Amedeo Balbi – författare

How did life originate? Is there life beyond Earth? What is the future of life on our planet? The rapidly growing multidisciplinary field of astrobiology deals with life's big questions. This text harnesses the authors' two decades' experience of teaching acclaimed courses in astrobiology, and adopts a novel quantitative approach towards this emergent discipline. It details the physical principles and chemical processes that have shaped the origins and distribution of molecules, stars, planets, and hence habitable environments, life, and intelligence in the Universe. By synthesising insights from domains as diverse as astronomy and physics to microbiology, biochemistry, and geology, the authors provide a cutting-edge summary of astrobiology, and show how answers to many fundamental questions are drawing closer than ever. Geared towards advanced undergraduates and graduate students in the physical sciences, the text contains more than 150 innovative problems designed to enhance students' knowledge and understanding.

Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it, and where did it come from? What is its shape? What is it made of? Fascinating myths and brilliant in- itions attempting to solve such enigmas can be found all through the history of human thought. Every culture has its own legends, itsownworldcreationtales,itsphilosophicalspeculations,itsre- gious beliefs. Modern science, however, cannot content itself with fanciful explanations, no matter how suggestive they are. No- days, our theories about the Universe, built upon rational ded- tion, have to survive the hard test of experiment and observation. Cosmology, the science which studies the origin and evo- tion of the Universe, had to overcome enormous dif?culties before it could achieve the same level of dignity as other physical dis- plines. At ?rst, it had no serious physical model and mathematical tools that could be used to address the complexity of the problems it had to face. Then, it suffered from a chronic lack of experim- tal data, which made it almost impossible to test the theoretical speculations. Given this situation, answering rigorously the many questions on the nature of the Universe seemed nothing more than a delusion. Today, however, things have changed. We live in the golden age of cosmology: an exciting moment, when, for the ?rst time, we are able to scienti?cally understand our Universe.

Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it, and where did it come from? What is its shape? What is it made of? Fascinating myths and brilliant in- itions attempting to solve such enigmas can be found all through the history of human thought. Every culture has its own legends, itsownworldcreationtales,itsphilosophicalspeculations,itsre- gious beliefs. Modern science, however, cannot content itself with fanciful explanations, no matter how suggestive they are. No- days, our theories about the Universe, built upon rational ded- tion, have to survive the hard test of experiment and observation. Cosmology, the science which studies the origin and evo- tion of the Universe, had to overcome enormous dif?culties before it could achieve the same level of dignity as other physical dis- plines. At ?rst, it had no serious physical model and mathematical tools that could be used to address the complexity of the problems it had to face. Then, it suffered from a chronic lack of experim- tal data, which made it almost impossible to test the theoretical speculations. Given this situation, answering rigorously the many questions on the nature of the Universe seemed nothing more than a delusion. Today, however, things have changed. We live in the golden age of cosmology: an exciting moment, when, for the ?rst time, we are able to scienti?cally understand our Universe.

Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it, and where did it come from? What is its shape? What is it made of? Fascinating myths and brilliant in- itions attempting to solve such enigmas can be found all through the history of human thought. Every culture has its own legends, itsownworldcreationtales,itsphilosophicalspeculations,itsre- gious beliefs. Modern science, however, cannot content itself with fanciful explanations, no matter how suggestive they are. No- days, our theories about the Universe, built upon rational ded- tion, have to survive the hard test of experiment and observation. Cosmology, the science which studies the origin and evo- tion of the Universe, had to overcome enormous dif?culties before it could achieve the same level of dignity as other physical dis- plines. At ?rst, it had no serious physical model and mathematical tools that could be used to address the complexity of the problems it had to face. Then, it suffered from a chronic lack of experim- tal data, which made it almost impossible to test the theoretical speculations. Given this situation, answering rigorously the many questions on the nature of the Universe seemed nothing more than a delusion. Today, however, things have changed. We live in the golden age of cosmology: an exciting moment, when, for the ?rst time, we are able to scienti?cally understand our Universe.

** PREMIO ASIMOV 2021 **Un viaje por las fronteras de la investigación astrofísica, en busca de la respuesta a las cuestiones últimas sobre nuestro universo.¿Qué sabemos del universo? Sin duda, mucho. Sabemos su edad, su estructura, lo que contiene y cómo evolucionó hasta convertirse en ese espacio plagado de galaxias, estrellas y planetas que conocemos. La historia de cómo la física moderna ha llegado tan lejos en el camino del conocimiento del cosmos es también la de una extraordinaria aventura científica, sobre todo si pensamos que hasta hace poco más de un siglo no sabíamos nada de todo ello. Una increíble hazaña por la que nos acompaña el astrofísico y divulgador Amedeo Balbi en la primera parte de este libro.Pero entonces, ¿ya lo sabemos todo? Por supuesto que no: aunque estamos seguros de la estructura general del cosmos, nos falta por definir con exactitud todos los detalles. Balbi nos invita a adentrarnos en las últimas fronteras en las que se desarrolla la investigación astrofísica, en busca de la confirmación de la teoría inflacionaria, de la materia oscura, o de la explicación de la expansión acelerada del universo. Una frontera en la que estamos lejos de encontrar una respuesta definitiva a algunas cuestiones básicas: ¿el universo es finito o infinito? Si el espacio y el tiempo han tenido un comienzo, ¿tendrán también un final? ¿Podrían las leyes de la naturaleza ser diferentes? ¿Existen otros universos además del nuestro?Para enfrentarnos a estas preguntas con las herramientas de la ciencia, debemos ir más allá del último horizonte, donde lo ocurrido en los orígenes del universo está oculto a nuestros ojos por un muro de fuego, donde las mediciones que hemos hecho pueden dejar de ser válidas, donde quizás descubramos que la física que hemos desarrollado solo describe un breve momento y un espacio limitado de un cosmos mucho más grande e inalcanzable.El último horizonte obtuvo en el 2021 el premio Asimov, uno de los galardones de mayor prestigio en el ámbito de la divulgación científica.