Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: Rene Descartes

Interesting trivia
Gary — (archived)

Raoul said:

>James Lovelock was once hired by NASA to demonstrate life existed on >Mars. His studies led him to understand not only that there was no life on
>Mars but also that the Earth had a regulatory mechanism which led to his
>Gaia hypothesis.

To James Lovelock, it was a slam dunk that Mars was lifeless because no methane could be detected in the Martian atmosphere. He published a paper in "Icarus" co-authored with a brilliant young scientist name Lynn Margulis. The paper predicted that the Viking spacecraft would not find life on Mars and the Martian surface would be oxidizing. Lovelock and Margulis latter went on to develop the Gaia hypothesis based upon their experiences with Viking and Mars. Lynn Margulis was Carl Sagan's second wife. Carl Sagan was editor of "Icarus". Lynn Margulis' greatest scientific acheivement was the discovery of mitochondrial DNA (some say that Carl Sagan's greatest scientific acheivement was marrying Lynn Margulis). I should also mention that James Lovelock has made favorable public comments towards Nick Hoffman and Nick's work related to Mars.

Gary

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (38 posts)