Introduction

Abstract

Thanks to the discovery since 1995 of multiple planets orbiting Sun-like stars we know that, as intuited by Giordano Bruno in 1584, our solar system is not unique. The nebular hypothesis for its origin, first clearly stated by Pierre-Simon de Laplace in 1796, has proved durable, while our understanding of its evolution, including the part played by contributions from other parts of the Milky Way galaxy, has been enriched by the geochemical analysis and dating of material from the Moon, Mars, meteorites and other solar system bodies as well as the Earth.