Discoverers of the Universe

Discoverers of the Universe PDF Author: Michael Hoskin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400838126
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
A biography of the brother and sister who helped found modern astronomy Discoverers of the Universe tells the gripping story of William Herschel, the brilliant, fiercely ambitious, emotionally complex musician and composer who became court astronomer to Britain's King George III, and of William's sister, Caroline, who assisted him in his observations of the night sky and became an accomplished astronomer in her own right. Together, they transformed our view of the universe from the unchanging, mechanical creation of Newton's clockmaker god to the ever-evolving, incredibly dynamic cosmos that it truly is. William was in his forties when his amateur observations using a homemade telescope led to his discovery of Uranus, and an invitation to King George's court. He coined the term "asteroid," discovered infrared radiation, was the first to realize that our solar system is moving through space, discovered 2,500 nebulae that form the basis of the catalog astronomers use today, and was unrivalled as a telescope builder. Caroline shared William's passion for astronomy, recording his observations during night watches and organizing his papers for publication. She was the first salaried woman astronomer in history, a pioneer who herself discovered nine comets and became a role model for women in the sciences. Written by the world's premier expert on the Herschels, Discoverers of the Universe traces William and Caroline's many extraordinary contributions to astronomy, shedding new light on their productive but complicated relationship, and setting their scientific achievements in the context of their personal struggles, larger-than-life ambitions, bitter disappointments, and astonishing triumphs.

Discoverers of the Universe

Discoverers of the Universe PDF Author: Michael Hoskin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400838126
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
A biography of the brother and sister who helped found modern astronomy Discoverers of the Universe tells the gripping story of William Herschel, the brilliant, fiercely ambitious, emotionally complex musician and composer who became court astronomer to Britain's King George III, and of William's sister, Caroline, who assisted him in his observations of the night sky and became an accomplished astronomer in her own right. Together, they transformed our view of the universe from the unchanging, mechanical creation of Newton's clockmaker god to the ever-evolving, incredibly dynamic cosmos that it truly is. William was in his forties when his amateur observations using a homemade telescope led to his discovery of Uranus, and an invitation to King George's court. He coined the term "asteroid," discovered infrared radiation, was the first to realize that our solar system is moving through space, discovered 2,500 nebulae that form the basis of the catalog astronomers use today, and was unrivalled as a telescope builder. Caroline shared William's passion for astronomy, recording his observations during night watches and organizing his papers for publication. She was the first salaried woman astronomer in history, a pioneer who herself discovered nine comets and became a role model for women in the sciences. Written by the world's premier expert on the Herschels, Discoverers of the Universe traces William and Caroline's many extraordinary contributions to astronomy, shedding new light on their productive but complicated relationship, and setting their scientific achievements in the context of their personal struggles, larger-than-life ambitions, bitter disappointments, and astonishing triumphs.

The Discovery of the Universe

The Discovery of the Universe PDF Author: Carolyn Collins Petersen
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445684144
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Get Book Here

Book Description
How the discoveries of observatories have unlocked the secrets of the Universe, from Stonehenge to Hubble.

Archives of the Universe

Archives of the Universe PDF Author: Marcia Bartusiak
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307513238
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 722

Get Book Here

Book Description
An unparalleled history of astronomy presented in the words of the scientists who made the discoveries. Here are the writings of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Halley, Hubble, and Einstein, as well as that of dozens of others who have significantly contributed to our picture of the universe. From Aristotle's proof that the Earth is round to the 1998 paper that posited an accelerating universe, this book contains 100 entries spanning the history of astronomy. Award-winning science writer Marcia Bartusiak provides enormously entertaining introductions, putting the material in context and explaining its place in the literature. Archives of the Universe is essential reading for professional astronomers, science history buffs, and backyard stargazers alike.

The Universe

The Universe PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781472346759
Category : Cosmology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
What is the universe? -- How is it formed? -- The sun and rocky planets -- The gas giants -- The Earth and the moon -- Life on Earth -- The conquest of space -- Space exploration -- Space missions -- The universe and mankind -- Astronomy and daily life

The Day We Found the Universe

The Day We Found the Universe PDF Author: Marcia Bartusiak
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307276600
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book Here

Book Description
The riveting and mesmerizing story behind a watershed period in human history, the discovery of the startling size and true nature of our universe. On New Years Day in 1925, a young Edwin Hubble released his finding that our Universe was far bigger, eventually measured as a thousand trillion times larger than previously believed. Hubble’s proclamation sent shock waves through the scientific community. Six years later, in a series of meetings at Mount Wilson Observatory, Hubble and others convinced Albert Einstein that the Universe was not static but in fact expanding. Here Marcia Bartusiak reveals the key players, battles of will, clever insights, incredible technology, ground-breaking research, and wrong turns made by the early investigators of the heavens as they raced to uncover what many consider one of most significant discoveries in scientific history.

Hubble's Universe

Hubble's Universe PDF Author: Terence Dickinson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781770854338
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Showcases a breathtaking portfolio drawn from an archive of over 500,000 existing Hubble images together with facts and tidbits about Hubble's history and discoveries.

Edwin Hubble, The Discoverer of the Big Bang Universe

Edwin Hubble, The Discoverer of the Big Bang Universe PDF Author: Alexander S. Sharov
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521416177
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is the first complete account of the scientific life and work of Edwin Hubble, whose discoveries firmly established the United States as the leading nation in observational astronomy. One of the outstanding astronomers of the twentieth century, Hubble discovered the expansion of the Universe. He opened the world of galaxies for science when he showed that spiral nebulae beyond the Milky Way are galaxies extending to the limits of the Universe, and participating in a general expansion of the cosmos. The exploding Universe of Hubble, now termed the Big Bang, determined the origin of the elements, of galaxies and of the stars. The second part of the book describes the fundamental discoveries on the nature of the Universe made subsequently, and thus sets his achievements in context. Written by two prominent astronomers who have built on Hubble's work, this book is a classic of science, setting out the thrilling story of the exploding Universe.

A Grand and Bold Thing

A Grand and Bold Thing PDF Author: Ann K. Finkbeiner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439196478
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Get Book Here

Book Description
LATE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, what had been a fevered pace of discovery in astronomy for many years had slowed. The Hubble Space Telescope continued to produce an astonishing array of images, but the study of the universe was still fractured into domains: measuring the universe’s expansion rate, the evolution of galaxies in the early universe, the life and death of stars, the search for extrasolar planets, the quest to understand the nature of the elusive dark matter. So little was understood, still, about so many of the most fundamental questions, foremost among them: What was the overall structure of the universe? Why had stars formed into galaxies, and galaxies into massive clusters? What was needed, thought visionary astronomer Jim Gunn, recently awarded the National Medal of Science, was a massive survey of the sky, a kind of new map of the universe that would be so rich in detail and cover such a wide swath of space, be so grand and bold, that it would allow astronomers to see the big picture in a whole new way. So was born the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a remarkable undertaking bringing together hundreds of astronomers and launching a new era of supercharged astronomical discovery, an era of “e-science” that has taken astronomy from the lonely mountaintop observatory to the touch of your fingertips. Critically acclaimed science writer Ann Finkbeiner tells the inside story of the Sloan and how it is revolutionizing astronomy. The Sloan stitched together images of deep space taken over the course of five years, providing a remarkably detailed, three-dimensional map of a vast territory of the universe, all digitized and downloadable for easy searching on a personal computer, and available not only to professional astronomers but to the public as well. Bringing together for the first time images of many millions of galaxies—including the massive structure known as the Sloan Great Wall of galaxies, never seen before—the Sloan is allowing astronomers and armchair enthusiasts alike to watch the universe grow up, providing so many discoveries at such a fast pace that, as one astronomer said, it’s like drinking out of a fire hose. They are watching galaxies forming and galaxies merging with other galaxies, seeing streams of stars swirling out from galaxies, and forming a new understanding of how the smooth soup of matter that emerged from the Big Bang evolved into the universe as we know it. Ann Finkbeiner brings the excitement and the extraordinary potential of this new era of astronomy vividly to life and allows all readers to understand how they, too, can become part of the discovery process. A Grand and Bold Thing is vital reading for all.

Finding Our Place in the Universe

Finding Our Place in the Universe PDF Author: Helene Courtois
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262353393
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 181

Get Book Here

Book Description
An astrophysicist recounts how her team of researchers surfed the cosmos to map our local universe—and discovered the Laniakea supercluster, home of the Milky Way. You are here: on Earth, which is part of the solar system, which is in the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is within the extragalactic supercluster Laniakea. And how can we pinpoint our location so precisely? For 20 years, astrophysicist Hélène Courtois surfed the cosmos with international teams of researchers, working to map our local universe. In this book, Courtois describes this quest and the discovery of our home supercluster. Courtois explains that Laniakea (which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian) is the largest galaxy structure known to which we belong; it is huge, almost too large to comprehend—about 500 million light-years in diameter. It contains about 100,000 large galaxies like our own, and a million smaller ones. Writing accessibly for nonspecialists, Courtois describes the visualization and analysis that allowed her team to map such large structures of the universe. She highlights the work of individual researchers, including portraits of several exceptional women astrophysicists—presenting another side of astronomy. Key ideas are highlighted in text insets; illustrations accompany the main text. The French edition of this book was named the Best Astronomy Book of 2017 by the astronomy magazine Ciel et espace. For this MIT Press English-language edition, Courtois has added descriptions of discoveries made after Laniakea: the cosmic velocity web and the Dipole and Cold Spot repellers. An engaging account of one of the most important discoveries in astrophysics in recent years, her story is a tribute to teamwork and international collaboration.

Recentering the Universe

Recentering the Universe PDF Author: Ron Miller
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
ISBN: 1467716626
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 92

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the sixth century B.C.E., the Greek philosopher Anaximander theorized that Earth was at the center of the cosmos. That idea became ingrained in scientific thinking and Christian religious beliefs for more than one thousand years. Defiance of church doctrine could mean death, so no one dared dispute this long-accepted idea. No one except a handful of courageous scientists. In the 1500s and 1600s, men like Nicolaus Copernicus, Johanned Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton began to ask questions. What if Earth actually orbited the sun, instead of the other way around? What if the universe was much bigger than anyone imagined? These scientists risked their reputations—even their lives—to challenge the very heart of Catholic dogma and scientific tradition. Yet, in less than 200 years, their radical thinking overturned theories that had lasted more than a millennium. Join these bold thinkers on the journey of discovery that forever changed our understanding of the cosmos.