Showing titles in Cosmology

“Cosmos” comes from a Greek word for an orderly and systematic universe. In this book, we present the most riveting discoveries and mind-bending ideas about our cosmic home, from what we know of the origins of the universe and the cartography of space to the most bizarre phenomena and the search for life. Discussions include the possibility that the big bang was the consequence of a black hole in a fourth spatial dimension, that cosmic ripples created infinite universes, that entangled black holes could act as wormhole-like passageways through space, and much more.

Stargazing has shaped the entire course of human civilization. The rhythm of our ancestors' lives revolved around the stars, from cycles of agriculture to patterns of birth. How radically different would humanity be if our ancestors had looked up to the night sky and seen...nothing? In lyrical yet evidence-grounded meditations, Trotta imagines a world without stars, a dramatic alternate history in which we wouldn't understand gravity, where couldn't navigate or have much sense of time, and where our sense of the profound - of art and of the divine - was altered beyond recognition.

Trained as a musician, amateur scientist William Herschel found international fame after discovering the planet Uranus in 1781. Though he is still best known for this finding, his partnership with his sister Caroline yielded groundbreaking work, including techniques that remain in use today. The duo pioneered comprehensive surveys of the night sky, carefully categorizing every visible object in the void. Caroline wrote an influential catalogue of nebulae, and William discovered infrared radiation.

What does it mean to be human, to live on planet Earth, in the universe as it is now understood? Best-selling author and mathematical cosmologist Brain Swimme takes us on a journey through the cosmos in search of the “new story” that is developing in answer to this age-old question.

Perhaps more than any other scientist of our century, Edward O. Wilson has scrutinized animals in their natural settings, tweezing out the dynamics of their social organization, their relationship with their environments, and their behavior, not only for what it tells us about the animals themselves, but for what it can tell us about human nature and our own behavior. He has brought the fascinating and sometimes surprising results of these studies to general readers through a remarkable collection of books.

Across millennia, cultures and civilizations have envisioned the ability to revisit the past, glimpse the future, or even rewrite fate. From ancient mythologies to modern science fiction epics, the allure of time travel persists as one of humanity’s most profound and enduring fascinations.

Shaun Usher brings together fascinating correspondence about the universe beyond our planet, containing hopeful thoughts about the future of space travel, awestruck messages penned about the worlds beyond our own and celebrations of the human ingenuity that has facilitated our understanding of the cosmos.

From the moment of creation to the emergence of a planet tailor-made for life, science tells a sacred story: a superintelligent Creator used His mathematical genius to convert lifeless equations into galaxies, planets, and people. His love has been visible throughout the process. Could our journey reflect thousands of random accidents with no divine guidance? Creation delivered impulses that filled the universe with galaxies and stars. Eliminate any one of those blueprints and the universe would have been stillborn.

The Apollo Moon Programme has been called the last optimistic act of the twentieth century. Over a strange three-year period between 1969 and 1972, twelve men made the longest and most eccentric journey ever undertaken by human beings, to the surface of the moon, and all were indelibly marked by it. Only nine moonwalkers were left by the time a chance encounter forced Andrew Smith to consider that one day soon there would be none: that no one on Earth would have seen us from afar as they alone had.

Nikola Tesla (1856 -1943) was a Serbian American inventor, engineer, and physicist. In his work Talking with Planets, the prodigious inventor describes receiving radio waves from nonterrestrial sources.

Eclipses have stunned, frightened, emboldened, and mesmerized people for thousands of years. They were recorded on ancient turtle shells discovered in the Wastes of Yin in China, on clay tablets from Mesopotamia and on the Mayan "Dresden Codex". They are mentioned in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and at least eight times in the Bible. Columbus used them to trick people, while Renaissance painter Taddeo Gaddi was blinded by one. Sorcery was banished within the Catholic Church after astrologers used an eclipse to predict a pope's death.

This is an indispensable guide to physics that offers readers an overview of the most popular physics topics written in an accessible, irreverent, and engaging manner while still maintaining a tone of wry skepticism. Even the novice will be able to follow along, as the topics are addressed using plain English and (almost) no equations. Veterans of popular physics will also find their nagging questions addressed, like whether the universe can expand faster than light.

Após o enorme sucesso de Uma breve história do tempo, a Intrínseca traz a luxuosa reedição de O universo numa casca de noz, na qual Stephen Hawking se vale de ilustrações, fotos e esquemas detalhados para mostrar grandes descobertas no campo da física teórica. Tudo isso, é claro, com sua conhecida clareza, elucidando temas complexos por meio de conceitos e ideias do dia a dia, como a inflação, as cartas de baralho e as linhas ferroviárias, e permeado com seu peculiar senso de humor.

Black holes, predicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity more than a century ago, have long intrigued scientists and the public with their bizarre and fantastical properties. Although Einstein understood that black holes were mathematical solutions to his equations, he never accepted their physical reality - a viewpoint many shared. After introducing the basics of the special and general theories of relativity, this book describes black holes both as astrophysical objects and theoretical "laboratories".

With the ongoing advancement of AI and other technologies, our world is becoming increasingly intelligent. From chatbots to innovations in brain-computer interfaces to the possibility of superintelligences leading to the Singularity later this century, our reality is being transformed before our eyes. This is commonly seen as the natural result of progress, but what if there's more to it than that? What if intelligence is an inevitability, an underlying property of the universe?

There is no more profound, enduring, or fascinating question in all of science than that of how time, space, and matter began. Now John Barrow, who has been at the cutting edge of research in this area and has written extensively about it, guides us on a journey to the beginning of time, into a world of temperatures and densities so high that we cannot recreate them in a laboratory.

In Signposts to God, particle physicist Peter Bussey introduces listeners to the mysteries of modern physics and astronomy. Authored in clear, accessible prose, Bussey provides a primer on topics such as the laws of nature, quantum physics, fine-tuning, and current cosmological models. Bussey argues that, far from ruling out a divine creator, modern physics and astronomy present us with compelling signposts to God. The more we know about the cosmos and our presence in it, the more plausible belief in God becomes.

Von einer Klimakatastrophe zur nächsten schlingernd entwickelte sich unsere Erde. Am Ende war da der Mensch, entstanden aus Sternenstaub – alles nur Zufall? Oder war hier ein Schöpfergott beteiligt? Heino Falcke und Jörg Römer gehen Herkunft und Zukunft unserer Welt auf den Grund: Sie sprechen mit Persönlichkeiten aus Quantenphysik, Evolutionsbiologie, Klimaforschung, Philosophie und Theologie und entwerfen eine anschauliche und lebendige Geschichte unseres blauen Planeten und der Entwicklung des Menschen.

DAL BIG BANG ALLA FORMAZIONE DI STELLE, PIANETI E BUCHI NERI. DALLA CELLULA ALLA TEORIA DELL'EVOLUZIONE FINO A GIUNGERE ALL'ESSERE UMANO. E POI? COSA CI ASPETTA NEL PROSSIMO FUTURO? Tante e interessantissime le domande che scandiscono il viaggio raccontato in questo libro, un reportage unico e affascinante attraverso la storia dell'Universo, la scienza e le recenti scoperte, spiegate con le parole preziose e attente di un divulgatore d'eccezione come Piero Angela. Il celebre giornalista aveva un'ambizione: diffondere la cultura scientifica perché diventasse accessibile a chiunque.

In 1965, the great American physicist Richard Feynman famously proclaimed, "I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics." Is there any wonder why? Particles that pop in and out of existence... Spooky action at a distance that travels faster than light... Infinite universes and branching realities? In this book, we will break through the confusion and reveal to you the most important ideas of Quantum Physics, told through the amazing true story of just 4 bizarre discoveries.