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SUNDAY JANUARY ipMERCHANT POSTThere is no life on the Moon, maybe on Mars, says a world famous astronomer discussing make-up of the UniverseBy BAY 11) WHITEof discussionand all this talk of reaching the moon from earth.Hitler’s Germany.chemical elements on the earth did life start on the earth. ForThe possibility of life on oth- and we have from astrophysieal a long time it was believed that er celestial bodies is a subject observations very definite indi- life came from the outside tini-with man-made cations that not only do practi- verse on to the earth when the satellites now whirling in orbit cally all celestial bodies which earth had cooled down, but thatobserve have the same did not solve the problem. It chemical elements'as the earth was only shifted to some un-1 recall an interview with but even the same elements In known outside celestial body Professor E. Finlay Freundlieh, the ume relative abundance, and we could not answer the a renowned scientist and Kin- So, from the chemical point of question when and why lifestein's collaborator until he fled view, the problem boils down started there. W'e know nowto the question of under which that sperms traveling through Professor Fruendlich, who conditions would living matter stellar space would be killed by was responsible for a notable be produced out of the chemical ultra-violet radiation. Coming revival of British astronomy by elements which seem to be the more into the foreground was supervising the construction of same everywhere in the uni- the explanation that when car-a 36-inch photogruph-telescope, verse. bon molecules were able toexplained that all life on earth is! Origin «f Life build up other complex mole-built on complex carbon com- Professor Freundlieh said eulcs in the colloidal state then pounds and there can only be that another problem is the or- wfe could expect the most primi-Jife on celestial bodies which igin of life. The earth must tive living organisms to develop are built up from the same have been at one time a few without any discontinuity from chemical elements as the earth, .thousand degrees hot, and obvi-'dead matter. The case in favor this question seems to be in a ously if there had been life at of this view was that the virus, vsrtain way completely solved, that time it would have been at the back of many disease.', (Y# have a complete pattern question was — when and how did seem to be hardly dCtin-^ the Structure of the various killed by the great heat. The guishe' 1“ from highly develop-ed albumins. When chemicalelements could produce highly developed molecules Hie developed in a steady way.Does that mean we can expect to find life on every celestial lx)dy? Professor Freund-lich's answer is no. Obviously no life can he maintained on the sun or any other star where the surface temperatures amount to many thousand degrees. Both the earth and the moon are at, the same distance practically from the sun and wemight ask if life is to be expected on the moon as well as on the earth. Again ProfessorFreundlich’s answer is no.mass of the moon isnearly one-hundredth that ofthe mass of the earth, consequently the gravitationalof the surface of the moon isvery much fainter than that on earth. The moon is unable tomaintain an atmosphere. Thegases produced on the moon dissipate in a bet time, and'• -! t ’, and maintain an atmosphere\ 4 i 1 I Jp, v# « f lt;' 4 4 y * ♦ # |^gen exists on the moon and thetemperature on the side facingthe sun amounts to about 120degrees centigrade. On the other side, it nui t be as low as minus 150 degrees centigrade,and under these conditions life can not lie developed..Store of OxygenSo long as the earth was still in a more or less molten state,it also had an atmosphere inwhich free oxygen could not he maintained, hut when the earth cooled down volcanic activityproduced gases, and these gases could not escape because thegravitational field of the earth w as strong enough to keep them from escaping. The velocity of escape in the case of the earth is seven miles per second, saidthe professor, and in the case of the moon it is only 1.5 mile per 'econd. The store of oxygenwhich we and the other animals need for breathing was built up after the earth cooled dow n and was preserved by the rich plantlife on the earth.The animals breathe out carbon dioxide and the plantsbreathe in carbon dioxide, split.it up into oxygen and release It in the form of ozone. The animals breathe in the oxygen andprochu rd mo?v*All life Is built upon a carefullyIJU i i U i v ’ v ‘ Li ; } 141 )« .*■ 13 uv • * * U C il lt;i t .1 ~imals and plants. The questionof life on other planets depends upon two factors, he said. Thetemperature mti't not ie toohigh so that the proteins are not destroyed hv heat or too cold so that everything freezes. On Mercury the temperature is of the order 400 degrees centigrade, which is much too hot.and Mercury is also too small to maintain an atmosphere.On the side facing the sun,Venus has a temperature not far from 100 degrees centigrade.There is a dense atmosp consisting chiefly of carbon dioxide. No free oxygen has been discovered and the appearance of Venus is that of a planet ravished by heavy storms hut probably without life.Sonic Life on MarsOn Mars the temperature Isnear to zero point centigrade lt;32 degrees Fahrenheit). Alar ..e ng very much smaller than the earth can only maintain a light atmosphere, but that, is apparently sufficient for a certain amount of life existing on Mars.Observations gave a definite indication that plant life develops on Mars and dies off with theapproach of winter. Whether small animals are there he couldnot say. hut there appears to lo atmosphere.life orlthaa certain amount of\f 31*^On Jupiter and Saturn.temperature K respectively,minus 1lu degrees and 150 degrees centigrade. They t*nhseem to he eowwed by a thickInver of frozen ga-es, some of which has been identified. Professor Freundlieh added that there does not seem to he anylife possible on any of the outer planets. The problem as towhether life exilt;ts elsewhere In the universe depends uponwhether a particular star iris afamily of planets and whether among them one or two planetlt; are revolving at a favorable distance from the central -tar sothat the temperature is not too high and not too low; andwhether the planets are not too-mall to he able to maintain an
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