Download or read book Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos written by Dennis Overbye and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2021-12-21 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award: the "intensely exciting" story of a group of brilliant scientists who set out to answer the deepest questions about the origin of the universe and changed the course of physics and astronomy forever (Newsday). In southern California, nearly a half century ago, a small band of researchers — equipped with a new 200-inch telescope and a faith born of scientific optimism — embarked on the greatest intellectual adventure in the history of humankind: the search for the origin and fate of the universe. Their quest would eventually engulf all of physics and astronomy, leading not only to the discovery of quasars, black holes, and shadow matter but also to fame, controversy, and Nobel Prizes. Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos tells the story of the men and women who have taken eternity on their shoulders and stormed nature in search of answers to the deepest questions we know to ask. "Written with such wit and verve that it is hard not to zip through in one sitting." —Washington Post

Download or read book Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos written by Dennis Overbye and published by Perennial. This book was released on 1991 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dealing with the ultimate questions of life's origins, this study examines the pride, passion, and courage of the cosmological scientists who explore the origins, stucture, and fate of the universe

Download or read book The Secret of the Universe written by Isaac Asimov and published by Doubleday Books. This book was released on 1990 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Einstein in Love written by Dennis Overbye and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2001-10-01 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Einstein in Love, Dennis Overbye has written the first profile of the great scientist to focus exclusively on his early adulthood, when his major discoveries were made. It reveals Einstein to be very much a young man of his time-draft dodger, self-styled bohemian, poet, violinist, and cocky, charismatic genius who left personal and professional chaos in his wake. Drawing upon hundreds of unpublished letters and a decade of research, Einstein in Love is a penetrating portrait of the modern era's most influential thinker.

Download or read book How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming written by Mike Brown and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-01-24 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of adding one more planet to our solar system, Brown’s find ignited a firestorm of controversy that culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of “dwarf” planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters—all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about. A heartfelt and personal journey filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever imagined exploring the universe—and who among us hasn’t?

Download or read book A Unified Grand Tour of Theoretical Physics Third Edition written by Ian D. Lawrie and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2012-11-27 with total page 716 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Unified Grand Tour of Theoretical Physics invites its readers to a guided exploration of the theoretical ideas that shape our contemporary understanding of the physical world at the fundamental level. Its central themes, comprising space-time geometry and the general relativistic account of gravity, quantum field theory and the gauge theories of fundamental forces, and statistical mechanics and the theory of phase transitions, are developed in explicit mathematical detail, with an emphasis on conceptual understanding. Straightforward treatments of the standard models of particle physics and cosmology are supplemented with introductory accounts of more speculative theories, including supersymmetry and string theory. This third edition of the Tour includes a new chapter on quantum gravity, focusing on the approach known as Loop Quantum Gravity, while new sections provide extended discussions of topics that have become prominent in recent years, such as the Higgs boson, massive neutrinos, cosmological perturbations, dark energy and matter, and the thermodynamics of black holes. Designed for those in search of a solid grasp of the inner workings of these theories, but who prefer to avoid a full-scale assault on the research literature, the Tour assumes as its point of departure a familiarity with basic undergraduate-level physics, and emphasizes the interconnections between aspects of physics that are more often treated in isolation. The companion website at www.unifiedgrandtours.org provides further resources, including a comprehensive manual of solutions to the end-of-chapter exercises.

Download or read book Stephen Hawking written by Michael White and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 1992 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Gripping Account Of A Physicist Whose Speculations Could Prove As Revolutionary As Those Of Albert Einstein... It Can Be Consulted As A Clear And Authoritative Guide Through Three Decades Of Hawking S Central Contributions To Cosmology. - Bernard Dixon In The New Statesman & Society Excellent... From The Opening Pages, Which Relate The Occasion When Shirley Maclaine Sought An Audience With Her Hero In A Cambridge Restaurant, To The Final Chapter On Hollywood, Fame And Fortune , The Book Is Well-Nigh Unputdownable... [It] Ought To Be Read Alongside A Brief History Of Time As A Kind Of Explanatory Supplement. - Heather Cooper In The Times Educational Supplement Fascinating... What Makes This Book So Rewarding Is The Way That The Authors Have Blended Their Account Of Hawking S Science With That Of His Life, Giving A Picture Of A Remarkable Scientist As A Remarkable Person. - Tony Osman In The Spectator It S Compulsive Reading, Maybe Because Hawking Towers Above It All, A Complex And Fascinating Character Who Remains Strangely Elusive: Boyish Yet Indomitable, Stubborn Yet Charming, A Private Man Revelling In Fame. - Clare Francis In The Sunday Express [Their Book] Conveys How Scientific Research Is Not Just A Dry Intellectual Pursuit But An Adventure Full Of Joy, Despair And Humour, And Fraught With The Sort Of Inter-Personal Problems And Rivalries Which Mark All Human Endeavours. - Bernard Carr In The Independent On Sunday Few Scientists Become Legends In Their Own Lifetime. Stephen Hawking Is One. It Is Good To Have This Well-Documented And Immensely Readable Biography To Remind Us That The Media-Hyped Mute Genius In The Wheelchair Is In Fact A Sensitive, Humorous, Ambitious And Occasionally Wilful Human Being. - Paul Davies In The Times Higher Education Supplement

Download or read book Discovering the Cosmos written by Robert C. Bless and published by University Science Books. This book was released on 1996 with total page 788 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text has two objectives: to describe the leading ideas and concepts of modern astronomy; and to indicate how astronomy in particular and physical science in general developed, what its methods are, its goals and its limitations.

Download or read book The Scientific American Book of the Cosmos written by David Levy and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2014-07-22 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally, the entire body of our scientific knowledge of the universe is available in one definitive volume. Scientific American, the oldest and most popular science magazine in the world, has prepared the most comprehensive and comprehensible book on the subject ever. Under the direction of renowned astronomer David H. Levy, this spectacular book assembles the best minds in science to give clear and accessible explanations of the nature of the cosmos. Newly commissioned essays by working scientists at the top of their fields and classic writings by such luminaries as Albert Einstein, Francis Crick, and Carl Sagan take us to the frontiers of space and time-from sub-atomic particles to the edge of the universe. Both thoughtful and provocative, this book asks-and answers-the big questions, such as: o How did our solar system evolve? o What forces lie at the center of the atom? o What is the size of the universe? o What is dark matter? o What is the possibility of extraterrestrial life? o What is the importance of superstrings? o How do galaxies form? Dazzling full-color and black-and-white photographs aid in articulating the latest theories about the size, age, nature, and expansion of the universe, and make this book a delight to behold. Essays are grouped by topic, from the largest phenomena, such as the formation of the universe, down to the smallest detail, such as the makeup of an atom. In addition, each section contains an illuminating introduction by David Levy that binds the essays together and creates a whole picture. The Scientific American Book of the Cosmos is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of both professional astronomers and science enthusiasts alike.

Download or read book The Fabric of the Cosmos written by Brian Greene and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s leading physicists and author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Elegant Universe, comes “an astonishing ride” through the universe (The New York Times) that makes us look at reality in a completely different way. Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? Greene has set himself a daunting task: to explain non-intuitive, mathematical concepts like String Theory, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and Inflationary Cosmology with analogies drawn from common experience. From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can instantaneously coordinate their behavior, Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.

Download or read book A Short History of Nearly Everything Special Illustrated Edition written by Bill Bryson and published by Crown. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 876 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson’s exciting, informative journey into the world of science. In A Short History of Nearly Everything, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as his territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. The result is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Now, in this handsome new edition, Bill Bryson’s words are supplemented by full-color artwork that explains in visual terms the concepts and wonder of science, at the same time giving face to the major players in the world of scientific study. Eloquently and entertainingly described, as well as richly illustrated, science has never been more involving or entertaining.

Download or read book Stephen Hawking written by John Gribbin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-01-15 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stephen Hawking is no ordinary scientist. Perhaps more than any other scientist, he has broadened our basic understanding of the universe. His theoretical work on black holes and the origins and nature of the cosmos have been groundbreaking—if not downright revolutionary. He has also spent much of his adult life confined to a wheelchair, a victim of ALS. But his physical limitations have done nothing to confine him intellectually or hinder his scientific development. Hawking would already be remarkable for his cutting-edge work in theoretical physics alone. However, he has also managed to popularize science unlike any one else. Today, he is a household name and achieved almost cult-like fame with the release of A Brief History of Time. Although this book is steeped in the complexities of cosmology, millions of people were eager to learn just some of what he had to offer. Science writers White and Gribbin have painted a compelling portrait of a scientific mind that seemingly knows no bounds. Weaving together clear explanations of Hawking’s science with a detailed, balanced, and sensitive personal history, we come to know and appreciate both sides of this incredible man. Includes new updates in Hawking's biography and the recent discovery of the Higgs-Boson (or "God") particle.

Download or read book Until the End of Time written by Brian Greene and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose, from the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe. "Few humans share Greene’s mastery of both the latest cosmological science and English prose." —The New York Times Until the End of Time is Brian Greene's breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to find meaning in the face of this vast expanse. Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal. From particles to planets, consciousness to creativity, matter to meaning—Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.

Download or read book The War Against the Family written by William D. Gairdner and published by BPS Books. This book was released on 2007-08 with total page 671 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by his own passionate experience as a son, husband, and father, Gairdner offers in this book a forum for a long-overdue debate about the future of the family in Western civilization.

Download or read book The New Universe and the Human Future written by Nancy Ellen Abrams and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-19 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cultural philosopher and an astrophysicist attempt to decipher how we fit into the universe, and the impact our placement has on us. After a four-century rupture between science and the questions of value and meaning, this groundbreaking book presents an explosive and potentially life-altering idea: if the world could agree on a shared creation story based on modern cosmology and biology—a story that has just become available—it would redefine our relationship with Planet Earth and benefit all of humanity, now and into the distant future. Written in eloquent, accessible prose and illustrated in magnificent color throughout, including images from innovative simulations of the evolving universe, this book brings the new scientific picture of the universe to life. It interprets what our human place in the cosmos may mean for us and our descendants. It offers unique insights into the potential use of this newfound knowledge to find solutions to seemingly intractable global problems such as climate change and unsustainable growth. And it explains why we need to “think cosmically, act globally” if we're going to have a long-term, prosperous future on Earth. “Should be read by anyone, not just scientists, who worry about the human condition.”—Deepak Chopra, The Huffington Post “A prophetic book. Its message ranks right up there with those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Joel. Like the prophets, it is at times poetic, demanding, grounded, soaring, empowering, and always awe-inspiring.”—Matthew Fox, Tikkun “The ideas and images are fascinating and certainly contribute to a sense of the profound stakes involved in what we’re doing to the planet and ourselves.”—William Kowinski, North Coast Journal

Download or read book Ineffability written by Ben-Ami Scharfstein and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scharfstein describes the extraordinary powers that have been attributed to language everywhere, and then looks at ineffability as it has appeared in the thought of the great philosophical cultures: India, China, Japan, and the West. He argues that there is something of our prosaic, everyday difficulty with words in the ineffable reality of the philosophers and theologians, just as there is something unformulable, and finally mysterious in the prosaic, everyday successes and failures of words.

Download or read book The Gift of Being written by Zachary Hayes and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2017-06-15 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In view of the critical environmental problems confronting the modern world, reflection on the nature and meaning of the world and on humanity's place in it becomes increasingly important. While Christian theology has done this for centuries, the present situation calls for a serious rethinking of many issues in the light of contemporary physics, biology, and cultural history. The Gift of Being presents insights of the sciences in a way that is helpful for Christians today. Creation theology helps believers come to a stronger sense of their own identity as they come to an awareness of the world. This enables them to gain a deeper insight into how they ought to relate to that world if they wish to find meaning in their lives. This state of being requires a willingness to distinguish between the medium and the message in approaching the Scriptures. It also requires a willingness to take the sciences seriously. In The Gift of Being, Hayes focuses on traditional questions of creation, but also comments on where science is with creation, anthropology, and destiny. He begins by discussing the relation between faith and reason, and hence between theology and science, from a historical perspective, moving to the most current statements of modern Popes. He follows with a summary statement of the possible retrieval of the biblical religious insights that can be distinguished from the physical worldview that stands behind much of the biblical material. This allows for a discussion of the traditional concept of creation from nothing in the form of a conversation with contemporary physics. He then discusses the Christian idea of God as the primal mystery of creative love from whom all of creation flows. With these foundational ideas in place, Hayes looks at such questions as the origin of humanity and the failure of humanity throughout history. He then focuses on the tradition of cosmic Christology. Finally, the theological issues of the final outcome of God's creation and its history is discussed against the background of the current scientific projections of a future for the cosmos. Chapters are Science, the Bible, and Christianity," "The Vision of the Hebrew Scriptures," "Creation and the Christian Scriptures," "Creation from Nothing," "The Triune God, the Creator," "Humanity in the Cosmic Context," "Sin and Evil," "Christ and the Cosmos," and "Creation and the Future." Zachary Hayes, OFM, PhD, (1932-2014) was a professor of systematic theology at Catholic Theological Union. He taught and wrote extensively on matters related to the theological understanding of creation and the relation between theology and science. He was on the staff of the Chicago Center for Religion and Science. He was the author of Visions of a Future: A Study of Christian Eschatology from the New Theology Studies series published by The Liturgical Press.