Download or read book Portraits of Astronomers written by Lucinda Douglas-Menzies and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Johannes Kepler and the New Astronomy written by James R. Voelkel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2001-10-11 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) is remembered, along with Copernicus and Galileo, as one of the greatest Renaissance astronomers. A gifted analytical thinker, he made major contributions to physics, astronomy, and mathematics. Kepler was trained as a theologian, yet did not hesitate to challenge church doctrine and prevailing scientific beliefs by supporting the theory of a Sun-centered solar system. As Imperial Mathematician to the Holy Roman Emperor, he analyzed the precise observations of the heavens that his predecessor, the great astronomer Tycho Brahe, had recorded. The book follows the ingenious scientist along the difficult pathway from raw data to his monumental discovery--the three Laws of Planetary Motion. Kepler also made fundamental contributions to optical theory, including a correct description of the function of the eye and a new and improved telescope design. His unique Rudolfine Tables, universal calculations of planetary motion, were unprecedented in their accuracy. James Voelkel vividly describes these scientific achievements, providing enough background in astronomy and geometry so even beginners can follow Kepler's thinking and enjoy this book. Equally captivating is his account of Kepler's tumultuous life, plagued by misery, disease, war, and fervent religious persecution.Oxford Portraits in Science is an ongoing series of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.
Download or read book The Book of Beauty written by and published by . This book was released on 1857* with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Voyages Through the Universe written by Andrew Fraknoi and published by Houghton Mifflin. This book was released on 2000 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Available FREE with any of the three textbooks in the Voyages series, the 2001 Update contains updated material on Mars Global Surveyor and Galileo spacecraft results, the NEAR-Shoemaker data from the asteroid Eros, the discovery of new extra-solar planets and planetary systems, the latest from Chandra, the implications of the latest cosmological measurements and more. The Update refers the reader back to the appropriate chapter of the main text, and shows how new discoveries and ideas fit, and includes both published and Web resources.
Download or read book The Backyard Astronomer s Guide written by Terence Dickinson and published by Firefly Books. This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The touchstone for contemporary stargazers. This classic, groundbreaking guide has been the go-to field guide for both beginning and experienced amateur astronomers for nearly 30 years. The fourth edition brings Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer's invaluable manual completely up-to-date. Setting a new standard for astronomy guides, it will serve as the touchstone for the next generation of stargazers as well as longtime devotees. Technology and astronomical understanding are evolving at a breathtaking clip, and to reflect the latest information about observing techniques and equipment, this massively revised and expanded edition has been completely rebuilt (an additional 48 pages brings the page count to 416). Illustrated throughout with all-new photographs and star charts, this edition boasts a refreshed design and features five brand-new chapters, including three essential essays on binocular, telescope and Moon tours by renowned astronomy writer Ken Hewitt-White. With new content on naked-eye sky sights, LED lighting technology, WiFi-enabled telescopes and the latest advances in binoculars, telescopes and other astronomical gear, the fourth edition of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide is sure to become an indispensable reference for all levels of stargazers. New techniques for observing the Sun, the Moon and solar and lunar eclipses are an especially timely addition, given the upcoming solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024. Rounding out these impressive offerings are new sections on dark sky reserves, astro-tourism, modern astrophotography and cellphone astrophotography, making this book an enduring must-have guide for anyone looking to improve his or her astronomical viewing experience. The Backyard Astronomer's Guide also features a foreword by Dr. Sara Seager, a Canadian-American astrophysicist and planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an internationally recognized expert in the search for exoplanets.
Download or read book The Art of Urban Astronomy written by Abigail Beall and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2019-07-11 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did you know that stars are seasonal? That Orion is one of the brightest constellations? That a single day on Venus is longer than an entire year on Venus? Space has captivated mankind since the beginning of time. Fifty years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon and since then our knowledge of astronomy has continued to expand. With so many mysteries yet to be solved, science journalist Abigail Beall takes readers on an astonishing journey though the landscape of space. In The Art of Urban Astronomy, you will be guided through the seasons and learn about the brightest stars and constellations, the myths and legends of astronomy and how to identify star clusters and galaxies with just your eyes or a pair of binoculars. For urban dwellers wrapped up in the rush and bustle of the city, it can be calming and truly valuable to take the time simply to stop, look and reconnect with nature. Packed full of seasonal star charts, constellation charts and fascinating facts, this is the perfect guide for those who have looked up at the night sky and don't know where to begin. After reading this book, you'll never look up in the same way again.
Download or read book Our Universe written by Jo Dunkley and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-08 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jo Dunkley combines her expertise as an astrophysicist with her talents as a writer and teacher to present an elegant introduction to the structure, history, and enduring mysteries of the universe. Among the cutting-edge phenomena discussed are the accelerating expansion of the universe and the possibility that our universe is only one of many.
Download or read book Astronomical Sketching A Step by Step Introduction written by Richard Handy and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-10-08 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the amateur with fine examples of astronomical sketches and step-by-step tutorials in each medium, including pencil, pen and ink, chalks and pastels, painting and computer graphics programs. This unique book can teach almost anyone to create beautiful sketches of celestial objects by following simple, illustrated, step-by-step instructions. Readers can select a chapter related to their preferred class of object, and rapidly learn techniques in several media. Each chapter contains useful information regarding equipment, techniques for preserving and archiving sketches, and suggestions for accurate record keeping.
Download or read book Breakthrough written by Robert Gendler and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-11-05 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique volume by two renowned astrophotographers unveils the science and history behind 100 of the most significant astronomical images of all time. The authors have carefully selected their list of images from across time and technology to bring to the reader the most relevant photographic images spanning all eras of modern astronomical history. Based on scientific evidence today we have a basic notion of how Earth and the universe came to be. The road to this knowledge was paved with 175 years of astronomical images acquired by the coupling of two revolutionary technologies – the camera and telescope. With ingenuity and determination humankind would quickly embrace these technologies to tell the story of the cosmos and unravel its mysteries. This book presents in pictures and words a photographic chronology of our aspiration to understand the universe. From the first fledgling attempts to photograph the Moon, planets, and stars to the marvels of orbiting observatories that record the cosmos at energies beyond the range of human vision, astronomers have always relied on images to "break through" to the next level of understanding. A subset of these breakthrough images has profound significance in documenting some of the greatest milestones in modern astronomy.
Download or read book Astronomy s Quest for Sharp Images written by Pierre Léna and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1960s, astrophysical discoveries have blossomed, due to the emergence of powerful and new observational tools. Among them, a fantastic improvement of the sharpness of astronomical images, obtained with ground based optical telescopes, has been the result of two revolutions: adaptive optics and optical interferometry. Written for a general audience, interwoven with fascinating details about the evolution of vision and optics, this book tells a personal story of these revolutions in observational astronomy, born two centuries ago and blossoming in the past fifty years. With the construction of the Very Large Telescope in Chile, Europe played a leading role where young scientists, joining creative astronomers and engineers, have developed a superb creativity. Today, incredibly sharp images of exoplanetary systems and black hole environments are obtained and reveal new questions about Earth-like objects or fundamental physics. The author has been one of the actors of this adventure. His first-hand testimony is opening the future to new horizons.
Download or read book The Glass Universe written by Dava Sobel and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-10-31 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel, the "inspiring" (People), little-known true story of women's landmark contributions to astronomy A New York Times Book Review Notable Book Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The Economist, Smithsonian, Nature, and NPR's Science Friday Nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "A joy to read.” —The Wall Street Journal In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or “human computers,” to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. At the outset this group included the wives, sisters, and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women's colleges—Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates. The “glass universe” of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades—through the generous support of Mrs. Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography—enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight. Their ranks included Williamina Fleming, a Scottish woman originally hired as a maid who went on to identify ten novae and more than three hundred variable stars; Annie Jump Cannon, who designed a stellar classification system that was adopted by astronomers the world over and is still in use; and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, who in 1956 became the first ever woman professor of astronomy at Harvard—and Harvard’s first female department chair. Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, The Glass Universe is the hidden history of the women whose contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.
Download or read book Sun Moon and Stars A Book for Beginners written by Agnes Giberne and published by Wentworth Press. This book was released on 2019-02-27 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book Vera Rubin written by Jacqueline Mitton and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first biography of a pioneering scientist who made significant contributions to our understanding of dark matter and championed the advancement of women in science. One of the great lingering mysteries of the universe is dark matter. Scientists are not sure what it is, but most believe it’s out there, and in abundance. The astronomer who finally convinced many of them was Vera Rubin. When Rubin died in 2016, she was regarded as one of the most influential astronomers of her era. Her research on the rotation of spiral galaxies was groundbreaking, and her observations contributed significantly to the confirmation of dark matter, a most notable achievement. In Vera Rubin: A Life, prolific science writers Jacqueline Mitton and Simon Mitton provide a detailed, accessible overview of Rubin’s work, showing how she leveraged immense curiosity, profound intelligence, and novel technologies to help transform our understanding of the cosmos. But Rubin’s impact was not limited to her contributions to scientific knowledge. She also helped to transform scientific practice by promoting the careers of women researchers. Not content to be an inspiration, Rubin was a mentor and a champion. She advocated for hiring women faculty, inviting women speakers to major conferences, and honoring women with awards that were historically the exclusive province of men. Rubin’s papers and correspondence yield vivid insights into her life and work, as she faced down gender discrimination and met the demands of family and research throughout a long and influential career. Deftly written, with both scientific experts and general readers in mind, Vera Rubin is a portrait of a woman with insatiable curiosity about the universe who never stopped asking questions and encouraging other women to do the same.
Download or read book The Last Stargazers written by Emily Levesque and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the people who see beyond the stars—an astronomy book for adults still spellbound by the night sky. Humans from the earliest civilizations through today have craned their necks each night, using the stars to orient themselves in the large, strange world around them. Stargazing is a pursuit that continues to fascinate us: from Copernicus to Carl Sagan, astronomers throughout history have spent their lives trying to answer the biggest questions in the universe. Now, award-winning astronomer Emily Levesque shares the stories of modern-day stargazers in this new nonfiction release, the people willing to adventure across high mountaintops and to some of the most remote corners of the planet, all in the name of science. From the lonely quiet of midnight stargazing to tall tales of wild bears loose in the observatory, The Last Stargazers is a love letter to astronomy and an affirmation of the crucial role that humans can and must play in the future of scientific discovery. In this sweeping work of narrative science, Levesque shows how astronomers in this scrappy and evolving field are going beyond the machines to infuse creativity and passion into the stars and space and inspires us all to peer skyward in pursuit of the universe's secrets.
Download or read book Portraits of Discovery written by George Greenstein and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 1998 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What fuels the creative fire of genius? Is it fierce determination, some special quirk of personality, or fortuitous coincidence? In Portraits of Discovery, astronomer and science writer George Greenstein profiles the lives often brilliant scientists to reveal the sources of their genius. He skillfully intertwines the stories of their personal lives and their work, showing how devotion to discovery "is what gives their lives meaning; what animates their days and consoles their nights". This is a book full of wonders. Greenstein puts us on the scene as Margaret Geller and John Huchra unfold a map of the universe, revealing astoundingly large and beautiful images of arcs of galaxies that go off the charts of our imagination. He probes the mystery behind Luis Alvarez's discovery that the extinction of the dinosaurs was almost surely caused by Earth's collision with an asteroid the size of Manhattan. All along, Greenstein offers artfully drawn portraits of the colorful personalities of his subjects: the genius and "buffoonery" of Richard Feynman, who developed a new, more elegant way to solve physics problems; the wit and imagination of the hard-drinking, Nobel Prize-winning George Gamow, known for his magic tricks as well as for profound insights into radioactivity and the Big Bang; and the exuberance of Ludwig Boltzmann, who developed a new vision of the atom despite a mental illness that eventually led to his tragic suicide. Powerful social and political forces also enter the picture: we learn how women astronomers like Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and Annie Jump Cannon, despite their enormous contributions, were deprived of fair pay, recognition, and even the use of telescopes! We see George Gamow and his wife attempting to paddle their way across 170 miles of open sea in a small canoe to escape political oppression in Russia. Conversely, we hear the story of Luis Alvarez's Cold War-inspired testimony against J. Robert Oppenheimer-which earned Alvarez the everlasting enmity of many of his fellow scientists. In the two very different worlds of Martin Perl and Homi Bhabha-one in modern industrial America, the other in Third World India-we follow the problematic development and achievements of large-scale Big Science. In Portraits of Discovery, the author has created a rarity in science writing-a book that does justice to both the actual work of scientific research and to the idiosyncratic, flesh-and-blood lives of the scientists themselves. Reading it will deepen and enrich your appreciation of both science and its practitioners. A gallery of richly painted portraits of scientific genius:"the encounters of individual, contingent lives with the hard rock of external truth". Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and Annie Jump Cannon. The chemical composition of the stars Ludwig Boltzmann Atoms, entropy, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. George Gamow Radioactivity Homi Bhabha The development of science in India. Luis Alvarez The extinction of the dinosaurs. Richard Feynman Feynman diagrams Martin Perl The tau particle and Big Science Margaret Geller and John Huchra Mapping the cosmos
Download or read book Seeing in the Dark written by Timothy Ferris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-12-18 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Seeing in the Dark, a poetic love letter to science and to the skies, Timothy Ferris invites us all to become stargazers. He recounts his own experiences as an enthralled lifelong amateur astronomer and reports from around the globe -- from England and Italy to the Florida Keys and the Chilean Andes -- on the revolution that's putting millions in touch with the night sky. In addition, Ferris offers an authoritative and engaging report on what's out there to be seen -- what Saturn, the Ring nebula, the Silver Coin galaxy, and the Virgo supercluster really are and how to find them. The appendix includes star charts, observing lists, and a guide on how to get involved in astronomy. Ferris takes us inside a major revolution sweeping astronomy, as lone amateur astronomers, in global networks linked by the Internet, make important discoveries that are the envy of the professionals. His ability to describe the wonders of the universe is simply magical, and his enthusiasm for his subject is irresistible.
Download or read book Morphological Astronomy written by Fritz Zwicky and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Man has a great tendency to get lost or to hide, as the case may be, in a jungle of details and in unnecessary complications. Why do anything simply if you can do it complicated? And still, life itself presents a sufficient number of problems to keep us busy. There would seem to be no need to create additional difficulties, just for the fun of it, especially if these self-made difficulties become practically insuperable and if in the end they cause much unhappiness. The morphological mode of thought and of action was conceived to break the vicious hold which the parasitic wild growth of complications exerts on life in all of its phases. Morphological thought and action are likely to be of value in all human activities, once such thought and action have been clearly delineated and fully developed, and once they have been practised by a sufficiently large number of people. Since the morphological method is of the greatest universality, the choice of the field to which one applies it first is not particulary critical. The author intends to write two or three books on the morphology of several large scale problems, which are both of a technical and of a general social nature. The present book is concerned in particular with some implications of morphological thinking in astronomy. We shall above all emphasize the basic character of the morphological approach, and we shall demonstrate its constructive power in a number of specific cases.
