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Luis Campos, science historian and the current Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, was interviewed by Dan Turello at the Kluge Center, where Campos will spend his one year residency as Chair. The conversation is available at the Library of Congress blog.

Campos talked about how his interests and academic path led up to the position of Astrobiology Chair, giving details about his childhood inspirations and college and graduate work that incorporated both science and the humanities.

Campos discussed his book, Radium and the Secret of Life, which explores how the discovery of the radioactive element changed science practices and society, and he explained the connection he has found between synthetic biology and astrobiology—where one seeks to invent new life while the other to discover life as a universal phenomenon. Both, he said, “engage in the conceptual and practical limits of living systems,” pursuing the idea of what he defines as “life as it could be.”

More information about the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology program is available at: http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/fellowships/NASA-astrobiology.html.