Oyama, Vance I. (1922–1998)
 |
Vance Oyama (left) and Leonard P.
Zill
|
American biochemist who served as the chief of NASA's Exobiology Branch
at the Ames Research Center. Oyama was a veteran
of life detection experiments on Apollo lunar samples and father of the
Viking gas exchange experiment (GEX).
Along with Wolf Vishniac and Harold Klein,
Oyama was among the most optimistic of the scientists working on the Viking
biology experiments about the prospects of detecting Martian life. Ironically,
his experiment gave the least biologically favorable result of the three
onboard the spacecraft and Oyama subsequently became convinced that the
activity registered in the soil samples could best be explained chemically
(see Oyama's hypothesis, about the active nature
of the Martian soil).
Related category
• ASTROBIOLOGY
Also on this site:
Encyclopedia
of Alternative Energy & Sustainable Living
Encyclopedia
of History
BACK TO TOP
|
