Thomas Gold (1920-2004) had a curious mind that liked to solve problems. He was one of the most remarkable astrophysicists in the second half of the twentieth century, and he attracted controversy throughout his career. Based on a full-length autobiography left behind by Thomas Gold, this book was edited by the astrophysicist and historian of science, Simon Mitton (University of Cambridge).

The book is a retrospective on Gold's remarkable life. He fled from Vienna in 1933, eventually settling in England and completing an engineering degree at Trinity College in Cambridge. During the war, he worked on naval radar research alongside Fred Hoyle and Hermann Bondi - which, in an unlikely chain of events, eventually led to his working with them on steady-state cosmology. In 1968, shortly after their discovery, he provided the explanation of pulsars as rotating neutron stars.

In his final position at Cornell, he and his colleagues persuaded the US Defense Department to fund the conversion of the giant radio telescope at Arecibo in Puerto Rico into a superb instrument for radio astronomy. Gold's interests covered physiology, astronomy, cosmology, geophysics, and engineering.

Written in an intriguing style and with an equally intriguing foreword by Freeman Dyson, this book constitutes an important historical document, made accessible to all those interested in the history of science.

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This book makes good background reading for much of modern magnetospheric physics. Its origin was a Festspiel for Professor Jim Dungey, former professor in the Physics Department at Imperial College on the occasion of his 90th birthday, 30 January 2013. Remarkably, although he retired 30 years ago, his pioneering and, often, maverick work in the 50's through to the 70's on solar terrestrial physics is probably more widely appreciated today than when he retired. Dungey was a theoretical plasma physicist. The book covers how his reconnection model of the magnetosphere evolved to become the standard model of solar-terrestrial coupling. Dungey's open magnetosphere model now underpins a holistic picture explaining not only the magnetic and plasma structure of the magnetosphere, but also its dynamics which can be monitored in real time. The book also shows how modern day simulation of solar terrestrial coupling can reproduce the real time evolution of the solar terrestrial system in ways undreamt of in 1961 when Dungey's epoch-making paper was published. Further contributions on current Earth magnetosphere research and space plasma physics included in this book show how Dungey's basic ideas have remained explanative 50 years on. But the Festspiel also introduced some advances that possibly Dungey had not foreseen. One of the contributions presented in this book is on the variety of magnetospheres of the solar system which have been seen directly during the space age, discussing the variations in spatial scale and reconnection time scale and comparing them in respect of Earth, Mercury, the giant planets as well as Ganymede.

The year 2011 marked the 80th anniversary of Georges Lemaitre's primeval atom model of the universe, forerunner of the modern day Big Bang theory. Prompted by this momentous anniversary the Royal Astronomical Society decided to publish a volume of essays on the life, work and faith of this great cosmologist, who was also a Roman Catholic priest. The papers presented in this book examine in detail the historical, cosmological, philosophical and theological issues surrounding the development of the Big Bang theory from its beginnings in the pioneering work of Lemaitre through to the modern day. This book offers the best account in English of Lemaitre's life and work. It will be appreciated by professionals and graduate students interested in the history of cosmology.

The first biography of a pioneering scientist who made significant contributions to our understanding of dark matter and championed the advancement of women in science. One of the great lingering mysteries of the universe is dark matter. Scientists are not sure what it is, but most believe it's out there, and in abundance. The astronomer who finally convinced many of them was Vera Rubin. When Rubin died in 2016, she was regarded as one of the most influential astronomers of her era. Her research on the rotation of spiral galaxies was groundbreaking, and her observations contributed significantly to the confirmation of dark matter, a most notable achievement. In Vera Rubin: A Life, prolific science writers Jacqueline Mitton and Simon Mitton provide a detailed, accessible overview of Rubin's work, showing how she leveraged immense curiosity, profound intelligence, and novel technologies to help transform our understanding of the cosmos. But Rubin's impact was not limited to her contributions to scientific knowledge. She also helped to transform scientific practice by promoting the careers of women researchers. Not content to be an inspiration, Rubin was a mentor and a champion. She advocated for hiring women faculty, inviting women speakers to major conferences, and honoring women with awards that were historically the exclusive province of men. Rubin's papers and correspondence yield vivid insights into her life and work, as she faced down gender discrimination and met the demands of family and research throughout a long and influential career. Deftly written, with both scientific experts and general readers in mind, Vera Rubin is a portrait of a woman with insatiable curiosity about the universe who never stopped asking questions and encouraging other women to do the same.

Carbon plays a fundamental role on Earth. It forms the chemical backbone for all essential organic molecules produced by living organisms. Carbon-based fuels supply most of society's energy, and atmospheric carbon dioxide has a huge impact on Earth's climate. This book provides a complete history of the emergence and development of the new interdisciplinary field of deep carbon science. It traces four centuries of history during which the inner workings of the dynamic Earth were discovered, and documents extraordinary scientific revolutions that changed our understanding of carbon on Earth forever: carbon's origin in exploding stars; the discovery of the internal heat source driving the Earth's carbon cycle; and the tectonic revolution. Written with an engaging narrative style and covering the scientific endeavours of more than a hundred pioneers of deep geoscience, this is a fascinating book for students and researchers working in Earth system science and deep carbon research.

This book makes good background reading for much of modern magnetospheric physics. Its origin was a Festspiel for Professor Jim Dungey, former professor in the Physics Department at Imperial College on the occasion of his 90th birthday, 30 January 2013. Remarkably, although he retired 30 years ago, his pioneering and, often, maverick work in the 50's through to the 70's on solar terrestrial physics is probably more widely appreciated today than when he retired. Dungey was a theoretical plasma physicist. The book covers how his reconnection model of the magnetosphere evolved to become the standard model of solar-terrestrial coupling. Dungey's open magnetosphere model now underpins a holistic picture explaining not only the magnetic and plasma structure of the magnetosphere, but also its dynamics which can be monitored in real time. The book also shows how modern day simulation of solar terrestrial coupling can reproduce the real time evolution of the solar terrestrial system in ways undreamt of in 1961 when Dungey's epoch-making paper was published. Further contributions on current Earth magnetosphere research and space plasma physics included in this book show how Dungey's basic ideas have remained explanative 50 years on. But the Festspiel also introduced some advances that possibly Dungey had not foreseen. One of the contributions presented in this book is on the variety of magnetospheres of the solar system which have been seen directly during the space age, discussing the variations in spatial scale and reconnection time scale and comparing them in respect of Earth, Mercury, the giant planets as well as Ganymede.

The year 2011 marked the 80th anniversary of Georges Lemaitre's primeval atom model of the universe, forerunner of the modern day Big Bang theory. Prompted by this momentous anniversary the Royal Astronomical Society decided to publish a volume of essays on the life, work and faith of this great cosmologist, who was also a Roman Catholic priest. The papers presented in this book examine in detail the historical, cosmological, philosophical and theological issues surrounding the development of the Big Bang theory from its beginnings in the pioneering work of Lemaitre through to the modern day. This book offers the best account in English of Lemaitre's life and work. It will be appreciated by professionals and graduate students interested in the history of cosmology.

The scientific life of Fred Hoyle (1915 2001) was truly unparalleled. During his career he wrote groundbreaking scientific papers and caused bitter disputes in the scientific community with his revolutionary theories. Hoyle is best known for showing that we are all, literally, made of stardust in his paper explaining how carbon, and then all the heavier elements, were created by nuclear reactions inside stars. However, he constantly courted controversy and two years later he followed this with his 'steady state' theory of the universe. This challenged another model of the universe, which Hoyle called the 'big bang' theory. Fred Hoyle was also famous amongst the general public. He popularised his research through radio and television broadcasts and wrote best-selling novels. Written from personal accounts and interviews with Hoyle's contemporaries, this book gives valuable personal insights into Fred Hoyle and his unforgettable life.

Heart of Darkness describes the incredible saga of humankind's quest to unravel the deepest secrets of the universe. Over the past thirty years, scientists have learned that two little-understood components--dark matter and dark energy--comprise most of the known cosmos, explain the growth of all cosmic structure, and hold the key to the universe's fate. The story of how evidence for the so-called "Lambda-Cold Dark Matter" model of cosmology has been gathered by generations of scientists throughout the world is told here by one of the pioneers of the field, Jeremiah Ostriker, and his coauthor Simon Mitton. From humankind's early attempts to comprehend Earth's place in the solar system, to astronomers' exploration of the Milky Way galaxy and the realm of the nebulae beyond, to the detection of the primordial fluctuations of energy from which all subsequent structure developed, this book explains the physics and the history of how the current model of our universe arose and has passed every test hurled at it by the skeptics. Throughout this rich story, an essential theme is emphasized: how three aspects of rational inquiry--the application of direct measurement and observation, the introduction of mathematical modeling, and the requirement that hypotheses should be testable and verifiable--guide scientific progress and underpin our modern cosmological paradigm. This monumental puzzle is far from complete, however, as scientists confront the mysteries of the ultimate causes of cosmic structure formation and the real nature and origin of dark matter and dark energy.

Since the scientific revolutions of the seventeenth century, a great number of distinguished scientists and mathematicians have been associated with Cambridge University. Cambridge Scientific Minds is a unique account of some of the University's most eminent thinkers over the last 400 years, including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and James Clerk Maxwell. While the rapid establishment during the Newtonian era of a series of professorships for mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, anatomy, botany, geology, and geometry marked the University's scientific coming of age, this volume's chronological balance reflects on the increasing importance of science in the institution's recent history. Chapters on Paul Dirac, Alan Turing, Joseph Needham, and Stephen Hawking, among others, represent the recent intellectual efflorescence at Cambridge. Personal memoirs and historical essays, written by leading historians, scientists, and Nobel Laureates, make Cambridge Scientific Minds as enjoyable to read as it is accessible. Peter Harman is Professor of the History of Science at Lancaster University. He has published primarily on the history of physics and natural philosophy in the 18th and 19th centuries, the period from Newton to Maxwell. His previous books include Energy, Force and Matter (Cambridge, 1982), The Investigation of Difficult Things (Cambridge, 1992), After Newton: Essays on Natural Philosophy (Variorum, 1993), The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, volume 1 (Cambridge, 1990), volume 2 (Cambridge, 1995). Simon Mitton studied physics at the University of Oxford, and received a PhD in radio astronomy at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He is Senior Fellow at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge. This is his tenth book.

Since the scientific revolutions of the seventeenth century, a great number of distinguished scientists and mathematicians have been associated with Cambridge University. Cambridge Scientific Minds is a unique account of some of the University's most eminent thinkers over the last 400 years, including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and James Clerk Maxwell. While the rapid establishment during the Newtonian era of a series of professorships for mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, anatomy, botany, geology, and geometry marked the University's scientific coming of age, this volume's chronological balance reflects on the increasing importance of science in the institution's recent history. Chapters on Paul Dirac, Alan Turing, Joseph Needham, and Stephen Hawking, among others, represent the recent intellectual efflorescence at Cambridge. Personal memoirs and historical essays, written by leading historians, scientists, and Nobel Laureates, make Cambridge Scientific Minds as enjoyable to read as it is accessible. Peter Harman is Professor of the History of Science at Lancaster University. He has published primarily on the history of physics and natural philosophy in the 18th and 19th centuries, the period from Newton to Maxwell. His previous books include Energy, Force and Matter (Cambridge, 1982), The Investigation of Difficult Things (Cambridge, 1992), After Newton: Essays on Natural Philosophy (Variorum, 1993), The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, volume 1 (Cambridge, 1990), volume 2 (Cambridge, 1995). Simon Mitton studied physics at the University of Oxford, and received a PhD in radio astronomy at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He is Senior Fellow at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge. This is his tenth book.

"Heart of Darkness" describes the incredible saga of humankind's quest to unravel the deepest secrets of the universe. Over the past thirty years, scientists have learned that two little-understood components--dark matter and dark energy--comprise most of the known cosmos, explain the growth of all cosmic structure, and hold the key to the universe's fate. The story of how evidence for the so-called "Lambda-Cold Dark Matter" model of cosmology has been gathered by generations of scientists throughout the world is told here by one of the pioneers of the field, Jeremiah Ostriker, and his coauthor Simon Mitton.

From humankind's early attempts to comprehend Earth's place in the solar system, to astronomers' exploration of the Milky Way galaxy and the realm of the nebulae beyond, to the detection of the primordial fluctuations of energy from which all subsequent structure developed, this book explains the physics and the history of how the current model of our universe arose and has passed every test hurled at it by the skeptics. Throughout this rich story, an essential theme is emphasized: how three aspects of rational inquiry--the application of direct measurement and observation, the introduction of mathematical modeling, and the requirement that hypotheses should be testable and verifiable--guide scientific progress and underpin our modern cosmological paradigm.

The story is far from complete, however, as scientists confront the mysteries of the ultimate causes of cosmic structure formation and the real nature and origin of dark matter and dark energy.