Richard Brice Hoover (born January 3, 1943) is a physicist who has authored 33 volumes and 250 papers on astrobiology, extremophiles, diatoms, solar physics, X-ray/EUV optics and meteorites. He holds 11 U.S. patents and was 1992 NASA Inventor of the Year. [1] He was employed at the United States' NASA Marshall Space Flight Center from 1966 to 2012, [2] where he worked on astrophysics and astrobiology. He established the Astrobiology Group there in 1997 and until his retirement in late 2011 he headed their astrobiology research. He conducted research on microbial extremophiles in the Antarctic, microfossils, and chemical biomarkers in precambrian rocks and in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Hoover has published claims to have discovered fossilized microorganisms in a collection of select meteorites on multiple occasions.
Hoover was born in Sikeston, Missouri on January 3, 1943. He obtained his B.Sc. degree with majors in physics, mathematics and French in 1964 from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He did graduate work in theoretical mathematics at Duke University on an NSF fellowship translating the Nicolas Bourbaki French volume on multi-dimensional vector spaces, and was completing his thesis on X-ray diffraction in the Physics Department of the University of Arkansas when he left the University in 1966 to join NASA.
Working at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, beginning in 1966, Hoover has taken part in astrobiological research carried out there since 1997. In 1998, he participated in two of the astrobiology proposals funded by the newly formed NASA Virtual Astrobiology Institute. He was co-investigator with David McKay (PI) of the NASA Johnson Space Center on the study of biomarkers and microfossils in meteorites, astromaterials and ancient terrestrial rocks, and collaborated with Kenneth Nealson (PI) from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the investigation of microbial extremophiles from some of the Earth's most hostile environments as related to the co-evolution of planets and biospheres. [3]
Hoover is noted for his early work at NASA on Fraunhofer diffraction, [4] and the development of X-ray/EUV telescopes for solar physics research. He developed the "ATM Experiment S-056 grazing incidence X-ray telescope" and obtained 25,000 solar x-ray images from Skylab, [5] and developed the instrument that obtained the first high resolution X-ray/EUV (X-ray to extreme ultraviolet) images of the Sun ever obtained with a normal incidence multilayer X-ray telescope. [6] He performed research on unicellular algae known as diatoms, [7] [8] and is noted for his discovery of microbial extremophiles from places such as Mono Lake, [9] [10] deep Lake Vostok ice cores, [11] deep sea hydrothermal vents, [12] and the living pleistocene bacterium Carnobacterium pleistocenium isolated from the 32,000-year-old permafrost from Fox Tunnel in Alaska. [13] [14] He organized and co-chaired the NASA/NATO/INTAS sponsored 'Astrobiology Advanced Study Institute' that was held in Chania, Crete in 2002. [15] Hoover retired from NASA in December 2011.
Since 1997, Richard B. Hoover has published numerous papers describing controversial evidence and claims for the existence of indigenous microfossils of cyanobacteria and other filamentous microorganisms in the CI1 (Ivuna and Orgueil) and CM2 (Murchison and Murray) carbonaceous meteorites, [16] as well as the Polonnaruwa meteorite. [17] [18]
Hoover's interpretations and claims for fossilized bacteria in meteorites were published in 1997, [19] [16] 2005, [20] [21] 2007, [22] 2008, [23] 2011, [24] and 2013. [17] [18]
NASA officially distanced itself from Hoover's 2011 claim and his lack of expert peer reviews. [25] [26] A consensus that has emerged from these discussions, and is now seen as a critical requirement, is the demand for further lines of evidence in addition to any morphological data that supports such extraordinary claims. [27] Currently, the scientific consensus is that "morphology alone cannot be used unambiguously as a tool for primitive life detection." [28] [29] [30] Interpretation of morphology is notoriously subjective, and its use alone has led to numerous errors of interpretation. [28]
Hoover has collected meteorites and microbial extremophiles from Antarctica; novel bacteria from glaciers and permafrost of Antarctica, Patagonia, Siberia, Alaska and from haloalkaline lakes, geysers and volcanoes of California, Alaska, Crete and Hawaii. Hoover has described and published several new species and two new genera of bacteria and archaea: Anaerovirgula and Proteocatella . [31] [32] [33] He has authored four new species of bacteria ( Spirochaeta americana, Desulfonatronum thiodismutans, Tindallia californiensis ) from Mono Lake; and Carnobacterium pleistocenium that survived for 32,000 years in a frozen Alaskan pond. [1] [34] [35]
Hoover co-directed the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Astrobiology and his book "Perspectives in Astrobiology" was published in 2005. He is a fellow of SPIE and has served on the Boards of Directors of SPIE (1991–2002); the American Association of Engineering Societies (1999–2001) and the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (2002). Richard B. Hoover was 2001 President of SPIE. In 2009, Hoover was awarded the highest honor bestowed by SPIE – the Gold Medal of the Society - "In Recognition for his work X-Ray/EUV Optics and Astrobiology". [36] [37] [38] Hoover retired from NASA in December 2011.
Astrobiology, and the related field of exobiology, is an interdisciplinary scientific field that studies the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary field that investigates the deterministic conditions and contingent events with which life arises, distributes, and evolves in the universe.
Panspermia is the hypothesis, first proposed in the 5th century BCE by the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and planetoids, as well as by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms. Panspermia is a fringe theory with little support amongst mainstream scientists. Critics argue that it does not answer the question of the origin of life but merely places it on another celestial body. It is also criticized because it cannot be tested experimentally.
Allan Hills 84001 (ALH84001) is a fragment of a Martian meteorite that was found in the Allan Hills in Antarctica on December 27, 1984, by a team of American meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. Like other members of the shergottite–nakhlite–chassignite (SNC) group of meteorites, ALH84001 is thought to have originated on Mars. However, it does not fit into any of the previously discovered SNC groups. Its mass upon discovery was 1.93 kilograms (4.3 lb).
A biosignature is any substance – such as an element, isotope, or molecule – or phenomenon that provides scientific evidence of past or present life. Measurable attributes of life include its complex physical or chemical structures and its use of free energy and the production of biomass and wastes. A biosignature can provide evidence for living organisms outside the Earth and can be directly or indirectly detected by searching for their unique byproducts.
Orgueil is a scientifically important carbonaceous chondrite meteorite that fell in southwestern France in 1864.
Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe is a Sri Lankan-born British mathematician, astronomer and astrobiologist of Sinhalese ethnicity. His research interests include the interstellar medium, infrared astronomy, light scattering theory, applications of solid-state physics to astronomy, the early Solar System, comets, astrochemistry, the origin of life and astrobiology. A student and collaborator of Fred Hoyle, the pair worked jointly for over 40 years as influential proponents of panspermia. In 1974 they proposed the hypothesis that some dust in interstellar space was largely organic, later proven to be correct.
Queen Fabiola Mountains is a group of mountains in Antarctica, 50 kilometres long, consisting mainly of seven small massifs which trend north–south, forming a partial barrier to the flow of inland ice. The mountains stand in isolation about 140 km (90 mi) southwest of the head of Lutzow-Holm Bay. The mountains were discovered and photographed from aircraft by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Guido Derom on 8 October 1960. With permission from King Baudouin of Belgium, the mountains were named after his newly wedded wife Fabiola. In November–December 1960, the mountains were visited by a party of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE), 1957–1962, which made geomorphological and geological surveys. They applied the name Yamato Mountains. The highest massif is Mount Fukushima.
Lake Untersee is the largest surface freshwater lake in the interior of the Gruber Mountains of central Queen Maud Land in East Antarctica. It is situated 90 kilometres (56 mi) to the southwest of the Schirmacher Oasis. The lake is approximately 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) long and 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) wide, with a surface area of 11.4 square kilometres (4.4 sq mi), and a maximum depth of 169 metres (554 ft). The lake is permanently covered with ice and is partly bounded by glacier ice.
Spirochaeta americana is a single-celled extremophile. This haloalkaliphilic and obligately anaerobic bacterium can be found in the highly alkaline, salty, deep waters of California's Mono Lake.
Extraterrestrial material refers to natural objects now on Earth that originated in outer space. Such materials include cosmic dust and meteorites, as well as samples brought to Earth by sample return missions from the Moon, asteroids and comets, as well as solar wind particles.
Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) was a program established by NASA to sponsor research projects that advance the technology and techniques used in planetary exploration. The objective was to enable the study of astrobiology and to aid the planning of extraterrestrial exploration missions while prioritizing science, technology, and field campaigns.
CI1 fossils refer to alleged morphological evidence of microfossils found in five CI1 carbonaceous chondrite meteorite fall: Alais, Orgueil, Ivuna, Tonk and Revelstoke. The research was published in March 2011 in the fringe Journal of Cosmology by Richard B. Hoover, an engineer. However, NASA distanced itself from Hoover's claim and his lack of expert peer-reviews.
The Journal of Cosmology describes itself as a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal of cosmology, although the quality of the process has been questioned. The journal has been closely related historically with a similar online website, Cosmology and Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews., as all three were founded by neuroscientist Rhawn Gabriel Joseph. Rhawn Joseph established the journal in 2009, published by Cosmology Science Publishers, and it was sold to Modern Cosmology Associates in 2011. Rudolph Schild is the editor-in-chief.
Yamato 000593 is the second largest meteorite from Mars found on Earth. Studies suggest the Martian meteorite was formed about 1.3 billion years ago from a lava flow on Mars. An impact occurred on Mars about 11 million years ago and ejected the meteorite from the Martian surface into space. The meteorite landed on Earth in Antarctica about 50,000 years ago. The mass of the meteorite is 13.7 kg (30 lb) and has been found to contain evidence of past water alteration.
Desulfonatronum thiodismutans is an alkaliphilic, sulfate-reducing bacterium capable of lithoautotrophic growth. It is Gram-negative, vibrio-shaped, with cells 0.6–0.7×1.2–2.7 μm in size, motile by a single polar flagellum. Its type strain is MLF1T.
Hakeem Muata Oluseyi is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, inventor, educator, science communicator, author, actor, veteran, and humanitarian.
Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth are environments that share potentially relevant astrobiological conditions with Mars. These include sites that are analogues of potential subsurface habitats, and deep subsurface habitats.
Pseudo-panspermia is a well-supported hypothesis for a stage in the origin of life. The theory first asserts that many of the small organic molecules used for life originated in space. It continues that these organic molecules were distributed to planetary surfaces, where life then emerged on Earth and perhaps on other planets. Pseudo-panspermia differs from the fringe theory of panspermia, which asserts that life arrived on Earth from distant planets.
Williamwhitmaniaceae is a family in the order Bacteroidales.
Tindallia californiensis is a Gram-positive, extremely haloalkaliphilic, strictly anaerobic, acetogenic and motile bacterium from the genus of Tindallia which has been isolated from sediments from the Mono Lake in California.