (Paris).
Mayr, E.: 2004. What makes Biology Unique: Consideration on the Autonomy of a Scientific Discipline, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, USA.
Zee, A.: 1986. Fearful Symmetry: the Search for Beauty in Modern Physics, Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
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Gargaud, M., Reisse, J. (2006). From the Arrow of Time to the Arrow of Life. In: Gargaud, M., et al. From Suns to Life: A Chronological Approach to the History of Life on Earth. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-45083-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-45083-4_1
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Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-45082-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-45083-4
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