the blue marble蓝色大理石.pdf

Petsko Genome Biology 2011, 12:112 /2011/12/4/112 CO M M E N T The blue marble Gregory A Petsko* It is one of the most iconic images - not just of our time, but of all time. e picture of the earth as seen from 28,000 miles (45,000 km) out in space - often called ‘the blue marble’ because it resembles the spherical agates we used to play with as children - was taken on 7 December 1972 by the crew of the spacecraft Apollo 17 (it is reproduced here). e Arabian Peninsula is clearly visible at the top, with the east coast of Africa extending down towards Antarctica, the white mass at the bottom. (e original picture was actually upside down from this view, but the picture is usually presented rotated as it is here.) For those who care about such things, the photo was taken with a 70 mm Hasselblad camera with an 80 mm lens. Apollo 17 was the last manned lunar mission, so no human beings have since been far enough out into space to take another picture that shows the whole globe. Because of the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- tration’s (NASA’s) insistence on de-emphasizing the role of any one crew member in space missions, the photo- graph is credited to the entire flight team: Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmit. It is still not The blue marble. Photographed by Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmit. known for certain who actually took what might be the most famous photograph in the history of the medium. e timing of the picture was auspicious, to say the least. e early 1970s marked the beginning of an era of e word ‘iconic’ is often used for pictures like this one, environmental activism in the US, and the blue marble an