We explain what the theory of Panspermia or Panspermism is, how it explains the origin of life on Earth and who developed it.
What is the theory of panspermia?
The Theory of Panspermia or Panspermism It is a theory that maintains that life on planet Earth is of extraterrestrial origin . Its name comes from Greek and is made up of the words bread (“everything”) and sperma (“seed”). It was stated for the first time in 1865, by Hermann Richter (1808-1876) and other biology scholars.
Other scientists who supported this theory were the Swedish chemist Svante August Arrhenius (1859-1927), winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1903, and the English astronomer Fred Hoyle (1915-2001), although it was the Swedish scientist who contributed the most with his diffusion.
There are two possible hypothetical models of operation of this theory:
- Natural panspermia It proposes that life arrived on planet Earth through meteorites or comets from space, which impacted on its surface and “polluted” it with primitive life forms from other stars.
- Directed or artificial panspermia It proposes that life arrived on our planet as part of a deliberate process of transporting microorganisms or even living beings, by some type of higher entity or intergalactic technology.
The Theory of Panspermia is controversial and has both evidence that could support it and issues that it cannot resolve. On the one hand, we know the very adverse conditions in which some types of bacteria manage not only to survive, but also to reproduce, such as Extremophiles that inhabit some of the most inhospitable places on Earth.
This suggests, together with the disputed evidence of extraterrestrial microbial life found in the ALH84001 meteorite and the Murchison meteorite, that bacteria could survive the conditions of outer space and serve to colonize distant planets.
However, this theory does not allow us to explain the very origin of life but is limited to passing its responsibility to extraterrestrial entities of which there is no indication of their existence. Such a mechanism of thought is far from what is contemplated in the Scientific Method and what is taken seriously by science.
References
- “Panspermia” on Wikipedia.
- “What is the theory of panspermia?” VERY Interesting.
- “Theory of panspermia” in AstroMía.
- “Origin of Life: the PanspermiaTheory” in Helix Magazine.
- “Life Traveling in Space: A Story of Panspermia” in Scitable by Nature Education.
- “Early Life Theories – Panspermia Theory” in ThoughtCo.
