Journey With Fred Hoyle, A: The Search For Cosmic Life

by Chandra Wickramasinghe

This is the story of the author's unique scientific journey with one of the most remarkable men of 20th century science. The journey begins in Sri Lanka, the author's native country, with his childhood acquaintance with Fred Hoyle's writings. The action then moves to Cambridge, where the famous Hoyle-Wickramasinghe collaborations begin. A research programme which was started in 1962 on the carbonaceous nature of interstellar dust leads, over the next two decades, to developments that are continued in both Cambridge and Cardiff. These developments prompt Hoyle and the author to postulate the organic theory of cosmic dust (which is now generally accepted), and then to challenge one of the most cherished paradigms of contemporary science -- the theory that life originated on Earth in a warm primordial soup.A Journey with Fred Hoyle is an intriguing book that traces the progress of a collaboration spanning 40 years, through a sequence of personal reflections, anecdotes and reminiscences. Ideas that were thought heretical 25 years ago are now quietly slipping into the domain of orthodox science.

Genres: Astronomy

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2004

About the author

Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe

Reviews

[Brown Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's probably important for someone as iconoclastic and querulous as Hoyle to have a champion, even one as unobjective as Wickramasinge. Hoyle was probably deserving of a Nobel prize, and his ideas are fruitful, which is the best sort of idea, even if from a nonsciency POV they are "wrong."

Wickramasinge has some compelling ideas of his own, and his experience fleshes out what could have been a sad story of injustice and animus.

Anyway, I enjoyed this portrait of a man whose ideas lit my imagination as a kid. If nothing else, I learned to question everything, even at personal cost. A valuable lesson, though an expensive scruple.

[Brian Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those familiar with Fred Hoyle and his intriguing work, this very detailed and readable book will make a fine addition to the bookcase.
It does however, require firm attention to understand fully some of the descriptive passages, but rewards clear concentration. Although cosmology and recent astronomical research have moved on and beyond the scope of Hoyle`s work, this nevertheless provides keen insight into an important part of the journey.