Giovanni F. Bignami Libri

For many thousands of years, human beings have been asking themselves whether they are more frightened of being alone in the universe or of the thought that there is someone else out there. Over the past few decades, however, we have moved from imagination to action, exploring the cosmos using new techniques, often with surprising results. Numerous fascinating but little known facts have emerged – for example, that every year many rocks from Mars fall on the Earth, that one of our amino acids has been found in the coma of a comet, and that some of the known thousands of extrasolar planets are similar to our own. There are further exciting and important discoveries around the corner that will cast more light on the great enigma of how life started on Earth. In this intriguing book, one of the World’s leading researchers in astrophysics and space science examines fundamental questions concerning life on Earth and the rest of the cosmos in an accessible and stimulating way.

This book looks at innovations that will change our lives by the year 2062. It covers a wide variety of scientific topics of great interest to the general public, from astrophysics to genetics to robotics to clean energy.

In this book, Giovanni Bignami, the outstanding Italian scientist and astronomer, takes the reader on a journey through the “seven spheres”, from our own planet to neighboring stars. The author offers a gripping account of the evolution of Homo Sapiens to the stage where our species is developing capabilities, in the form of new energy propulsion systems, that will enable us to conquer space. The reader will learn how we first expanded our activities to reach beyond our planet, to the Moon, and how nuclear energy, nuclear fusion, and matter–antimatter annihilation will enable us to extend our exploration. After Mars and Jupiter we shall finally reach the nearest stars, which we now know are surrounded by numerous planets, some of which are bound to be habitable. The book includes enticing descriptions of such newly discovered planets and also brings alive key historical characters in our story, such as Jules Verne and Werner von Braun.

Was ist beängstigender: der Gedanke, allein im Universum zu sein, oder die Vorstellung, dass noch jemand da draußen ist? Diese Frage beschäftigt uns Menschen seit wir uns aufgemacht haben, die Geheimnisse des Kosmos zu ergründen. Wussten Sie zum Beispiel, dass jedes Jahr Gesteinsbrocken vom Mars auf der Erde landen? Dass im Staub eines Kometen eine unserer Aminosäuren – ein Baustein des Lebens – gefunden wurde? Wir stehen unmittelbar vor wichtigen Entdeckungen, die Licht auf das große Rätsel werfen: Wie ist das Leben auf der Erde entstanden?