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Article: Extraterrestrial Life
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
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Extraterrestrial Life
The concept of extraterrestrial life, embodied in the discipline known as exobiology, astrobiology, or bioastronomy, is one of the oldest in the history of science. Although the search for life beyond Earth has always been intrinsically difficult, and intermingled with philosophy and theology, it has usually been a reflection of the science of its times.
The idea of an infinite number of worlds was part of the ancient Greek atomist system, but was opposed by the physical principles of the philosopher Aristotle. Beginning in the sixteenth century, Copernican theory made the Earth a planet, and the other planets potential Earths. In the seventeenth and eighteenth ...