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Astrobiology in Brazil: early history and perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2012

Fabio Rodrigues ,
Douglas Galante ,
Ivan G. Paulino-Lima ,
Rubens T.D. Duarte ,
Amancio C.S. Friaça ,
Claudia Lage ,
Eduardo Janot-Pacheco ,
Ramachrisna Teixeira  and
Jorge E. Horvath
Fabio Rodrigues
Affiliation:
Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil email: farod@iq.usp.br
Douglas Galante
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Ivan G. Paulino-Lima
Affiliation:
NASA-Ames Research Center, USA
Rubens T.D. Duarte
Affiliation:
Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Amancio C.S. Friaça
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Claudia Lage
Affiliation:
Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Eduardo Janot-Pacheco
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Ramachrisna Teixeira
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Jorge E. Horvath
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
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Abstract

This review reports the Brazilian history in astrobiology, as well as the first delineation of a vision of the future development of the field in the country, exploring its abundant biodiversity, highly capable human resources and state-of-the-art facilities, reflecting the last few years of stable governmental investments in science, technology and education, all conditions providing good perspectives on continued and steadily growing funding for astrobiology-related research. Brazil is growing steadily and fast in terms of its worldwide economic power, an effect being reflected in different areas of the Brazilian society, including industry, technology, education, social care and scientific production. In the field of astrobiology, the country has had some important landmarks, more intensely after the First Brazilian Workshop on Astrobiology in 2006. The history of astrobiology in Brazil, however, is not so recent and had its first occurrence in 1958. Since then, researchers carried out many individual initiatives across the country in astrobiology-related fields, resulting in an ever growing and expressive scientific production. The number of publications, including articles and theses, has particularly increased in the last decade, but still counting with the effort of researchers working individually. That scenario started to change in 2009, when a formal group of Brazilian researchers working with astrobiology was organized, aiming at congregating the scientific community interested in the subject and to promote the necessary interactions to achieve a multidisciplinary work, receiving facilities and funding from the University de Sao Paulo and other funding agencies.

Keywords

SPASA 2011astrobiologyBrazilhistoryastrobiologia
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 11 , Issue 4: SPECIAL ISSUE: THE SAO PAULO ADVANCED SCHOOL OF ASTROBIOLOGY – SPASA 2011 , October 2012 , pp. 189 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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