Download or read book Ripples On A Cosmic Sea written by David G. Blair and published by Basic Books (AZ). This book was released on 1997 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the authors show, the reward for this endeavor will be the opening up of an entirely new window on the universe.
Download or read book Ripples On A Cosmic Sea written by David Blair and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 1999-04-07 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people live and work entirely oblivious to the fact that a myriad of ghostly ripples are passing through them all the time. Generated in the depths of space by colliding stars and black holes, exploding supernovas and quasars, these so-called gravitational waves are literally ripples in the fabric of space itself. Sweeping across the cosmos at the speed of light, they encode vital clues about the exotic systems that produced them. Predicted by Einstein over eighty years ago, but never detected in the laboratory, gravitational waves have proven elusive to scientists. In the first book for a general reader on these amazing waves, Blair and McNamara weave a thrilling tale about the race to build the first gravitational wave antenna—a challenge that has prompted physicists and astronomers to devise some of the most breathtaking technology the world has ever seen. What these scientists find will allow us to listen to the explosion of stars, the creation of black holes, even the sound of the Big Bang itself, and will undoubtedly chart a new course for astronomy in the coming millennium.
Download or read book Waves in an Impossible Sea written by Matt Strassler and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2024-03-05 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A theoretical physicist takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey—found in "no other book" (Science)—to discover how the universe generates everything from nothing at all: "If you want to know what's really going on in the realms of relativity and particle physics, read this book" (Sean Carroll, author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe). In Waves in an Impossible Sea, physicist Matt Strassler tells a startling tale of elementary particles, human experience, and empty space. He begins with a simple mystery of motion. When we drive at highway speeds with the windows down, the wind beats against our faces. Yet our planet hurtles through the cosmos at 150 miles per second, and we feel nothing of it. How can our voyage be so tranquil when, as Einstein discovered, matter warps space, and space deflects matter? The answer, Strassler reveals, is that empty space is a sea, albeit a paradoxically strange one. Much like water and air, it ripples in various ways, and we ourselves, made from its ripples, can move through space as effortlessly as waves crossing an ocean. Deftly weaving together daily experience and fundamental physics—the musical universe, the enigmatic quantum, cosmic fields, and the Higgs boson—Strassler shows us how all things, familiar and unfamiliar, emerge from what seems like nothing at all. Accessible and profound, Waves in an Impossible Sea is the ultimate guide to our place in the universe.
Download or read book Ripples in the Cosmos written by Michael Rowan-Robinson and published by . This book was released on 1993-06-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 23 April 1992 a major science story appeared in headlines around the world. The announcement of the discovery of small-scale fluctuations in the cosmic microwave radiation, ripples in the cosmos, took most of the world's cosmologists by surprise. This was the discovery of the century, perhaps of all time.Ó What are the ripples? Why are they of such fundamental importance? What do they tell us about the beginning of the universe? This readable book sets the discovery in its wider context, that of the search for an explanation of how galaxies, clusters of galaxies formed in a universe which was initially of almost perfect uniformity. Illustrated.
Download or read book The Frigid Golden Age written by Dagomar Degroot and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-08 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dagomar Degroot offers the first detailed analysis of how a society thrived amid the Little Ice Age, a period of climatic cooling that reached its chilliest point between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The precocious economy, unusual environment, and dynamic intellectual culture of the Dutch Republic in its seventeenth-century Golden Age allowed it to thrive as neighboring societies unraveled in the face of extremes in temperature and precipitation. By tracing the occasionally counterintuitive manifestations of climate change from global to local scales, Degroot finds that the Little Ice Age presented not only challenges for Dutch citizens but also opportunities that they aggressively exploited in conducting commerce, waging war, and creating culture. The overall success of their Republic in coping with climate change offers lessons that we would be wise to heed today, as we confront the growing crisis of global warming.
Download or read book Soul s Symphony written by Dr. Olusola Coker and published by BookRix. This book was released on 2023-11-27 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the transcendent odyssey, "Soul's Symphony: Unveiling the Mysteries of Existence," Aria, guided by the Luminary Spirit, embarks on a celestial exploration that harmonizes the cosmic threads of existence. The narrative unfolds as Aria delves into the mystical revelations, uncovering the interconnected tapestry of celestial threads that compose the ethereal symphony of cosmic harmony. Throughout this soulful journey, Aria reflects on the existential mysteries, recognizing the transformative power of spiritual odyssey and the profound nature of her own existential reflection. The Luminary Spirit serves as a guide, helping her navigate the celestial landscapes and understand the cosmic dance that unfolds within the pages of her mystical narrative. The odyssey becomes a metaphor for the universal human experience—the recognition that, within the cosmic tapestry, Soul's Symphony holds the keys to unveiling the deeper mysteries of existence.
Download or read book The Curious Country written by Leigh Dayton and published by ANU E Press. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By definition scientists are an inquisitive lot. But what are the scientific curiosities and concerns on the minds of Australians? What worries them, baffles them, and sets their curiosity meter to 10 out of 10? To find out, the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) took the nation’s intellectual temperature, surveying 1186 Australians: men and women aged 18 to 65, from all education levels and locations around Australia. The results frame this book: a collection of essays covering the diverse areas of science Australians are curious about. Edited by eminent science writer Leigh Dayton and including a foreword from Australia’s Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb. The collection covers a range of issues, including food and farming technology, environmental upheaval, health, fuel and energy technology and space exploration.
Download or read book Galaxies A Very Short Introduction written by John Gribbin and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2008-03-27 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Galaxies are the building blocks of the Universe: standing like islands in space, each is made up of many hundreds of millions of stars in which the chemical elements are made, around which planets form, and where on at least one of those planets intelligent life has emerged. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is just one of several hundred million other galaxies that we can now observe through our telescopes. Yet it was only in the 1920s that we realised that there is more to the Universe than the Milky Way, and that there were in fact other 'islands' out there. In many ways, modern astronomy began with this discovery, and the story of galaxies is therefore the story of modern astronomy. Since then, many exciting discoveries have been made about our own galaxy and about those beyond: how a supermassive black hole lurks at the centre of every galaxy, for example, how enormous forces are released when galaxies collide, how distant galaxies provide a window on the early Universe, and what the formation of young galaxies can tell us about the mysteries of Cold Dark Matter. In this Very Short Introduction, renowned science writer John Gribbin describes the extraordinary things that astronomers are learning about galaxies, and explains how this can shed light on the origins and structure of the Universe. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book New Eyes on the Universe written by Stephen Webb and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-05-19 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “New Eyes on the Universe – Twelve Cosmic Mysteries and the Tools We Need to Solve Them” gives an up-to-date broad overview of some of the key issues in modern astronomy and cosmology. It describes the vast amount of observational data that the new generation of observatories and telescopes are currently producing, and how that data might solve some of the outstanding puzzles inherent in our emerging world view. Included are questions such as: What is causing the Universe to blow itself apart? What could be powering the luminous gamma-ray bursters? Where is all the matter in the Universe? Do other Earths exist? Is there intelligent life out there? The renowned author explains clearly, without recourse to mathematics, why each question is puzzling and worthy of research. Included in the study of the wide range of sensitive and powerful instruments used by scientists to try and solve these problems are ones which capture electromagnetic radiation and ‘telescopes’ for cosmic rays, neutrinos, gravitational waves, and dark matter. This book discusses twelve areas of active astronomical research, ranging from the nature of dark energy to the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial civilizations, and devotes one chapter to each topic. Although astronomers tackle each of these questions using information gleaned from all possible wavelengths and sources (and this is emphasized throughout the book), in this work the author dedicates each chapter to a particular observational method. One chapter covers X-ray telescopes for investigating black holes, while another uses infrared telescopes to learn more about planetary information.
Download or read book Einstein s Unfinished Symphony written by Marcia Bartusiak and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new generation of observatories, now being completed worldwide, will give astronomers not just a new window on the cosmos but a whole new sense with which to explore and experience the heavens above us. Instead of collecting light waves or radio waves, these novel instruments will allow astronomers to at last place their hands upon the fabric of space-time and feel the very rhythms of the universe. These vibrations in space-time-or gravity waves-are the last prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity yet to be observed directly. They are his unfinished symphony, waiting nearly a century to be heard. When they finally reveal themselves to astronomers, we will for the first time be able to hear the cymbal crashes from exploding stars, tune in to the periodic drumbeats from swiftly rotating pulsars, listen to the extended chirps from the merger of two black holes, and eavesdrop on the remnant echoes from the mighty jolt of the Big Bang itself. When Einstein introduced general relativity in 1915, it was hailed as a momentous conceptual achievement. Einstein attained celebrity status. But, once scientists verified what they could of the theory, given the scant experiments available at the time, general relativity became "largely a theoretical curiosity," writes Marcia Bartusiak. Now, after decades of technological advancement, general relativity is being tested with unprecedented accuracy. It even affects our everyday lives. Satellites used by both travelers and soldiers to peg their positions require constant corrections of Einsteinian precision. Meanwhile, the first gravity-wave "telescopes"--Including the LIGO facility-are about to come alive.
Download or read book The Rise and Fall of Alexandria written by Justin Pollard and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-10-30 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A short history of nearly everything classical. The foundations of the modern world were laid in Alexandria of Egypt at the turn of the first millennium. In this compulsively readable narrative, Justin Pollard and Howard Reid bring one of history's most fascinating and prolific cities to life, creating a treasure trove of our intellectual and cultural origins. Famous for its lighthouse, its library-the greatest in antiquity-and its fertile intellectual and spiritual life--it was here that Christianity and Islam came to prominence as world religions--Alexandria now takes its rightful place alongside Greece and Rome as a titan of the ancient world. Sparkling with fresh insights on science, philosophy, culture, and invention, this is an irresistible, eye- opening delight.
Download or read book Proceedings of the John Hall Symposium written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Gravity s Shadow written by Harry Collins and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-08-15 with total page 897 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to the theory of relativity, we are constantly bathed in gravitational radiation. When stars explode or collide, a portion of their mass becomes energy that disturbs the very fabric of the space-time continuum like ripples in a pond. But proving the existence of these waves has been difficult; the cosmic shudders are so weak that only the most sensitive instruments can be expected to observe them directly. Fifteen times during the last thirty years scientists have claimed to have detected gravitational waves, but so far none of those claims have survived the scrutiny of the scientific community. Gravity's Shadow chronicles the forty-year effort to detect gravitational waves, while exploring the meaning of scientific knowledge and the nature of expertise. Gravitational wave detection involves recording the collisions, explosions, and trembling of stars and black holes by evaluating the smallest changes ever measured. Because gravitational waves are so faint, their detection will come not in an exuberant moment of discovery but through a chain of inference; for forty years, scientists have debated whether there is anything to detect and whether it has yet been detected. Sociologist Harry Collins has been tracking the progress of this research since 1972, interviewing key scientists and delineating the social process of the science of gravitational waves. Engagingly written and authoritatively comprehensive, Gravity's Shadow explores the people, institutions, and government organizations involved in the detection of gravitational waves. This sociological history will prove essential not only to sociologists and historians of science but to scientists themselves.
Download or read book Astrophysical Formulae written by Kenneth Lang and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-02-22 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic reference for the fundamental formulae of physics and astrophysics has become part of nearly every astronomers and astrophysicists library. "A magnificent compendium" - OPTICA ACTA (ON THE FIRST EDITION)
Download or read book Wave Forms written by James H. Bunn and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this daring book, the author proposes that artistic and literary forms can be understood as modulations of wave forms in the physical world. By the phrase "natural syntax," he means that physical nature enters human communication literally by way of a transmitting wave frequency. This premise addresses a central question about symbolism in this century: How are our ideas symbolically related to physical reality? The author outlines a theory of communication in which nature is not reached by reference to an object; rather, nature is part of the message known only tacitly as the wavy carrier of a sign or signal. One doesn't refer to nature, even though one might be aiming to; one refers with nature as carrier vehicle. The author demonstrates that a natural language of transmission has an inherent physical syntax of patterned wave forms, which can also be described as certain "laws of form"a phrase used by D'Arcy Thompson, L. L. Whyte, Noam Chomsky, and Stephen Jay Gould. He describes a syntax inherent in natural languages that derives from the rhythmic form of a propelling wave. Instead of the "laws" of a wave's form, however, the author speaks of its elements of rhythmic composition, because "rythmos" means "wave" in Greek and because "composition" describes the creative process across the arts. In pursuing a philosophy of rhythmic composition, the author draws on cognitive science and semiotics. But he chiefly employs symmetry theory to describe the forms of art, and especially the patterns of poetry, as structures built upon the natural syntax of wave forms. Natural syntax, it turns out, follows a fascinating group of symmetry transformations that derive from wave forms.
Download or read book Science Communication in Theory and Practice written by S.M. Stocklmayer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an overview of the theory and practice of science communication. It deals with modes of informal communication such as science centres, television programs, and journalism and the research that informs practitioners about the effectiveness of their programs. It aims to meet the needs of those studying science communication and will form a readily accessible source of expertise for communicators.
Download or read book Explaining the Universe written by John M. Charap and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2004-03-21 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charap offers a panoramic view of the physicist's world as the 21st century opens, introducing several ideas about the universe but sparing readers the math behind them. After a review of the 20th century's thorough transformation of physics, he checks in on the latest findings from particle physics, astrophysics, chaos theory, and cosmology.
