Carl Sagan's many contributions to science and society have been profound and far-reaching, influencing millions of people around the world. He carried out significant research in planetary science, was closely associated with the US space program, created the highly acclaimed television series Cosmos, and was the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of many best-selling popular science books. Carl Sagan's Universe is a fascinating and beautifully illustrated collection of articles by a distinguished team of authors, and covers the many fields of science, education, policy making, and related areas in which Sagan worked. The book is divided into four sections, the first two of which provide an absorbing overview of the US space program (as well as a complementary account of the Russian program), and of the history and current status of the search for extraterrestrial life. The final two sections deal with the importance of science education in the successful development of a technological society, and of the shaping of science policy in tackling the problems facing us today. Also included is a separate chapter by Sagan himself, discussing the place and role of our planet and mankind in the universe. Written in honour of Carl Sagan's many achievements, this book will fascinate and reward anyone interested in planetary science and exploration, the search for extraterrestrial life, or the role of science in the modern world.

This controversial book examines one of the most fundamental questions of modern cosmology: how much matter is there in the Universe? This issue affects theories of the origin and evolution of the Universe as well as its geometrical structure and ultimate fate. The authors address this debate and point out the most likely avenues for determining the actual density of Universe matter in both visible and invisible forms by pulling together evidence from all available sources. They conclude that the balance of arguments presently lies with a density of around twenty percent of the critical density required for the Universe to ultimately recollapse. Written by two eminent cosmologists, this topical and provocative book will be essential reading for all cosmologists and astrophysicists.

Biocentrism shocked the world with a radical rethinking of the nature of reality. But that was just the beginning. In Beyond Biocentrism, acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza, one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in 2014," and leading astronomer Bob Berman, take the reader on an intellectual thrill-ride as they re-examine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself. The first step is acknowledging that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries. Science tells us with some precision that the universe is 26.8 percent dark matter, 68.3 percent dark energy, and only 4.9 percent ordinary matter, but must confess that it doesn't really know what dark matter is and knows even less about dark energy. Science is increasingly pointing toward an infinite universe but has no ability to explain what that really means. Concepts such as time, space, and even causality are increasingly being demonstrated as meaningless. All of science is based on information passing through our consciousness but science hasn't the foggiest idea what consciousness is, and it can't explain the linkage between subatomic states and observation by conscious observers. Science describes life as a random occurrence in a dead universe but has no real understanding of how life began or why the universe appears to be exquisitely designed for the emergence of life. The biocentrism theory isn't a rejection of science. Quite the opposite. Biocentrism challenges us to fully accept the implications of the latest scientific findings in fields ranging from plant biology and cosmology to quantum entanglement and consciousness. By listening to what the science is telling us, it becomes increasingly clear that life and consciousness are fundamental to any true understanding of the universe. This forces a fundamental rethinking of everything we thought we knew about life, death, and our place in the universe.

This upper-division textbook describes the composition and evolution of material objects in the universe. The survey begins with a discussion of terrestrial materials and ends with the composition of quasars and distant galaxies. There are two main themes: chemical processes responsible for the abundances we observe, and nuclear processes in which the chemical elements originate. The author presents a total pedagogic synthesis of the subject, building on the basic information in the first chapters to lead into a fuller explanation of the composition of the planets and stellar and primordial nucleosynthesis. The later chapters treat the analytical methods of stellar and nebular spectra, and move on to the composition of stars and galaxies. The book is fully referenced and includes problem sets for the student.

The quest for the farthest objects in the Universe remains one of the most challenging areas of modern astronomical research. Peering deeper and deeper into space reveals the most distant and powerful objects known and so unveils the embryonic epochs of the Universe not long after its birth in the Big Bang. Four world experts--chosen for their ability to communicate research astronomy at a popular level--each contributes a chapter to this lucid survey. They address the fundamental issues of scale in the Universe; the ghostly etchings seen on the cosmic background radiation; quasars and their evolution; and galaxy birth. This fascinating and accessible account offers an exceptional chance for the general audience to share in the excitement of today's forefront research of the early Universe.

This timely collection of articles celebrates the work of Maurice Shapiro, who is internationally distinguished for his contributions to the development of cosmic-ray physics. The papers focus primarily on cosmic-ray physics, X-ray, gamma-ray and neutrino astronomy and cosmology. The scope extends from the inner solar system to distant radio galaxies. Each chapter is written by a leading scientist in the field, including James Van Allen, discoverer of the Van Allen radiation belt and Fred Reines, discoverer of the neutrino.

This book is a quantitative introduction to what is known or theorized about the structure and evolution of galactic systems. It begins with a general introduction to galaxies and a summary of our empirical observations of galaxies in the universe, including our own. There are then three chapters on galactic structure: the manner in which motions of stars determine galactic shape, the determination of galactic masses, and the structure of discs in spirals. Galactic evolution, especially changes in chemical composition over time, is then covered. The book concludes with a discussion of the origin of galaxies and their relation to more general questions in cosmology. The presentation is sufficiently mathematical so that quantitative results can be discussed in detail. Throughout, the author stresses what are currently accepted results and what theories may need revision in what continues to be a rapidly developing subject.

"Evans and Berggren have produced a work that should be on the shelves of all students and scholars interested in the history of early astronomy. Because of the appeal of Geminos's text, this translation will provide a very valuable resource for teaching the history of astronomy and cosmology, as well as early science more generally. The translation is clear, the scholarly apparatus authoritative, and the commentary will serve the needs and interests of a wide range of readers."--Liba Taub, Director & Curator, Whipple Museum, and Reader, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University

"Evans and Berggren have provided both the specialist historian and the general scholar and reader with everything they might need to profit from the text. The introduction has a judicious discussion of the history of the book and its author, its place in the history of astronomy, its intended audience, and the general conceptual framework that it assumes. And the translators have done a splendid job of finding accurate English equivalents of the Greek terms and phrases."--Alexander Jones, University of Toronto

"Everything about this book is excellent. The translation is a model of clarity and the notes to each section explain the text in detail, both technically and historically. The extensive introduction is, by itself, the most detailed account to date of many, perhaps most, of the subjects treated by Geminos. The book will be of use and interest to everyone curious about ancient science, from the student to the specialist. Evans and Berggren have done such an excellent job in every way, their knowledge of the subject is so complete, that I can only admire their work andrecommend it as exemplary."--Noel M. Swerdlow, University of Chicago

In this volume, six leading cosmologists provide a current "state of the universe" report: what we have learned about its nature, but also what pieces are still missing from the cosmic puzzle. The roster of contributors reads like a Who's Who of modern cosmology: A. P. Lightman, Robert P. Kirshner, Margaret J. Geller, Vera C. Rubin, Alan Guth, and James Gunn. The book is an excellent overview of the big questions facing modern cosmology. It does not require a background in physics, so any lay reader who appreciates astronomy and the study of the cosmos will enjoy this lively discussion.

This book, first published in 1991, tells the story of how astronomy and physics work together to unravel many mysteries of stars and nebulae. Stress is laid on a non-technical description of how an understanding of these objects is obtained, not on just a mere review of facts. After a succinct, non-mathematical excursion into the principles of radiation and atomic structure, the text explains in simple terms the physical processes at work in stars and gaseous nebulae. A survey of masses, dimensions, luminosities, temperatures and chemical composition of stars is followed by an exploration of their interiors and how stars generate energy. An account of the exciting new field of high energy astronomy and the origin of cosmic rays is given at the end of the book. This is the ideal introduction for physics and astronomy students to the important field of modern astronomics. It should also appeal to amateur astronomers and the reader interested in the life history of a star.

This book, first published in 1991, tells the story of how astronomy and physics work together to unravel many mysteries of stars and nebulae. Stress is laid on a non-technical description of how an understanding of these objects is obtained, not on just a mere review of facts. After a succinct, non-mathematical excursion into the principles of radiation and atomic structure, the text explains in simple terms the physical processes at work in stars and gaseous nebulae. A survey of masses, dimensions, luminosities, temperatures and chemical composition of stars is followed by an exploration of their interiors and how stars generate energy. An account of the exciting new field of high energy astronomy and the origin of cosmic rays is given at the end of the book. This is the ideal introduction for physics and astronomy students to the important field of modern astronomics. It should also appeal to amateur astronomers and the reader interested in the life history of a star.

'An incredible tour of our universe's greatest mysteries' Professor Dan Hooper This cutting-edge book investigates the extraordinary potential of multimessenger astronomy to revolutionise our understanding of the universe The spectacular advances of modern astronomy have opened our horizon on an unexpected cosmos: a dark, mysterious universe, populated by enigmatic entities we know very little about, like black holes, or nothing at all, like dark matter and dark energy. This book discusses the extraordinary potential of a new discipline dubbed 'multimessenger astronomy', combining the traditional approach based on the observation of light from celestial objects, with a new method based on other 'messengers' - such as gravitational waves, neutrinos, and cosmic rays - that carry information from otherwise inaccessible corners of the universe. Interweaving the discussion of multimessenger astronomy with an exploration of the surprising connections between the study of the universe on the largest scales, and the physics of the infinitely small, this text provides an accessible and fascinating introduction to cutting-edge findings in recent cosmology which could soon revolutionize our understanding of the universe.

Given the prevailing consensus among cosmologists that the universe had its beginning approximately 15 billion years ago, and that it will reach its end in the remote yet foreseeable future, we face the momentous intellectual challenge of how to assimilate these scientific claims into our fundamental world view. In this work the distinguished philosopher Milton Munitz provides a lucid account of the chief empirical findings and theories of recent cosmology and a systematic assessment of their broader philosophical implications.

This volume collects essays from prominent intellectuals and public figures based on talks given at the 2015 Darwin College Lectures on the theme of 'development'. The writers are world-renowned experts in such diverse fields as architecture, astronomy, biology, climate science, economy, psychology, sports and technology. Development includes contributions from developmental biologist and Nobel laureate John B. Gurdon, Olympic gold medallist Katherine Grainger, astronomer and cosmologist Richard Ellis, developmental psychologist Bruce Hood, former Met Office Chief Scientist Julia Slingo, architect Michael Pawlyn, development economist Ha-Joon Chang and serial entrepreneur Hermann Hauser. While their perspectives and interpretations of development vary widely, their essays are linked by a common desire to describe and understand how things change, usually in the direction of ever-increasing complexity. Written with the lay reader in mind, this interdisciplinary book is a must-read for anybody interested in the mechanisms underlying the changes we see in the world around us.

Cosmic Perspectives is a collection of essays that details modern cosmology and its relationship to the development of human civilization. Written by leading astronomers, cosmologists and historians, these fourteen essays cover a wide range of subjects. These include the place of astronomy in China, frontiers in cosmology, the dark matter problem and the origin of life. This is an engaging collection of facts, written in nontechnical language, which encourages the reader to explore the scientific heritage of various cultures, the current problems of observational astronomy, the unsolved mysteries of evolution and the use of astronomy in fiction.

For twenty years, the author has contested the 'establishment' view of quasars as the most distant objects in the universe. In this book, Arp presents the original observations and fundamental data on quasars and galaxies, and explains why he has concluded that: far from being the most distant objects in the universe, quasars are associated in space with relatively nearby galaxies; quasars' enormous redshifts do not arise from the expansion of the universe, but rather are intrinsic properties of the quasars themselves; many galaxies show redshift anomalies related to quasars' redshifts; quasars and galaxies have an origin far different from that assumed in the 'standard' big-bang model of the universe; many astronomers, despite the accumulation of compelling evidence, defend what Arp believes is a fundamentally incorrect assumption about cosmic objects.

From Brian Greene, one of the world's leading physicists and author the Pulitzer Prize finalist "The Elegant Universe," comes a grand tour of the universe 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.

In Everything Forever Giorbran reveals timelessness in ways previously unimagined. He presents the first detailed map of our transitory time passing through a timeless realm, a realm that all the great physicists of the past century, such as Einstein, spoke of and strove to understand. Giorbran builds a spectacular vision by extending the ideas of David Bohm and Stephen Hawking, creating a visual model of the space of all possible states (soaps). Gradually this image of all possibilities transforms into a God's eye perspective of the many-worlds predicted by quantum theory. The foundational idea, Giorbran's version of the two kinds of order originally proposed by Bohm, is brilliant cutting edge science that clearly establishes a welcome redefinition of the previously bleak second law of thermodynamics. Ultimately this bold and fascinating study of cosmic structure sensibly reveals that we exist trapped between two great powers, one in our past, the other in our future, and our complex world results as each force tries to create its own kind of order in the universe. An exciting journey with a surprise ending written for the "what is true-reality?" seeker in us all.

Durham and Purrington approach the history of the universe by exploring the frontiers of physics, while maintaining a long-standing interest in astronomy and cosmology. They stress that man can not fully understand himself until he understands the universe, of which he is a part.

The world of science has been transformed. Where once astronomers sat at the controls of giant telescopes in remote locations, praying for clear skies, now they have no need to budge from their desks, as data arrives in their inbox. And what they receive is overwhelming; projects now being built provide more data in a few nights than in the whole of humanity's history of observing the Universe. It's not just astronomy either - dealing with this deluge of data is the major challenge for scientists at CERN, and for biologists who use automated cameras to spy on animals in their natural habitats. Artificial intelligence is one part of the solution - but will it spell the end of human involvement in scientific discovery? No, argues Chris Lintott. We humans still have unique capabilities to bring to bear - our curiosity, our capacity for wonder, and, most importantly, our capacity for surprise. It seems that humans and computers working together do better than computers can on their own. But with so much scientific data, you need a lot of scientists - a crowd, in fact. Lintott found such a crowd in the Zooniverse, the web-based project that allows hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic volunteers to contribute to science. In this book, Lintott describes the exciting discoveries that people all over the world have made, from galaxies to pulsars, exoplanets to moons, and from penguin behaviour to old ship's logs. This approach builds on a long history of so-called 'citizen science', given new power by fast internet and distributed data. Discovery is no longer the remit only of scientists in specialist labs or academics in ivory towers. It's something we can all take part in. As Lintott shows, it's a wonderful way to engage with science, yielding new insights daily. You, too, can help explore the Universe in your lunch hour.

Cosmology, the study of the universe, arouses a great deal of public interest, with serious articles both in the scientific press and in major newspapers, with many of the theories and concepts (e.g. the 'big bang' and 'black holes') discussed, often in great depth.Accordingly the book is divided into three parts:Part 1 is readable (and understandable) by anyone with a nodding acquaintance with the basic language of cosmology: events, lights paths, galaxies, black holes and so on. It covers the whole story of the book in a way as untechnical as possible given the scope of the topics covered.Part 2 covers the same ground again but with enough technical details to satisfy a reader with basic knowledge of mathematics and/or physics.Part 3 consists of appendices which are referred to in the other parts and which also contain the highly technical material omitted from Section 2.

Addressing a variety of theoretical cosmological problems, and emphasizing a mathematical approach, this volume nicely complements Peebles' Physical Cosmology (Princeton Series in Physics, 1971). Ryan and Shepley have concentrated on the structure of models of the universe. By using a modern terminology that emphasizes the operator nature of vectors and tensors, as opposed to their components in a particular coordinate system, the authors develop modern tensor analysis to the point where it can be applied to general relativistic cosmology. They then use it to describe homogeneous cosmologies in considerable detail. Both students and researchers are likely to find these techniques especially useful. Among their subjects are: spaces with groups of motions; singularities; Taub-NUT-Misner space; Bianchitype models; Hamiltonian cosmology; and perturbations in anisotropic models. A brief section on observations is also included, as is a complete bibliography. A final section presents graded exercises that underscore the potential yet unrealized in this area of study. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

A Nobel Prize-winning physicist argues that beauty is the fundamental organizing principle for the entire universe In this scientific tour de force, world-class physicist Frank Wilczek argues that beauty is at the heart of the logic of the universe. As the quest to find the beauty embodied in the universe has connected all scientific pursuit, from Pythagoras to Einstein, Wilczek shows us just how deeply intertwined our ideas about beauty and art are with our understanding of the cosmos. A Beautiful Question is a mind-expanding book combining the age-old human quest for beauty with the age-old human quest for truth.

This book accompanies another book by the same authors, Introduction to the Theory of the Early Universe: Hot Big Bang Theory and presents the theory of the evolution of density perturbations and relic gravity waves, theory of cosmological inflation and post-inflationary reheating. Written in a pedagogical style, the main chapters give a detailed account of the established theory, with derivation of formulas. Being self-contained, it is a useful textbook for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students. Essential materials from General Relativity, theory of Gaussian random fields and quantum field theory are collected in the appendices. The more advanced topics are approached similarly in a pedagogical way. These parts may serve as a detailed introduction to current research.