Dieses essential widmet sich dem Werk des Philosophen Hans Jonas und zwar aus dem Blickwinkel der Entwicklung seines Denkens. Die fruhen Studien uber die spatantike Gnosis bilden den Ausgangspunkt. Hier stoesst Jonas auf ein Thema, das er in seinem gesamten spateren Werk kritisch diskutiert, namlich das des weltfeindlichen Dualismus. In den ab den 1940er-Jahren entworfenen Studien zu einer philosophischen Biologie wird der Versuch unternommen, den Menschen in seiner leib-geistigen Verfasstheit bis hin zu seinen hoechsten symbolischen Ausdrucksformen aus dem Prozess der gesamten Evolution heraus zu deuten und damit implizit die Weltfeindlichkeit der Gnosis zu widerlegen. In seiner Ethik der Verantwortung, die er in dem 1979 veroeffentlichten beruhmten Prinzip Verantwortung systematisch vortragt, findet sich gleichsam die ethische Seite der UEberwindung der Gnosis, namlich, dass der Mensch Verantwortung fur eine Welt zu ubernehmen habe, in der auch zukunftige Generationen menschenwurdig leben koennen. In seinen letzten metaphysisch-theologischen Vermutungen dann wird die Problematik der Verantwortung mit Blick auf einen in der Schoepfung selber werdenden Gott hin thematisiert.

There's a whole universe out there... Imagine you had a spacecraft capable of travelling through interstellar space. You climb in, blast into orbit, fly out of the solar system and keep going. Where do you end up, and what do you see along the way? The answer is: mostly nothing. Space is astonishingly, mind-blowingly empty. As you travel through the void between galaxies your spaceship encounters nothing more exciting than the odd hydrogen molecule. But when it does come across something more exotic: wow! First and most obviously, stars and planets. Some are familiar from our own backyard: yellow suns, rocky planets like Mars, gas and ice giants like Jupiter and Neptune. But there are many more: giant stars, red and white dwarfs, super-earths and hot Jupiters. Elsewhere are swirling clouds of dust giving birth to stars, and infinitely dense regions of space-time called black holes. These clump together in the star clusters we call galaxies, and the clusters of galaxies we call... galaxy clusters. And that is just the start. As we travel further we encounter ever more weird, wonderful and dangerous entities: supernovas, supermassive black holes, quasars, pulsars, neutron stars, black dwarfs, quark stars, gamma ray bursts and cosmic strings. A Journey Through The Universe is a grand tour of the most amazing celestial objects and how they fit together to build the cosmos. As for the end of the journey - nobody knows. But getting there will be fun. ABOUT THE SERIES New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

Professor Sir Roger Penrose's work, spanning fifty years of science, with over five thousand pages and more than three hundred papers, has been collected together for the first time and arranged chronologically over six volumes, each with an introduction from the author. Where relevant, individual papers also come with specific introductions or notes. Many important realizations concerning twistor theory occurred during the short period of this third volume, providing a new perspective on the way that mathematical features of the complex geometry of twistor theory relate to actual physical fields. Following on from the nonlinear graviton construction, a twistor construction was found for (anti-)self-dual electromagnetism allowing the general (anti-)self-dual Yang-Mills field to be obtained. It became clear that some features of twistor contour integrals could be understood in terms of holomorphic sheaf cohomology. During this period, the Oxford research group founded the informal publication, Twistor Newsletter. This volume also contains the influential Weyl curvature hypothesis and new forms of Penrose tiles.

Professor Sir Roger Penrose's work, spanning fifty years of science, with over five thousand pages and more than three hundred papers, has been collected together for the first time and arranged chronologically over six volumes, each with an introduction from the author. Where relevant, individual papers also come with specific introductions or notes. Among the new developments that occurred during this period was the introduction of a particular notion of 'quasi-local mass-momentum and angular momentum', the topic of Penrose's Royal Society paper. Many encouraging results were initially obtained but, later, difficulties began to emerge and remain today. Also, an extensive paper (with Eastwood and Wells) gives a thorough account of the relation between twistor cohomology and massless fields. This volume witnesses Penrose's increasing conviction that the puzzling issue of quantum measurement could only be resolved by the appropriate unification of quantum mechanics with general relativity, where that union must involve an actual change in the rules of quantum mechanics as well as in space-time structure. Penrose's first incursions into a possible relation between consciousness and quantum state reduction are also covered here.

Professor Sir Roger Penrose's work, spanning fifty years of science, with over five thousand pages and more than three hundred papers, has been collected together for the first time and arranged chronologically over six volumes, each with an introduction from the author. Where relevant, individual papers also come with specific introductions or notes. This sixth volume describes an actual experiment to measure the length of time that a quantum superposition might last (developing the Diosi-Penrose proposal). It also discusses the significant progress made in relation to incorporating the 'googly' information for a gravitational field into the structure of a curved twistor space. Penrose also covers such things as the geometry of light rays in relation to twistor-space structures, the utility of complex numbers in drawing three-dimensional shapes, and the geometrical representation of different types of musical scales. The turn of the millennium was also an opportunity to reflect on progress in many areas up until that point.

Professor Sir Roger Penrose's work, spanning fifty years of science, with over five thousand pages and more than three hundred papers, has been collected together for the first time and arranged chronologically over six volumes, each with an introduction from the author. Where relevant, individual papers also come with specific introductions or notes. Publication of The Emperor's New Mind (OUP 1989) had caused considerable debate and Penrose's responses are included in this volume. Arising from this came the idea that large-scale quantum coherence might exist within the conscious brain, and actual conscious experience would be associated with a reduction of the quantum state. Within this collection, Penrose also proposes that a twistor might usefully be regarded as a source (or 'charge') for a massless field of spin 3/2, suggesting that the twistor space for a Ricci-flat space-time might actually be the space of such possible sources. Towards the end of the volume, Penrose begins to develop a quite different approach to incorporating full general relativity into twistor theory. This period also sees the origin of the Diosi-Penrose proposal.

A rigorous and scientific analysis of the myriad possibilities of life beyond our planet. “Are we alone in the universe?� This tantalizing question has captivated humanity over millennia, but seldom has it been approached rigorously. Today the search for signatures of extraterrestrial life and intelligence has become a rapidly advancing scientific endeavor. Missions to Mars, Europa, and Titan seek evidence of life. Laboratory experiments have made great strides in creating synthetic life, deepening our understanding of conditions that give rise to living entities. And on the horizon are sophisticated telescopes to detect and characterize exoplanets most likely to harbor life. Life in the Cosmos offers a thorough overview of the burgeoning field of astrobiology, including the salient methods and paradigms involved in the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence. Manasvi Lingam and Avi Loeb tackle three areas of interest in hunting for life “out there�: first, the pathways by which life originates and evolves; second, planetary and stellar factors that affect the habitability of worlds, with an eye on the biomarkers that may reveal the presence of microbial life; and finally, the detection of technological signals that could be indicative of intelligence. Drawing on empirical data from observations and experiments, as well as the latest theoretical and computational developments, the authors make a compelling scientific case for the search for life beyond what we can currently see. Meticulous and comprehensive, Life in the Cosmos is a master class from top researchers in astrobiology, suggesting that the answer to our age-old question is closer than ever before.

During the last twenty years, dramatic improvements in methods of observing astrophysical phenomena from the ground and in space have added to our knowledge of what the universe is like now and what it was like in the past, going back to the hot big bang. In this overview of today's physical cosmology, P.J.E. Peebles shows how observation has combined with theoretical elements to establish the subject as a mature science, while he also discusses the most notable recent attempts to understand the origin and structure of the universe. A successor to Peebles's classic volume Physical Cosmology (Princeton, 1971), the book is a comprehensive overview addressed not only to students but also to scientists active in fields outside cosmology.

The first chapter of the work presents the elements of physical cosmology, including the history of the discovery of the expanding universe. The second, on the cosmological tests that measure the geometry of spacetime, discusses general relativity theory as the basis for the tests, and then surveys the broad variety of ways the tests can be applied with the new generations of telescopes and detectors. The third chapter deals with the origin of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the universe, and reviews ideas about how the evolution of the universe might be traced back to very early epochs when structure originated. Each section of these chapters begins with an introduction that can be understood with no special knowledge beyond undergraduate physics, and then progresses to more specialized topics.

P.J.E. Peebles is Albert Einstein Professor of Science at Princeton University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society.

The full inside story of the detection of gravitational waves at LIGO, one of the most ambitious feats in scientific history *Selected as a Book of the Year 2016 in the Sunday Times* 'This is empirical poetry. A fascinating tale of human curiosity beautifully told, and with black holes and lasers too' Robin Ince In 1916 Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves: miniscule ripples in the very fabric of spacetime generated by unfathomably powerful events. If such vibrations could somehow be recorded, we could observe our universe for the first time through sound: the hissing of the Big Bang, the low tones of merging galaxies, the drumbeat of two black holes collapsing into one... In 2016 a team of hundreds of scientists at work on a billion-dollar experiment made history when they announced the first ever detection of a gravitational wave, confirming Einstein's prediction a century ago. Based on complete access to LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and the scientists who created it, Black Hole Blues offers a first-hand account of this astonishing achievement: an intimate story of cutting-edge science at its most awe-inspiring and ambitious.

For over three millennia, most people could understand the universe only in terms of myth, religion, and philosophy. Between 1920 and 1970, cosmology transformed into a branch of physics. With this remarkably rapid change came a theory that would finally lend empirical support to many long-held beliefs about the origins and development of the entire universe: the theory of the big bang. In this book, Helge Kragh presents the development of scientific cosmology for the first time as a historical event, one that embroiled many famous scientists in a controversy over the very notion of an evolving universe with a beginning in time. In rich detail he examines how the big-bang theory drew inspiration from and eventually triumphed over rival views, mainly the steady-state theory and its concept of a stationary universe of infinite age.

In the 1920s, Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lemaitre showed that Einstein's general relativity equations possessed solutions for a universe expanding in time. Kragh follows the story from here, showing how the big-bang theory evolved, from Edwin Hubble's observation that most galaxies are receding from us, to the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Sir Fred Hoyle proposed instead the steady-state theory, a model of dynamic equilibrium involving the continuous creation of matter throughout the universe. Although today it is generally accepted that the universe started some ten billion years ago in a big bang, many readers may not fully realize that this standard view owed much of its formation to the steady-state theory. By exploring the similarities and tensions between the theories, Kragh provides the reader with indispensable background for understanding much of today's commentary about our universe."

The third edition of this successful textbook is fully updated and includes important recent developments in cosmology. It begins with an introduction to cosmology and general relativity, and goes on to cover the mathematical models of standard cosmology. The physical aspects of cosmology, including primordial nucleosynthesis, the astroparticle physics of inflation, and the current ideas on structure formation are discussed. Alternative models of cosmology are reviewed, including the model of Quasi-Steady State Cosmology, which has recently been proposed as an alternative to Big Bang Cosmology.

The two pillars of modern physics are general relativity and quantum field theory, the former describes the large scale structure and dynamics of space-time, the latter, the microscopic constituents of matter. Combining the two yields quantum field theory in curved space-time, which is needed to understand quantum field processes in the early universe and black holes, such as the well-known Hawking effect. This book examines the effects of quantum field processes back-reacting on the background space-time which become important near the Planck time (10-43 sec). It explores the self-consistent description of both space-time and matter via the semiclassical Einstein equation of semiclassical gravity theory, exemplified by the inflationary cosmology, and fluctuations of quantum fields which underpin stochastic gravity, necessary for the description of metric fluctuations (space-time foams). Covering over four decades of thematic development, this book is a valuable resource for researchers interested in quantum field theory, gravitation and cosmology.

David Christian, creator of Big History ('My favourite course of all time' Bill Gates), brings us the epic story of the universe and our place in it, from 13.8 billion years ago to the remote future 'Nails home the point: Life is a miracle ... A compelling history of everything' Washington Post 'Spectacular' Carlo Rovelli How did we get from the Big Bang to today's staggering complexity, in which seven billion humans are connected into networks powerful enough to transform the planet? And why, in comparison, are our closest primate relatives reduced to near-extinction? Big History creator David Christian gives the answers in a mind-expanding cosmological detective story told on the grandest possible scale. He traces how, during eight key thresholds, the right conditions have allowed new forms of complexity to arise, from stars to galaxies, Earth to homo sapiens, agriculture to fossil fuels. This last mega-innovation gave us an energy bonanza that brought huge benefits to mankind, yet also threatens to shake apart everything we have created. 'Rather like the Big Bang, the book is awe-inspiring ... Superb' The Times 'With fascinating ideas on every page and the page-turning energy of a good thriller, this is a landmark work' Sir Ken Robinson, author of The Element

Scientific Cosmology and International Orders shows how scientific ideas have transformed international politics since 1550. Allan argues that cosmological concepts arising from Western science made possible the shift from a sixteenth-century order premised upon divine providence to the present order centred on economic growth. As states and other international associations used scientific ideas to solve problems, they slowly reconfigured ideas about how the world works, humanity's place in the universe, and the meaning of progress. The book demonstrates the rise of scientific ideas across three cases: natural philosophy in balance of power politics, 1550-1815; geology and Darwinism in British colonial policy and international colonial orders, 1860-1950; and cybernetic-systems thinking and economics in the World Bank and American liberal order, 1945-2015. Together, the cases trace the emergence of economic growth as a central end of states from its origins in colonial doctrines of development and balance of power thinking about improvement.

Verzichtet auf komplizierte Mathematik Geeignet fur Studierende und interessierte Laien Bietet einen anschaulichen Zugang zur Astroteilchenphysik

For most of human history, we have led not just an earthly existence but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are - our religious beliefs, power structures, scientific advances and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. And that disconnect comes at a cost. In The Human Cosmos Jo Marchant takes us on a tour through the history of humanity's relationship with the heavens. We travel to the Hall of the Bulls in Lascaux and witness the winter solstice at a 5,000-year-old tomb at Newgrange. We visit Medieval monks grappling with the nature of time and Tahitian sailors navigating by the stars. We discover how light reveals the chemical composition of the sun, and we are with Einstein as he works out that space and time are one and the same. A four-billion-year-old meteor inspires a search for extraterrestrial life. And we discover why stargazing can be really, really good for us. It is time for us to rediscover the full potential of the universe we inhabit, its wonder, its effect on our health, and its potential for inspiration and revelation.

Explore spectacular advances in cosmology, relativistic astrophysics, gravitational wave science, mathematics, computational science, and the interface of gravitation and quantum physics with this unique celebration of the centennial of Einstein's discovery of general relativity. Twelve comprehensive and in-depth reviews, written by a team of world-leading international experts, together present an up-to-date overview of key topics at the frontiers of these areas, with particular emphasis on the significant developments of the last three decades. Interconnections with other fields of research are also highlighted, making this an invaluable resource for both new and experienced researchers. Commissioned by the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation, and including accessible introductions to cutting-edge topics, ample references to original research papers, and informative colour figures, this is a definitive reference for researchers and graduate students in cosmology, relativity, and gravitational science.

The study of exoplanetary atmospheres--that is, of planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system--may be our best hope for discovering life elsewhere in the universe. This dynamic, interdisciplinary field requires practitioners to apply knowledge from atmospheric and climate science, astronomy and astrophysics, chemistry, geology and geophysics, planetary science, and even biology. Exoplanetary Atmospheres provides an essential introduction to the theoretical foundations of this cutting-edge new science. Exoplanetary Atmospheres covers the physics of radiation, fluid dynamics, atmospheric chemistry, and atmospheric escape. It draws on simple analytical models to aid learning, and features a wealth of problem sets, some of which are open-ended. This authoritative and accessible graduate textbook uses a coherent and self-consistent set of notation and definitions throughout, and also includes appendixes containing useful formulae in thermodynamics and vector calculus as well as selected Python scripts. Exoplanetary Atmospheres prepares PhD students for research careers in the field, and is ideal for self-study as well as for use in a course setting. * The first graduate textbook on the theory of exoplanetary atmospheres* Unifies knowledge from atmospheric and climate science, astronomy and astrophysics, chemistry, planetary science, and more* Covers radiative transfer, fluid dynamics, atmospheric chemistry, and atmospheric escape* Provides simple analytical models and a wealth of problem sets* Includes appendixes on thermodynamics, vector calculus, tabulated Gibbs free energies, and Python scripts* Solutions manual (available only to professors)

Der Wunsch nach einem Verstandnis von Einsteins Theorien ist unter naturwissenschaftlich Interessierten weit verbreitet - und bleibt doch meist unerfullt. Dieses Buch bietet nun eine einzigartige neue Chance: Mit anschaulichen Gedankenexperimenten, exakten Abbildungen, treffenden Analogien und mit strikt auf Mittelschulmathematik beschrankten Rechenschritten werden Sie behutsam in die immer wieder faszinierende Welt der Relativitatstheorien gefuhrt. Sachlich, grundlich und dennoch faszinierend werden die Zeitdehnung, das Zwillingsparadoxon, Schwarze Loecher oder die Rotverschiebung des Lichts dargestellt, daneben viele weitere relativistische Effekte, die Ihnen hier erstmals mit ganz einfachen mathematischen Werkzeugen zuganglich gemacht werden. ... das Buch ist sehr empfehlenswert: Der gesamte Text ist klar, ausfuhrlich und verstandlich geschrieben. Ein ausserst gelungenes Buch also, das halt, was es im Untertitel verspricht ... Stephan Edinger, Sterne und Weltraum, Mai 2008

One of the most influential thinkers of our time, Stephen Hawking is an intellectual icon, known not only for the adventurousness of his ideas but for the clarity and wit with which he expresses them. His phenomenal multi-million-copy bestseller A Brief History of Time introduced the fascinating world of theoretical physics to readers all over the world. Now, in a major new lavishly illustrated book, Hawking turns to the major breakthroughs that have occurred in the years since the release of his acclaimed first book. He brings to us the cutting edge of theoretical physics, where truth is often stranger than fiction, and explains in layman’s terms the principles that control our universe.

Like many in the international scientific community, Professor Hawking is seeking to uncover the grail of science – the elusive Theory of Everything that lies at the heart of the cosmos. In The Universe in a Nutshell, he guides us on his search to uncover the secrets of the universe - from supergravity to supersymmetry, from quantum theory to M-theory, from holography to duality. In this most exciting intellectual adventure he seeks ‘to combine Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and Richard Feynman’s idea of multiple histories into one complete unified theory that will describe everything that happens in the universe’. He takes us to the wild frontiers of science where superstring theory and p-branes may hold the final clue to the puzzle.

The Universe in a Nutshell is essential reading for all those who want to understand the universe in which we live.

ISBN: 0593 048156

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STEPHEN HAWKING is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and is regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein.

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Acclaim for A Brief History of Time

‘This book marries a child’s wonder to a genius’s intellect. We journey into Hawking’s universe, while marvelling at his mind.’ Sunday Times

‘One of the most brilliant scientific minds since Einstein.’ Daily Express

‘He can explain the complexities of cosmological physics with an engaging combination of clarity and wit . . . He is a brain of extraordinary power.’ Observer

‘It is the publishing sensation of the last decade.’ Spectator

‘His mind seems to soar ever more brilliantly across the vastness of space and time to unlock the secrets of the universe.’ Time Magazine

‘Hawking clearly possesses a natural teacher’s gifts – easy, good-natured humor and an ability to illustrate highly complex propositions with analogies plucked from daily life.’ New York Times

‘Genius unique, tragic and triumphant . . . Hawking takes us through the evolution of modern thinking on cosmology, from Aristotle and Copernicus, through Galileo and Newton, to Einstein and, indeed, Hawking himself.’ Sydney Morning Herald

Professor Sir Roger Penrose's work, spanning fifty years of science, with over five thousand pages and more than three hundred papers, has been collected together for the first time and arranged chronologically over six volumes, each with an introduction from the author. Where relevant, individual papers also come with specific introductions or notes. Developing ideas sketched in the first volume, twistor theory is now applied to genuine issues of physics, and there are the beginnings of twistor diagram theory (an analogue of Feynman Diagrams). This collection includes joint papers with Stephen Hawking, and uncovers certain properties of black holes. The idea of cosmic censorship is also first proposed. Along completely different lines, the first methods of aperiodic tiling for the Euclidean plane that come to be known as Penrose tiles are described. This volume also contains Penrose's three prize-winning essays for the Gravity Foundation (two second places with both Ezra Newman and Steven Hawking, and a solo first place for 'The Non-linear graviton').

The advent of sensitive high-resolution observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation and their successful interpretation in terms of the standard cosmological model has led to great confidence in this model's reality. The prevailing attitude is that we now understand the Universe and need only work out the details. In this book, Sanders traces the development and successes of Lambda-CDM, and argues that this triumphalism may be premature. The model's two major components, dark energy and dark matter, have the character of the pre-twentieth-century luminiferous aether. While there is astronomical evidence for these hypothetical fluids, their enigmatic properties call into question our assumptions of the universality of locally determined physical law. Sanders explains how modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) is a significant challenge for cold dark matter. Overall, the message is hopeful: the field of cosmology has not become frozen, and there is much fundamental work ahead for tomorrow's cosmologists.

"This is a truly astonishing book, invaluable for anyone with an interest in astronomy and surely the bargain of the year." ---Physics Bulletin "Just the thing for a first year university science course." ---Nature "This is a beautiful book in both concept and execution." ---Sky & Telescope