The State of the Universe

Author: Pedro Ferreira
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 1780225296
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 331

Book Description
A masterly overview of the development of cosmological thinking from the Greeks, via Newton and Einstein, to the present day. It is science's last and greatest challenge: fathoming the depths of the night sky. The objective: to crack the cosmic code, to unravel the blueprint for nature's grandest conception, a machine constructed on an unimaginably vast scale - the Universe itself. Today's model of an expanding Universe - the big bang cosmology - is actually built on principles derived from a few simple mathematical equations. Gravity-warped space time, quantum mechanics, the physics of the subatomic, these crucial insights, stemming from Einstein's revolutionary theories of relativity, have led to a simple and elegant framework within which the whole of the Universe, over billions of years, has been described. But recent evidence has begun to make wrinkles in the neat fabric of the big bang cosmology. There is now overwhelming evidence that there is far more stuff in the Universe than we can see. What, and where, is this 'dark matter'? And it now appears that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating: something out there - some exotic 'dark energy' - is acting against gravity to push space and time apart. While offering a critical view of how all the pieces in our current model fit together, Pedro Ferreira argues that Einstein's Universe may be just another stepping stone towards a new, more profound and effective cosmology in the future.

Beyond the Dynamical Universe

Author: Michael Silberstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192533835
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 445

Book Description
Theoretical physics and foundations of physics have not made much progress in the last few decades. Whether we are talking about unifying general relativity and quantum field theory (quantum gravity), explaining so-called dark energy and dark matter (cosmology), or the interpretation and implications of quantum mechanics and relativity, there is no consensus in sight. In addition, both enterprises are deeply puzzled about various facets of time including above all, time as experienced. The authors argue that, across the board, this impasse is the result of the "dynamical universe paradigm," the idea that reality is fundamentally made up of physical entities that evolve in time from some initial state according to dynamical laws. Thus, in the dynamical universe, the initial conditions plus the dynamical laws explain everything else going exclusively forward in time. In cosmology, for example, the initial conditions reside in the Big Bang and the dynamical law is supplied by general relativity. Accordingly, the present state of the universe is explained exclusively by its past. This book offers a completely new paradigm (called Relational Blockworld), whereby the past, present and future co-determine each other via "adynamical global constraints," such as the least action principle. Accordingly, the future is just as important for explaining the present as is the past. Most of the book is devoted to showing how Relational Blockworld resolves many of the current conundrums of both theoretical physics and foundations of physics, including the mystery of time as experienced and how that experience relates to the block universe.

The Creation of the Universe

Author: George Gamow
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486165485
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 178

Book Description
Lively and authoritative, this survey by a renowned physicist explains the formation of the galaxies and defines the concept of an ever-expanding universe in simple terms. 1961 edition. 40 figures.

The Five Ages of the Universe

Author: Fred C. Adams
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684865769
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
This book takes readers on a fantastic voyage to the physics of eternity, with a long-term projection of the evolution of the universe.

The Whole Shebang

Author: Timothy Ferris
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684838613
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Book Description
Summarizes what science has learned about the universe as of the end of the twentieth century, and offers predictions about what may emerge in the near future.

Cosmology and Controversy

Author: Helge Kragh
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691005461
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 518

Book Description
Between 1920 and 1970, cosmology became a branch of physics. This text examines how the big bang theory drew inspiration from, and eventually triumphed over, rival views, mainly the steady-state theory and its concept of a stationary universe.

The End of Everything

Author: Katie Mack
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982103558
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Mack looks at five ways the universe could end, and the lessons each scenario reveals about the most important concepts in cosmology. --From publisher description.

The Universe as It Really Is

Author: Thomas R. Scott
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231545762
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 511

Book Description
The universe that science reveals to us can seem far outside the comfort zone of the human mind. Subjects near and far open up dizzying vistas, from the infinitesimal to the colossal. Humanity, the unlikely product of uncountable coincidences on unimaginable scales, inhabits a tumultuous universe that extends from our immediate environs to the most distant galaxies and beyond. But when the mind balks at the vertiginous complexity of the universe, science unveils the elegance amid the chaos. In this book, Thomas R. Scott ventures into the known and the unknown to explain our universe and the laws that govern it. The Universe as It Really Is begins with physics and the building blocks of the universe—time, gravity, light, and elementary particles—and chemistry’s ability to explain the interactions among them. Scott, with the assistance of James Lawrence Powell, next tours the earth and atmospheric sciences to explain the forces that shape our planet and then takes off for the stars to describe our place in the cosmos. He provides vivid introductions to our collective scientific inheritance, narrating discoveries such as the shape of the atom and the nature of the nucleus or how we use GPS to measure time and what that has to do with relativity. A clear demonstration of the power of scientific reasoning to bring the incomprehensible within our grasp, The Universe as It Really Is gives an engrossing account of just how much we do understand about the world around us.

Welcome to the Universe

Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691177813
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
An essential companion to the New York Times bestseller Welcome to the Universe Here is the essential companion to Welcome to the Universe, a New York Times bestseller that was inspired by the enormously popular introductory astronomy course for non science majors that Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott taught together at Princeton. This problem book features more than one hundred problems and exercises used in the original course—ideal for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the original material and to learn to think like an astrophysicist. Whether you’re a student or teacher, citizen scientist or science enthusiast, your guided tour of the cosmos just got even more hands-on with Welcome to the Universe: The Problem Book. The essential companion book to the acclaimed bestseller Features the problems used in the original introductory astronomy course for non science majors at Princeton University Organized according to the structure of Welcome to the Universe, empowering readers to explore real astrophysical problems that are conceptually introduced in each chapter Problems are designed to stimulate physical insight into the frontier of astrophysics Problems develop quantitative skills, yet use math no more advanced than high school algebra Problems are often multipart, building critical thinking and quantitative skills and developing readers’ insight into what astrophysicists do Ideal for course use—either in tandem with Welcome to the Universe or as a supplement to courses using standard astronomy textbooks—or self-study Tested in the classroom over numerous semesters for more than a decade Prefaced with a review of relevant concepts and equations Full solutions and explanations are provided, allowing students and other readers to check their own understanding

Understanding the Universe

Author: James B. Seaborn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780387982953
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
Intended for undergraduate non-science majors, satisfying a general education requirement or seeking an elective in natural science, this is a physics text, but with the emphasis on topics and applications in astronomy. The perspective is thus different from most undergraduate astronomy courses: rather than discussing what is known about the heavens, this text develops the principles of physics so as to illuminate what we see in the heavens. The fundamental principles governing the behaviour of matter and energy are thus used to study the solar system, the structure and evolution of stars, and the early universe. The first part of the book develops Newtonian mechanics towards an understanding of celestial mechanics, while chapters on electromagnetism and elementary quantum theory lay the foundation of the modern theory of the structure of matter and the role of radiation in the constitution of stars. Kinetic theory and nuclear physics provide the basis for a discussion of stellar structure and evolution, and an examination of red shifts and other observational data provide a basis for discussions of cosmology and cosmogony.