A History of Astrobiology: Social Network Structures of the Emerging Field

Astrobiology, as it is known by official statements and agencies, is “the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe” (NASA Astrobiology Insitute , 2018). This definition should suit a dictionary, but it may not accurately describe the research and motivations of practicing astrobiologists. Furthermore, it does little to characterize the context in which astrobiologists work. The aim of this project is to explore various social network structures within a large body of astrobiological research, intending to both further define the current motivations of astrobiological research and to lend context to these motivations. In this effort, two Web of Science queries were assembled to search for two contrasting corpora related to astrobiological research. The first search, for astrobiology and its close synonym, exobiology, returned a corpus of 3,229 journal articles. The second search, which includes the first and supplements it with further search terms (see Table 1) returned a corpus of 19,017 journal articles. The metadata for these articles were then used to construct various networks. The resulting networks describe an astrobiology that is well entrenched in other related fields, showcasing the interdisciplinarity of astrobiology in its emergence. The networks also showcase the entrenchment of astrobiology in the sociological context in which it is conducted—namely, its relative dependence on the United States government, which should prompt further discussion amongst astrobiology researchers.