Author: Laura Mersini-Houghton Publisher: HarperCollins ISBN: 1328557146 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
"A riveting tour of the cosmos from one of the brightest minds in astrophysics." —The Washington Post A revolutionary new account of our universe’s creation—and a breathtaking exploration of the landscape from which we sprang—from one of the world’s most celebrated cosmologists What came before the Big Bang, and what exists outside of the universe it created? Until recently, scientists could only guess at what lay past the edge of space-time. However, as pioneering theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton explains, new scientific tools are now giving us the ability to peer beyond the limits of our universe and to test our theories about what is there. And what we are finding is upending everything we thought we knew about the cosmos and our place in it. Mersini-Houghton is no stranger to boundaries—or to pushing through them. As a child growing up in Communist Albania, she discovered a universe beyond her walled-off world through the study of math and science, and through music. As a female cosmologist in a male-dominated field, she transcended the limits that society and her profession tried to place on her. And as a trailblazing researcher, she helped to revolutionize the study of our universe by revealing that, far from living in a cosmic Albania, with a world that ends at its borders, we are part of a larger family of universes—a multiverse—that holds wonders we are only beginning to unlock. Mersini-Houghton’s groundbreaking research suggests that we sit in a quantum landscape whose peaks and valleys hide a multitude of other universes, and even hold the secret to the origins of existence itself. Recent evidence has revealed the signatures of such sibling universes in our own night sky, confirming Mersini-Houghton’s theoretical work and offering humbling evidence that our universe is just one member of an unending cosmic family. The incredible scientific saga of one woman’s mind-expanding journey through the multiverse, Before the Big Bang will reshape our understanding of humanity’s place in the unfathomable vastness of the cosmos.
Author: Brian Clegg Publisher: St. Martin's Press ISBN: 1429987421 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
According to a recent survey, the most popular question about science from the general public was: what came before the Big Bang? We all know on some level what the Big Bang is, but we don't know how it became the accepted theory, or how we might know what came before. In Before the Big Bang, Brian Clegg (the critically acclaimed author of Upgrade Me and The God Effect) explores the history of this remarkable concept. From the earliest creation myths, through Hershel's realization that the Milky Way was one of many galaxies, to on-going debates about Black Holes, this is an incredible look at the origins of the universe and the many theories that led to the acceptance of the Big Bang. But in classic scientist fashion Clegg challenges the notion of the "Big Bang" itself, and raises the deep philosophical question of why we might want to rethink the origin of the universe. This is popular science at its best, exploratory, controversial, and utterly engrossing.
Author: Simon Singh Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0007162200 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 55
Book Description
We've all heard of the Big Bang, and yet few of us truly know what it is. Renowned for making difficult ideas much less difficult than they might first appear, Simon Singh is our perfect guide to explaining why cosmologists believe that the Big Bang is an accurate description of the origin and evolution of the universe. This highly readable and entertaining book tells the story of the many brilliant, often eccentric scientists who fought against the establishment idea of an eternal and unchanging cosmos. From such early Greek cosmologists as Anaximander to recent satellite measurements taken deep in space, Big Bang is a narrative full of anecdotes and personal histories. With characteristic clarity, Simon Singh tells the centuries-long story of mankind's attempt to understand how the universe came to be, a story which itself begins some 14 billion years ago (give or take a billion years). Simon Singh shows us that it is within the capability of all of us -- in his expert hands -- to understand the Big Bang: the fundamental theory in all of science, and a high point -- perhaps the high point -- of human achievement.
Author: Tony Rothman Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674251849 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
Tony Rothman offers a primer on the science of the big bang and the questions we still can’t answer about the origins of the universe. Enlisting thoughtful analogies and a step-by-step approach, Rothman guides readers through dark matter, dark energy, quantum gravity, and other topics at—and beyond—the cutting edge of cosmology.
Author: Helmut Satz Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0198792425 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 177
Book Description
What is the origin of the universe? What was there before the universe appeared? We are presently witnessing a second Copernican revolution: neither our Earth and Sun nor our galaxy nor even our universe is the end of all things. This account of recent developments in modern cosmology introduces how the Big Bang took place and what preceded it.
Author: Roger Penrose Publisher: Vintage ISBN: 0307596745 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 307
Book Description
From Nobel prize-winner Roger Penrose, this groundbreaking book is for anyone "who is interested in the world, how it works, and how it got here" (New York Journal of Books). Penrose presents a new perspective on three of cosmology’s essential questions: What came before the Big Bang? What is the source of order in our universe? And what cosmic future awaits us? He shows how the expected fate of our ever-accelerating and expanding universe—heat death or ultimate entropy—can actually be reinterpreted as the conditions that will begin a new “Big Bang.” He details the basic principles beneath our universe, explaining various standard and non-standard cosmological models, the fundamental role of the cosmic microwave background, the paramount significance of black holes, and other basic building blocks of contemporary physics. Intellectually thrilling and widely accessible, Cycles of Time is a welcome new contribution to our understanding of the universe from one of our greatest mathematicians and thinkers.
Author: David Bertolacci Publisher: Balboa Press ISBN: 1452584206 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 232
Book Description
Grand Slam Theory of the Omniverse: What Happened before the Big Bang? is more than a theory of how the universe began. It is the realization of a larger reality from which its creation was made possible. It is the perception of a universal consciousness as it begins to awaken to its true surroundings. Our universe is rooted in a bigger reality, which it must overcome. As we shall see through our modern scientific context, this new model of something greater than the universe will help us solve the mysteries about our universe that we have sought throughout the ages. This is the Omniverse. Modern science has given us accurate predictions, precise mathematical theories, and countless observations to shape our view of the universe. Throughout the years, discoveries made were like pieces of a puzzle. Some of the latest pieces include the July 4, 2012 observations of the Higgs boson and dark matter. Like separate pieces of a puzzle, we shall see how each part fits together to complete the picture. The Omniverse is the big picture. It is the puzzle pieces arranged together to form the model. The model of the Omniverse is actually quite simple. It consists of a diagram small enough to write on a Post-it note. But what it means to us is huge. It is the universe’s path to ascension, described as the Grand Slam. If our entire universe is just the size of a baseball, then picture the stadium, parking lots, and surrounding areas as higher dimensions of the Omniverse. The Omniverse is more than just a new scientific proposal. It is information that awakens us to greater surroundings followed by a new era of scientific discovery. This model will have us dropping assumptions of what humanity knows thus far and realizing infinite possibilities.
Author: Martin Bojowald Publisher: Vintage ISBN: 0307474550 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
In his introduction to a revolutionary theory of the cosmos, Martin Bojowald shows how the big bang theory may give way to the big bounce theory, which describes our universe as an eternal series of expansions and contractions, with no beginning and no end. In 2000, Bojowald, then a twenty-seven-year-old postdoctoral student at Pennsylvania State University, used a relatively new theory called loop quantum gravity—a cunning combination of Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics—to create a simple model of the universe. Loop quantum cosmology, or LQC, was born, and with it, a theory that managed to do something even Einstein’s general theory of relativity had failed to do—illuminate the very birth of the universe.
Author: James S. Trefil Publisher: Courier Corporation ISBN: 0486152189 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
One of the founders of modern quark theory employs minimal mathematics and nontechnical terms to traverse the eons and bring readers within the first millisecond of the Big Bang, 1983 edition.
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 030917113X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 222
Book Description
Advances made by physicists in understanding matter, space, and time and by astronomers in understanding the universe as a whole have closely intertwined the question being asked about the universe at its two extremesâ€"the very large and the very small. This report identifies 11 key questions that have a good chance to be answered in the next decade. It urges that a new research strategy be created that brings to bear the techniques of both astronomy and sub-atomic physics in a cross-disciplinary way to address these questions. The report presents seven recommendations to facilitate the necessary research and development coordination. These recommendations identify key priorities for future scientific projects critical for realizing these scientific opportunities.
Author: Laura Mersini-Houghton
Author: Brian Clegg
Author: Simon Singh
Author: Tony Rothman
Author: Helmut Satz
Author: Roger Penrose
Author: David Bertolacci
Author: Martin Bojowald
Author: James S. Trefil
Author: National Research Council