Five Billion Years of Solitude (42 page)

Chaotian Eon,
139

Charbonneau, David,
228
–30,
232

charged-coupled devices (CCDs),
51
–53

China,
21
–22

chlorofluorocarbons,
134
,
142

chlorophyll,
141
,
143

Christmas Tree Cluster,
238

Clinton, Bill,
196
,
215

clouds,
161
–62,
164
,
206

coal,
125
,
131
,
134
,
136
,
137
,
144
,
160
,
184

Columbia,
189
,
196

comets,
2
,
3
,
19
,
76
–77,
140

Halley’s,
3

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory,
192
,
209

computers,
43
–44

Constellation program,
196
,
198
,
203
,
204
,
215
,
221
,
223

convergent evolution,
21

Cook, James,
85
–86

Copernican Principle (principle of mediocrity),
83
,
89
,
91

Copernicus, Nicolaus,
81
–83,
86
,
87
,
89
,
91
,
200

Cornell University,
39
,
42

coronagraphic TPF,
217
–22,
224
,
231
,
249

coronagraphs,
217

cosmology,
77
–82

Copernican Principle (principle of mediocrity) in,
83
,
89
,
91

inflationary theory in,
89
–92

modern,
86
–87,
91

see also
astronomy

Cosmos,
240

Costanza, Robert,
74
–75

Crab Nebula,
30

Crabtree, William,
84

Crutzen, Paul,
134
–35

Cuban missile crisis,
23
–24

cyanobacteria,
140
–44,
175
,
183

Daily Mail,
74

dark energy,
88
,
90

dark matter,
206

Darwin, Charles,
200

Davidson, George,
113

deep time,
145
–46

Democritus,
79
,
80
,
92
,
238

Demory, Brice,
259

De Rerum Natura
(
On the Nature of Things
) (Lucretius),
80
–81

De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium
(
On the Revolutions of Heavenly Orbs
) (Copernicus),
82

Devonian Period,
128
,
130
–32

Diamandis, Peter,
258

dinosaurs,
30
,
136
,
144

Discovery,
189

DNA,
40
,
141
,
143
,
170

dolphins,
16
,
20
–21

Drake, Frank,
9
–17,
27
–45,
101
,
167
–68,
240

Arecibo transmission of,
39
–41

orchids of,
37
–38

Drake equation,
16
–25,
28
–29,
38
–39,
41
,
42
,
183

longevity of technological civilizations (
L
term) in,
22
–25,
38
–39,
41
,
42

Draper Laboratory,
256

Dyson, Freeman,
104

Dyson spheres,
104
,
105

Earth,
109

asteroid strike on,
30

atmosphere of,
3
,
132
,
134
–35,
139
,
140
,
144
,
157
–60,
168
–69,
174
–77,
206
,
238

“Blue Marble” images of,
212
,
239
–41

carbonate-silicate cycle on,
175
–81,
184

climate of,
123
–24,
128
,
132
–37,
142
,
144
,
156
–57,
160
–62,
173
–75,
184

in early cosmology,
77
–82

energy consumption on,
103
–4

extinctions on,
43
,
135
,
184

faint young Sun problem and,
173
–75

formation of,
2
,
7
,
20
,
139
,
173

geologic time periods of,
128
–45

glaciation on,
132
–34,
142
,
174
,
176
,
178
,
179
,
183

human population of,
43
,
100
,
134
,
136

ice caps of,
128
,
132
–33,
135
,
136
,
184

Laughlin’s idea for moving orbit of,
76
–77

Laughlin’s valuation of,
73
–76

oxygen on,
139
–44,
159
,
171
,
180
–82,
200
,
238

Snowball Earth events,
142
,
174
,
179

Sun’s distance from,
83
,
86

tectonic plates of,
30
,
105
,
111
,
128
,
140
,
144
,
176
,
229

union of organisms with geophysical systems on (Gaia hypothesis),
175
,
176
,
178
,
183

water on,
3
,
30
,
158
–61,
174
,
177
–80,
182

Earth, life on,
31
,
154

diversification and explosion of,
138
–39,
143
,
144
,
182

emergence of,
4
,
7
,
19
–20,
238

end of,
7
–8,
31
–32,
75
–77,
159
,
180
–83

essential facts of,
29
–30