Hyperspace Our Fnal Frontier

by John Gribbin

The exploration of the Universe which largely began to take place in the final decades of the 20th century is the story told in Our Final Frontier. There have now been space probes to all the major planets of the Earth's Solar System -- the only worlds that are likely to be physically explored in our lifetime. Beyond the Solar System, across the final frontier of space, however, astronomers are now able to explore the Universe by proxy, using evidence from light, radio waves, x-ray, and other information gathered by telescopes on the Earth's surface and by orbiting satellites. Astronomers can now work out the life cycles of stars, the evolution of galaxies, the location of other solar systems, and the fate of the Universe itself. Our Final Frontier provides a compelling insight into the way that astronomers work, explaining how they make the discoveries that make headlines, as well as the stories behind those headlines. From the first steps which measured the distances to the nearest stars, to the latest discovery that the Universe is expanding at an ever faster rate, John Gribbin puts deep space into perspective with the aid of specially commissioned illustrations and revealing photographs from the latest generation of astronomical telescopes.

Genres: Physics, Science

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

John R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.

Reviews

[Claire Binkley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am almost sure that I have read this book already but I couldn't track down exactly when I read this book before - maybe when I was 13 or 14, really big into the NASA thing? The Schrödinger's Cat illustration made me think of this. It was supported also by the facts that it was published in 2001 and had been in the library for a long time - it's a pain to dig up exactly when my specific one added it to the collection... I'd assume shortly after 2001, which is when the inside cover says it was published, and my library website says there are two copies, one which is Chester County and one in Oxford.

But I liked most how well-illustrated it was! My cat Tilly came over to tell you how much she liked it, too, due to Schrödinger.

Then when there is a photo of Hawking it explains about the Multiverse, which I have had great trouble explaining to the cat.

[KyoTheGoodMeme · Rating 5 out of 5]

quality book about space, life, and quantum mechanics