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Encyclopedia of Astrobiology pp 1Cite as

Woese, Carl

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Carl Woese was an American microbiologist, born in New York in 1928. In 1977, he discovered the third lineage among the living beings, the Archaeas, which are microscopical entities, beside eukaryotes and prokaryotes. This discovery was based on the comparison of RNA sequences, showing that Archaea are no more close to prokaryotes than to eukaryotes.

This discovery constituted a fundamental transformation of the conception of the microscopical world and of the classification of living beings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté des Sciences et des Techniques de Nantes, Centre François Viète d’Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques EA 1161, 2 rue de la Houssinière, BP 92 208, 44322, Nantes, France

    Stephane Tirard

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  1. Stephane Tirard
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Correspondence to Stephane Tirard .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Tirard, S. (2014). Woese, Carl. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5318-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5318-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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