Harvard Science Book Talk: Andrew H. Knoll, in conversation with Robin Wordsworth, "Earth and Life: A Four Billion Year Conversation"

How did the world as we know it—from the soil beneath our feet to the air we breathe and the life that surrounds us—come to be? Geologists have proposed one set of answers while biologists have proposed another. Earth and Life is the first book to reveal why we need to listen to both voices—the physical and the biological—to understand how we and our planet became possible.

In this captivating book, Andrew Knoll traces how all life is sustained by Earth’s geological and atmospheric dynamics, and how life itself shapes the physical environment. Taking readers on a thrilling journey across four billion years of Earth history, he shows how Earth and life interact to cycle the very elements of life from rocks, water, and air, and how these and related processes control our climate, regulate our atmosphere, and support the diversification of life-forms great and small. Along the way, Knoll explains how we can draw on this history as we navigate the challenges of the Anthropocene, and how it can aid our search for life elsewhere in the universe.

Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights from a leading expert, Earth and Life explains how this ongoing interplay holds vital lessons for us today as humanity becomes an increasingly major voice in the conversation.

Andrew H. Knoll is the Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and Earth and Planetary Sciences, Emeritus, at Harvard University. His books include A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters and Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth (Princeton). Recipient of the International Prize for Biology and the Crafoord Prize in Geosciences, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Robin Wordsworth is Gordon McKay professor in Harvard’s Earth and Planetary Sciences department. His research focuses on the physics, chemistry and habitability of terrestrial-type planets. His current interests include the past climates of Mars and Venus, sub-Neptune and rocky exoplanets, climate-biosphere coupling on Earth, and the fundamental physics of climate change. Robin is originally from the Scottish Highlands and grew up close to the shores of Loch Ness. He frequently consults for NASA on planetary science and astrobiology topics and has written several popular science articles on space exploration.

Sponsored by Harvard Division of Science, Harvard Science Library, Harvard Book Store, and Long Now Boston.

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