Introduction.- Boarding School and University.- Astronomy Around 1875.- Astronomer and Professor.- Almost Half a Million Stars.- Laboratory and Statistical Astronomy.- Star Streams.- In the mean time in Groningen.- Mount Wilson.- Statistics and other matters.- First Attempt: the Kapetyn Universe.- Coda.

This book includes 58 selected articles that highlight the major contributions of Professor Radha Charan Gupta-a doyen of history of mathematics-written on a variety of important topics pertaining to mathematics and astronomy in India. It is divided into ten parts. Part I presents three articles offering an overview of Professor Gupta's oeuvre. The four articles in Part II convey the importance of studies in the history of mathematics. Parts III-VII constituting 33 articles, feature a number of articles on a variety of topics, such as geometry, trigonometry, algebra, combinatorics and spherical trigonometry, which not only reveal the breadth and depth of Professor Gupta's work, but also highlight his deep commitment to the promotion of studies in the history of mathematics. The ten articles of part VIII, present interesting bibliographical sketches of a few veteran historians of mathematics and astronomy in India. Part IX examines the dissemination of mathematical knowledge across different civilisations. The last part presents an up-to-date bibliography of Gupta's work. It also includes a tribute to him in Sanskrit composed in eight verses.

Jupiter's ice moon Europa is widely regarded as the most likely place to find extraterrestrial life. This book tells the engaging story of Europa, the oceanic moon. It features a large number of stunning images of the ocean moon's surface, clearly displaying the spectacular crack patterns, extensive rifts and ridges, and refrozen pools of exposed water filled with rafts of displaced ice. Coverage also features firsthand accounts of Galileo's mission to Jupiter and its moons. The book tells the rough and tumble inside story of a very human enterprise in science that lead to the discovery of a fantastic new world that might well harbor life.

This is a revealing account of the family life and achievements of the Third Earl of Rosse, a hereditary peer and resident landlord at Birr Castle, County Offaly, in nineteenth-century Ireland, before, during and after the devastating famine of the 1840s. He was a remarkable engineer, who built enormous telescopes in the cloudy middle of Ireland. The book gives details, in an attractive non-technical style which requires no previous scientific knowledge, of his engineering initiatives and the astronomical results, but also reveals much more about the man and his contributions - locally in the town and county around Birr, in political and other functions in an Ireland administered by the Protestant Ascendancy, in the development and activities of the Royal Society, of which he was President from 1848-54, and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The Countess of Rosse, who receives full acknowledgement in the book, was a woman of many talents, among which was her pioneering work in photography, and the book includes reproductions of her artistic exposures, and many other attractive illustrations. -- .

This book analyses the magnificent imperial necropolises of ancient China from the perspective of Archaeoastronomy, a science which takes into account the landscape in which ancient monuments are placed, focusing especially but not exclusively on the celestial aspects. The power of the Chinese emperors was based on the so-called Mandate of Heaven: the rulers were believed to act as intermediaries between the sky gods and the Earth, and consequently, the architecture of their tombs, starting from the world-famous mausoleum of the first emperor, was closely linked to the celestial cycles and to the cosmos. This relationship, however, also had to take into account various other factors and doctrines, first the Zhao-Mu doctrine in the Han period and later the various forms of Feng Shui. As a result, over the centuries, diverse sacred landscapes were constructed. Among the sites analysed in the book are the "pyramids" of Xi'an from the Han dynasty, the mountain tombs of the Tang dynasty, and the Ming and Qing imperial tombs. The book explains how considerations such as astronomical orientation and topographical orientation according to the principles of Feng Shui played a fundamental role at these sites.

Markus Aschwanden introduces the concept of self-organized criticality (SOC) and shows that due to its universality and ubiquity it is a law of nature for which he derives the theoretical framework and specific physical models in this book. He begins by providing an overview of the many diverse phenomena in nature which may be attributed to SOC behaviour.

The author then introduces the classic lattice-based SOC models that may be explored using numerical computer simulations. These simulations require an in-depth knowledge of a wide range of mathematical techniques which the author introduces and describes in subsequent chapters. These include the statistics of random processes, time series analysis, time scale distributions, and waiting time distributions. Such mathematical techniques are needed to model and understand the power-law-like occurrence frequency distributions of SOC phenomena. Finally, the author discusses fractal geometry and scaling laws before looking at a range of physical SOC models which may be applicable in various aspects of astrophysics. Problems, solutions and a glossary will enhance the pedagogical usefulness of the book.

SOC has been receiving growing attention in the astrophysical and solar physics community. This book will be welcomed by students and researchers studying complex critical phenomena.

This book, written by leading experts of the field, gives an excellent up-to-date overview of modern neutrino physics and is useful for scientists and graduate students alike. The book starts with a history of neutrinos and then develops from the fundamentals to the direct determination of masses and lifetimes. The role of neutrinos in fundamental astrophysical problems is discussed in detail.

This book tells the story of how, over the past century, dedicated observers and pioneering scientists achieved our current understanding of the universe. It was in antiquity that humankind first attempted to explain the universe often with the help of myths and legends. This book, however, focuses on the time when cosmology finally became a true science. As the reader will learn, this was a slow process, extending over a large part of the 20th century and involving many astronomers, cosmologists and theoretical physicists. The book explains how empirical astronomical data (e.g., Leavitt, Slipher and Hubble) were reconciled with Einstein's general relativity; a challenge which finally led Friedmann, De Sitter and Lemaitre, and eventually Einstein himself, to a consistent understanding of the observational results. The reader will realize the extraordinary implications of these achievements and how deeply they changed our vision of the cosmos: From being small, static, immutable and eternal, it became vast and dynamical - originating from (almost) nothing, and yet now, nearly 14 billion years later, undergoing accelerated expansion. But, as always happens, as well as precious knowledge, new mysteries have also been created where previously absolute certainty had reigned.

In 2008, the European FP6 JETSET project ended. JETSET, for Jet, Simulations, Experiments, and Theory, was a joint research network of European expert teams on protostellar jets. The present proceedings are a collection of contributions presenting new results obtained by those groups since the end of the JETSET program. This is also the occasion to celebrate Kanaris Tsinganos' important contributions to this network and for his enlightening insight in the subject that inspired us all. Some of the former JETSET students are now in the academic world and the subject has never been so alive. So we present here a collection of results of what has been done in the field of protostellar jets in the past ten years from the theoretical, numerical, observational and experimental point of view. We also present new challenges in the field of protostellar jets and what we should expect from the development of new instruments and new numerical codes in the near future. We also gather results on the impact of the study of protostellar jets on other jet studies in particular on relativistic jets. As a matter of fact, it is time for a new network.

Greenwich has been a centre for scientific computing since the foundation of the Royal Observatory in 1675. Early Astronomers Royal gathered astronomical data with the purpose of enabling navigators to compute their longitude at sea. Nevil Maskelyne in the 18th century organised the work of computing tables for the Nautical Almanac, anticipating later methods used in safety-critical computing systems. The 19th century saw influential critiques of Charles Babbage's mechanical calculating engines, and in the 20th century Leslie Comrie and others pioneered the automation of computation. The arrival of the Royal Naval College in 1873 and the University of Greenwich in 1999 has brought more mathematicians and different kinds of mathematics to Greenwich. In the 21st century computational mathematics has found many new applications. This book presents an account of the mathematicians who worked at Greenwich and their achievements. Features A scholarly but accessible history of mathematics at Greenwich, from the seventeenth century to the present day, with each chapter written by an expert in the field The book will appeal to astronomical and naval historians as well as historians of mathematics and scientific computing.

This textbook presents the basics of philosophy that are necessary for the student and researcher in science in order to better understand scientific work. The approach is not historical but formative: tools for semantical analysis, ontology of science, epistemology, and scientific ethics are presented in a formal and direct way. The book has two parts: one with the general theory and a second part with application to some problems such as the interpretation of quantum mechanics, the nature of mathematics, and the ontology of spacetime. The book addresses questions such as "What is meaning?", "What is truth?", "What are truth criteria in science?", "What is a theory?", "What is a model?" "What is a datum?", "What is information?", "What does it mean to understand something?", "What is space?", "What is time?", "How are these concepts articulated in science?" "What are values?" "What are the limits of science?", and many more. The philosophical views presented are "scientific" in the sense that they are informed by current science, they are relevant for scientific research, and the method adopted uses the hypothetical-deductive approach that is characteristic of science. The results and conclusions, as any scientific conclusion, are open to revision in the light of future advances. Hence, this philosophical approach opposes to dogmatic philosophy. Supported by end-of-chapter summaries and a list of special symbols used, the material will be of interest for students and researchers in both science and philosophy. The second part will appeal to physicists and mathematicians.

With Astronomy Today, Eighth Edition, trusted authors Eric Chaisson and Steve McMillan communicate their excitement about astronomy, delivering current and thorough science with insightful pedagogy. The text emphasizes critical thinking and visualization, and it focuses on the process of scientific discovery, teaching students how we know what we know. Alternate Versions *Astronomy Today, Volume 1: The Solar System, Eighth Edition-Focuses primarily on planetary coverage for a 1-term course. Includes Chapters 1-16, 28. *Astronomy Today, Volume 2: Stars and Galaxies, Eighth Edition-Focuses primarily on stars and stellar evolution for a 1-term course. Includes Chapters 1-5 and 16-28.