A Brief History of Life

Kamala Wickramasinghe is a freelance editor and writer and has worked for various publishing companies. She holds a BA Hons degree and an MA in English Literature from the University of Cambridge. Her long-standing interest in science has led her to work and write with her father. She has edited a number of his books in the last 20 years including Journey with Fred Hoyle (World Scientific 2005, 2011 (reprint)); Life on Mars? (Clinical Press, 1997); Cosmic Dragons (Souvenir Press, 2003); Where did come from?: Life of an Astrobiologist (World Scientific, 2015). Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe is a world-renowned astronomer, astrophysicist and astrobiologist. In 1974 he first proposed the theory that dust in interstellar space and in comets is largely organic, a theory that has now been fully vindicated. He was a student of the late Sir Fred Hoyle and one of his longest running collaborators. In 1977, together with Hoyle, he proposed the theory of cometary panspermia, the theory that comets carry the seeds of life in the universe. He is the author of over 30 books and 350 scientific papers. He obtained his early education in Sri Lanka graduating in Mathematics from the University of Ceylon in 1960. He then proceeded to Cambridge University on a Commonwealth Scholarship obtaining his PhD and ScD degrees from Cambridge in 1963 and 1971. From 1963-1973 he was a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge and a Founder Member of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. From 1973-2010 he was a Professor at Cardiff University.

He was awarded honorary doctorates from the Soka University of Tokyo, Japan, and the Ruhuna University of Sri Lanka. In 1992 he was decorated by the President of Sri Lanka with the titular honour of Vidya Jyothi. Edward J Steele is a researcher working on genetic diversification mechanisms within molecular immunology, molecular biology and evolution. He began collaborating with Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe in 2016.