Jacob Berkowitz - Stardust Revolution: The New Story of Our Origin in the Stars

M y favorite description of the writing process is that it's a long journey in a small room. Researching and writing this book certainly was a long journey, one that I would never have completed without the generosity and support of many others.

I'm indebted to radio astronomer Jan Hollis for planting the seed for this book with his compelling comment that we now observe a universal prebiotic chemistry.

The book's outline took shape in the fall of 2008 during my time as the writer-in-residence at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara. Im grateful to the Kavli and its staff for providing the time and space for this book to take off. While at Kavli, I was able to interview many of the international participants in the Kavli's Building the Milky Way symposium. These interviews provided a framework on which I could build. Im particularly indebted to Leo Blitz for saying: You should talk to Charles Townes; to Jennifer Johnson for introducing me to the question of the cosmic origin of the elements and the astronomer's periodic table; and to Andrew McWilliam for patiently introducing me to the lives of red giant stars and for mentioning Paul Merrill's discovery of technetium in these stars. Thank you, Priscilla Bender-Shore, for your wise counsel about being patient with the creative process.

Researching the story of our origin in the stars required that I tap into a vast repository of diverse knowledge. Im enormously grateful to the numerous stardust researchers listed in the interview section who took the time to share their expertise and vision in person and by phone, who provided valuable background material, and who answered follow-up questions. Similarly, thanks to the Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) community for sharing perennially insightful and inspiring research. Without these scientists, there wouldn't be a Stardust Revolution. Id particularly like to thank Louis Allamandola, Lynn Rothschild, John Grula, and Robert Hazen.

I'm grateful to the scientists who generously agreed to read and comment on draft chapters and to those who supplied many of the images in the book. Getting my hands on technical tomes while living in small-town Canada was made possible thanks to the unflagging efforts of Monica Blackburn and the staff of the Almonte branch of the Mississippi Mills Public Library. Thanks to former Canada Museum of Nature colleague Bob Gault for dropping off a brown envelope at my front door with the enormously helpful February 2011 Cosmochemistry issue of Elements magazine.

Moving from idea to manuscript required lots of publishing and editorial midwifery. Thanks to agent Judy Heiblum of Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc., for pitching the project far and wide; to Prometheus Books former acquiring editor Linda Greenspan Regan for getting a story about the merging of evolution and astronomy; to freelance editor John Eerkes-Medrano; to Prometheus editor in chief Steven L. Mitchell; and to Prometheus assistant editor Julia DeGraf for giving the text its final polish. Thanks also to Prometheus Books designer Jackie Nasso Cooke for the awesome cover.

When the days in a small room felt long, I was particularly appreciative of writerly friendsStephen Pincock, for his keen insight and wonderful Aussie enthusiasm, and Chris OBrien, always my favorite guy with whom to talk books. Im grateful to friends who provided a home away from home: in Guanajuato, Paul Marioni provided a wonderful and quiet place for me to work; while interviewing in the Bay Area, Elizabeth Cotton provided a much needed pied--terre.

Above all, thanks to my family: wife Rosemary Leach for sharing the creative journey and for often holding the proverbial fort while this book was at sea, and children Max and Francesca, the sparkling stardust of my life, who found humor and offered strength while I was on a long journey amid the stars. I hope this book guides you on your journeys.

Published 2012 by Prometheus Books

The Stardust Revolution: The New Story of Our Origin in the Stars. Copyright 2012 by Jacob Berkowitz. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Trademarks: In an effort to acknowledge trademarked names of products mentioned in this work, we have placed or after the product name in the first instance of its use in each chapter. Subsequent mentions of the name within a given chapter appear without the symbol.

Cover image of the Tycho supernova remnant originally by
MPIA/NASA/Calar Alto Observatory and modified by Jacqueline Nasso Cooke
(unaltered image available in photo insert)
Cover design by Jacqueline Nasso Cooke

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Berkowitz, Jacob.

The stardust revolution : the new story of our origin in the stars / byJacob Berkowitz.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9781616145491 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 9781616145507 (ebook)

1. Exobiology. 2. Life--Origin. 3. Stellar dynamics. 4. Cosmology. I. Title.

QH326.B47 2012
523.1--dc23

2012023387

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

abundances of elements,

Abundances of the Elements (Suess and Urey), ,

accretion disk,

acetic acid,

acetone,

Adams, Walter,

adenosine triphosphate (ATP),

AGB-type stars,

alanine,

alchemy,

alcohol,

Aldrin, Buzz,

Alien (film),

aliens,

search for,

See also exoplanets

Allamandola, Lou,

Allan Hills 84001 meteorite,

Allende meteorite, ,

alpha particles, ,

alpha process,

Alpher, Ralph,

aluminum, ,

Alvarez, Luis,

American Astronomical Society,

American Imperial measurement system,

amino acids, ,

ammonia

in carbonaceous chondrites,

in Earth's primordial atmosphere, ,

experiments with,

in interstellar space,

on planets,

anaerobic bacteria,

ancestors

cosmic,

in family history,

molecular,

remains of,

stars as,

ancient cultures, ,

Anders, Edward,

Annual Reviews in Astronomy and Astrophysics,

Antarctica,

Apollo missions,

Apollo 8 mission,

Apollo 11 mission,

Apollo 17 mission,

arachidic acid,

Arecibo radio telescope,

Arizona Radio Observatory,

Armstrong, Neil,

Arrhenius, Svante,

asteroids

asteroid belt,

Ceres,

impacts on Earth, ,

meteorites from, ,

molecules formed in,

origins of,

samples from,

Vesta,

Aston, Francis William,

astrobiology, ,