Life in Space: Astrobiology for Nonscientists

Author Biography

Dr. Amri Wandel, Astrophysicist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has created and taught for 25 years the course "Astrophysics and Life in the Universe", to science and non-science undergraduate programs, each with about a hundred students annually, and a similar course at the astronomy program at UCLA. He frequently gives public talks and media interviews on astrobiology. His main research has been on active galaxies and massive black holes, and in the last years on astrobiology, in particular about the habitability of exoplanets. Wandel has published over 100 scientific papers and the books "The Cosmos and Us" (in Esperanto 2001, 2017, 2022) and “Astrophysics and Life in the Universe” (in Hebrew, 2022). He is Chairman of the Israel society for Astrobiology and the Origin of Life (ILASOL), and member of the International Astronomical Union’s commission of astrobiology.   Dr. Joseph Gale, Biologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, carried out research and served for some years as consultant to NASA's CELSS project (Controlled Environment Life Support Systems). From there he became interested in the exobiology program, later called astrobiology. Gale has built and taught a program on "The Astrobiology of Planet Earth" an elective for third year science students, which over the last decade attracts some one hundred students each year. He has lectured at numerous national and international conferences. In the last years, he has been invited to participate in astrobiology seminars of the University of Stockholm and the International Space University. Gale has published some 100+ refereed papers and authored and coauthored four books, including "Plants in Saline Environments" (Springer-Verlag 1975) and "Astrobiology of Earth" (OUP 2009).