[meteorite-list] Re: Strange Martian Surface Feature

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:02:25 2004
Message-ID: <200203072026.MAA16599_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>Was Galileo a "nutcase"?

No. I've never seen any references where Galileo
was referred to as a nutcase. He was persecuted by the
Church because he had different views from the Church, but
it was not because he was a nutcase. Incidently,
unlike Hoagland, Galileo has always been supported by the
scientific community.

>It is true that Hoagland was the first to suggest that
>sub-surface European oceans are a possible home of life.

It turns out that is not the case. Hoagland was not
the first to suggest that life may exist on Europa.
Hoagland wrote an article about that in 1980, but it
was suggested by others well before that.
See here for more details:

http://www.math.washington.edu/~greenber/EuropaFax.html

>Arthur C. Clarke verified that Hoagland suggested it to him.

It is true Clarke first heard about the possible Europa
life from Hoagland, but Arthur C. Clarke later said:

  "I am also grateful to him [Richard Hoagland] for the
   excellent 1980 article he wrote--my first introduction to
   the idea. Since then I have become aware of the fact that
   many others had thought of it first, as you point out."

Ron Baalke
Received on Thu 07 Mar 2002 03:26:01 PM PST