The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaitre, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology

by John Farrell

Sometimes our understanding of our universe is given a huge boost by one insightful thinker. Such a boost came in the first half of the twentieth century, when an obscure Belgian priest put his mind to deciphering the nature of the cosmos. Is the universe evolving to some unforeseen end, or is it static, as the Greeks believed? The debate has preoccupied thinkers from Heraclitus to the author of the Upanishads, from the Mayans to Einstein. The Day Without Yesterday covers the modern history of an evolving universe, and how Georges Lemaîe convinced a generation of thinkers to embrace the notion of cosmic expansion and the theory that this expansion could be traced backward to the cosmic origins, a starting point for space and time that Lemaîe called "the day without yesterday." Lemaîe's skill with mathematics and the equations of relativity enabled him to think much more broadly about cosmology than anyone else at the time, including Einstein. Lemaîe proposed the expanding model of the universe to Einstein, who rejected it. Had Einstein followed Lemaîe's thinking, he could have predicted the expansion of the universe more than a decade before it was actually discovered.

Genres: Science, History Of Science, Biography, Nonfiction, Popular Science

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2005

Reviews

[Darya Silman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise yet comprehensive guide to modern cosmology.

In The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaitre, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology, John Farrell provides an overview of the evolution of cosmological ideas through the biography of Georges Lemaitre.

The book emphasizes the changes in the thinking about the vast cosmos during the XXth century, from Einstein's theory of relativity, through the findings of George Lemaitre (who was mockingly called 'A Big Bang Man') to the modern understanding of the expanding universe. The book clearly shows how several generations of physicists from around the world worked independently, often unaware of each other's discoveries. It's fascinating to witness how one part of the puzzle fitted with the other part when finally, all the findings came together to be known as the Big Bang theory.

To absorb multiple theories and fully admire the book, one should have at least a basic-level understanding of physics. Generally, the author uses engaging language in explaining the difficult things; that's the book's strong side. But in some instances, he can't avoid specific examples, like comparing the use of λ (lambda) by Einstein and Lemaitre, and here the knowledge of physics would be helpful.

I recommend The Day Without Yesterday as a relatively short and to a point summary of the XXth century cosmology. To the reader who has never read anything on the history of the Big Bang theory, the book reveals not well-known heroes while providing multiple points for further study.

I received an advance review copy through Booktasters, and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

[notgettingenough · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wholeheartedly concur with Randy's review of this one: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

One of the criticisms Randy makes is that this is largely based on secondary sources. In fact there is a huge archive available of Lemaitre's papers etc. and yet I don't believe this book refers to it at all. That is quite incredible. The cover boasts that it is the first biography of Lemaitre when there was already a substantial one available in French referred to occasionally in the course of this book. Although French works are given in the bibliography and referred to in the endnotes, I wonder if Farrell actually speaks/reads French.

Not surprisingly, then, from the historian's point of view, I find this book entirely inadequate.

As a writer, ditto. The book is a complete shambles. Why a publishing house would have published this as it, is beyond me. EMPLOY EDITORS. Everybody. EDITORS. P-leeaasssse.

An hour later...having said that, it is no easy matter, I imagine, to write a biography of somebody in which something highly technical and specialised plays so big a part. Maybe if I read more books of this type I will come around to thinking that as far as presentation goes, the author hasn't done as bad a job as I now feel he has.

And I have to say this: much as it claims otherwise, this is NOT a biography of Lemaitre. It is the story of his physics, that's all.

[Randy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't bother with this one.

Let me rephrase that. I did not get anything helpful from it.

I was looking for a good biography of LeMaitre... This one was not it.

I found it to be very superficial; neither an in-depth treatment of LeMaitre's life nor an explanation of his theories.

I must add I'm not a scientist. I enjoy reading about physics, and have a ham radio license... I can differentiate a simple function... but will never be able to discourse with my scientist relatives.

Still, there is way too little explanation of the equations.

The book seemed to be based largely on other peoples' biographies. I would have liked more discussion based on LeMaitre's actual works and letters.

I also hate books which repeat a point over and over throughout. For example, calling Gamow an alcoholic, reminding us he died of cirrhosis, alone and isolated, and that he was from the Ukraine, was tedious.

Last, in this non-prioritized list, the book's chronology was very jumpy.

A good editor would never have published this thing without several serious re-writes.

[Paul Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not so much a biography of Fr. Lemaitre, but a history of Lemaitre's contribution to cosmology. I think that it does a great job of explaining Lemaitre's insights and his invaluable contributions to physics and the picture of the universe after Einstein's general theory of relativity. In the end, Lemaitre's instincts and insights won over the scientific world; no small accomplishment.
That being said, Farrell agrees with Lemaitre's extreme separation of religion and science, as if science can never point to God no matter what it finds. This is problematic.

[MochaLatte's Book Hut · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Eye-opening, refreshing, and enlightening."

The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaitre, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology is written by John Farrell, an author with expertise in history and science topics, this book will explore more on the topic of cosmology and how a Belgian Catholic priest sets a new precedent in science especially Cosmology.

Monsignor George Lemaitre(1894-1966), a Belgian priest who is also an astronomer and cosmologist who formulated and a visionary architect of the modern Big Bang theory. Through several chapters in this book, it will give more details about the Big Bang theory and how it sooner or later influenced the other scientist too. And one of them is Albert Einstein, the scientist with his signature hairstyle who synonyms with the word genius. It is interesting how Einstein, at first seems didn't agree with the Big Bang theory until 2 decades later. I wonder if he accepts the theory more earlier. Maybe the history will be more different or else. 'The day without yesterday' is Lemaitre's own words regarding the Big Bang theory. Since the Big Bang theory is some kind of heavy subject, it took me few days to finish it but it is worth reading.

Besides Lemaitre, I remember a few of his Catholic counterparts like Gregor Mendel, St. Albert the Great, and St. Thomas Aquinas who sets their own precedents in history with their contribution in science, philosophy, and a few others field. It is interesting to me that these few people contribute to a totally different field that seems contradictory to their profession in Catholic Church. Even though Lemaitre is a devout Catholic but he opposed mixing science and religion. This leads me to one hot topic that is still debatable until now. 'can religion and science get along?' Well, there few answers to it and everyone have their own opinion for that includes me. However, we cannot deny the fact that both religion and science play a pivotal role in human civilizations from the Pre-Socratic era until today's modern era of constant and drastic changes, especially in science and technology.

Finally, I really enjoyed this book. It offers a new perspective to me on George Lemaitre and his contributions. At first glance, it is like some kind of his biographical work but more focus is given to the modern Big Bang theory and how it slowly influenced few scientists. The author also explains the heavy topic using understandable words for ordinary readers like me and it really gives a plus to this book. I really recommend this book for those who are interested in Science related topics. Thanks to the author for this wonderful book.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice, bite-sized piece of history and science dealing with the life of Georges Lemaître. He was a Belgian mathematician and physicist concentrating in astronomy (1894-1966). It's not really a biography per se, as much as a review of the science and a tribute to the key importance of his contributions to early cosmology, which seem to have been overlooked to some degree. He is regarded as perhaps the first proponent of the 'Big-Bang' theory of the origin of the universe, although he did not call it that. George Gamow is also given much credit for later developing Lemaître's hypothesis of the 'primeval atom into what became known as the Big-Bang. Ironically, that term itself was proposed by perhaps his chief scientific nemesis, Fred Hoyle, who was an exponent of the then competing 'steady-state' theory of the origin. Lemaître's main contributions to early cosmological theory related to the idea of an expanding universe, the cosmological constant, and early black hole theory (long before the term was coined in 1968 by John Wheeler). He never received a Nobel Prize but might well have given the importance of his work. Lemaître had several interactions with Albert Einstein as early as 1927 and somewhat impressively stood his ground against Einstein's objections to the Lemaître theory of an expanding universe. In addition, while Einstein invented the 'cosmological constant' in order to make his general relativity field equations work and then wished he had not, Lemaître helped to revive it later (on the other side of the equations) and it seems to still be a necessary part of explaining the make-up of the universe (specifically the presence of dark matter). The book deals only briefly at the end with the possible conflict between Lemaître's theories and his position as a Catholic priest something that at least one or two 'opponents' tried to use against him, to little avail. He was apparently consistent in keeping his science and religion in separate compartments, which might have been harder being a priest than for your average brilliant scientist!

[Eli Pollack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, and easy to read book.
It may be that no book on astrophysics and cosmology would be simple enough for me but, that said, I hate it when there is a throw-away line and I don't get it - like not understanding the punchline of a joke.
Specifically, Farrell writes (I think misspelling Wilhelm Olbers' name as"Olber") "...if the universe was truly infinite in space and time, why was the sky dark at night?" (p162). Now I'm sure the answer is obvious to most people but not to me. And Wikipedia didn't explain it either. It is like reading books written from before 1940 where they use French or Latin phrases to illustrate a point (think, T. S. Eliot) without translating the phrase. I understand that an educated person was/is expected to know those languages but I admit my education was deficient. At least now I can use the internet to more easily remedy those shortcomings where for the previous fifty years I was just (more) lost.

[Chris Maddix · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Farrell is quite an author. I first encountered him in a book which described the creation of the clock and the camshaft, among many other things which we tend to take for granted today. With this book, The Day Without Yesterday, Farrell describes the process by which modern cosmology, or the study of the creation of the universe, was formulated. And what is the essence of modern thought about the creation of the universe?

1. We are pretty sure that the universe had a beginning, commonly referred to as a "Big Bang."
2. Per Hubble's Law, it appears that galaxies are moving away from us at speeds proportional to their distance
3. There exists a "Cosmic Microwave Background radiation" which might link back to the origin of the universe
4. The abundance of hydrogen and helium in the universe tends to support the Big Bang theory
5. Is there a "God" controlling things? We speculate.

So where did all of these thoughts originate? Einstein's theory of relativity was generally felt to be a kickoff point, but the shortcomings in Einstein's theory were addressed by a gent that most of us
(myself included) never really heard much about, a priest named George LeMaitre, who pulled physicists from adherence to Einstein's cosmological constant to a theory of the universe starting somewhere and expanding.

Whew!

I think the fascinating aspect of Mr. Farrell's book is that he reports on the multitude of physicians and mathematicians involved in the refinement of this theory as if they were common knowledge to most. Farrell's books, (at least this and the Clock and the Camshaft) provide an education and open doors to a world unseen by, I suspect, most people. Neither book is an easy read, but both are well worthwhile.

[Allison Constantino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I walk outside, look up at the night sky and I feel so small! I can’t help but wonder, “When did all this begin?”

It’s hard for me to imagine that our 13.7 billion-year-old universe is expanding at an estimated expansion rate of roughly 45 miles (73 kilometers) per second per megaparsec, plus or minus 1 – and it’s expanding faster every day! (A megaparsec is a measurement of distance equal to one million parsecs, or 3.26 million light-years)

If fact, Hubble’s law states that the farther away a galaxy is, the faster it’s moving away from us. Edwin Hubble discovered that most of the galaxies are moving away from us and each other.

So, I’m thinking, “How do they know all this?” “Who came up with this information and how?”

John Farrell’s book, "The Day without Yesterday, Lemaitre, Einstein and the Birth of Modern Cosmology" takes a deep dive into explaining the unexplainable!

Farrell digs deep into the back stories of the scientists involved with the big bang theory, exposing their lives and their works - leaving no stone unturned!

Einstein started the whole ball rolling with his revolutionary general theory of relativity which proposed in 1916 that spacetime is curved. Gravity, instead of being an invisible force that attracts objects to one another, is a curving or warping of space. The more massive an object, the more it warps the space around it.

This theory replaced Isaac Newton’s 200-year-old theory of mechanics which saw space and time as fixed, where Einstein’s theories were fluid and malleable. Newton’s classical theory of gravity as a universal force depended on mass alone, objects moved along curved paths determined by the presence of matter and energy.

Once Einstein had completed his field equations for his general theory of relativity, he realized they could apply to the world-as-a-whole. Once you made a few key assumptions, it was possible to construct consistent world models using his equations.

Einstein himself tried this in 1917, and other physicists soon followed, some models of which did not appeal to Einstein.

In October, 1927 at the 5th International Solvay Conference on Physics in Brussels, the 48-year-old Einstein met up with a very enthusiastic Georges Lemaitre, a 33-year-old Belgian Catholic priest and physicist while Einstein was strolling outside the conference area with a former student.

The head of the Solvay conference had actually shown Einstein earlier in the year, Lemaitre’s 1925 paper that – using Einstein’s own theories – argued that the general relativity universe was dynamic and could actually expand.

Einstein was not impressed and basically dismissed Lemaitre and his ideas.

Einstein’s view of the universe was unchanging and essentially an eternal universe. His view was preceded by generations of thinkers that thought the same way. Einstein went by the data he knew at the time and not necessarily was he up-to-date with the most recent studies and measurements.

So, who was this obscure Belgian priest to challenge Einstein? Lemaitre told his father at 9-years-old that he wanted to become a priest. He enlisted in 1914 as a military volunteer in WWI and became an artillery sergeant during the war. After the war, Lemaitre received his PhD summa cum laude in 1920 in physical and mathematical sciences.

Lemaitre was a master of recognizing inconsistencies. He would notice mathematical inconsistencies and flaws and then went about correcting them – which opened-up new ways of looking at problems.

In October 1920, Lemaitre entered the House of St. Rombaut as a seminarian and his professors introduced him to Einstein’s work.

In 1922, Lemaitre wrote his own short thesis, "The Physics of Einstein" and won a scholarship to the UK for one year.

Between 1925 and 1927, Lemaitre at his new teaching post as professor of physics at the Catholic University of Louvain, created a paper "A Homogeneous Universe of Constant Mass and Increasing Radius Accounting for the Radial Velocity of Extra-Galactic Nebulae" which provided a complete solution to Einstein’s equations that would fully model an expanding universe. (This paper was also a part of his PhD thesis submitted to MIT)

Lemaitre’s paper - suggesting an expansion of the universe – began from an initial Einstein static state – not a big bang or explosion of matter from nothing. His further theory of a primeval atom, or initial cosmic origin came later, once he realized the physical deficiencies of Einstein’s model.

Closer examination of Einstein’s static universe model revealed there had to be some kind of beginning of all physical processes in order to work as a cosmological model. The very evolution of the universe could not be separated from its expansion. They had to go hand-in-hand. Some kind of origin had to be suggested.

Lemaitre submitted his paper to a relatively obscure Belgian publication, and almost no one took notice.

He did however send a copy to one of his former mentors Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, (Eddington accepted Lemaitre in 1923 for a year’s study at Cambridge University as a research student in astronomy) who put it aside for later reading and then promptly forgot about it.

By 1930, Lemaitre became dissatisfied with his original model, even as his work was being celebrated. He realized he needed to come up with a cosmological model that was more physically satisfying and that didn’t happen until 1931.

Lemaitre, in a letter to Nature, "On the Beginning of the World from the Point of View of Quantum Theory", published a few months later, laid the groundwork for his first proposal for what would be known as the big bang theory – his “fireworks” origin of the universe – marking the first time a physicist tied the origin of the cosmos to quantum processes.

Lemaitre was thinking more about radioactive decay – from a super quantum sphere that divided and subdivided through a process of radioactive decay that gave birth to the cosmos – a sort of cold big bang – that he described as the primeval atom.

His proposed super-dense state of already existing matter – containing all the mass of the known universe – immediately began to disintegrate, its radioactive content literally forming the matter, time and space – out of which stars and galaxies and the cosmos would form.

Lemaitre argued the physical universe was a single particle – the primeval atom – which disintegrated in an explosion, giving rise to space and time –and the expansion of the universe that continues to this day.

In the 1930’s Lemaitre began revising his cosmic models and his final model, known as the “hesitating” universe, originated from the super-dense state of the primeval atom, expanded quickly, then slowed almost to a halt for a time before accelerating outward again.

In 1931 Einstein publicly accepted Lemaitre’s new paradigm of expansion.

In 1938, Ukrainian-born nuclear physicist George Gamow realized that – using Lemaitre’s model – the universe had to originate in a hot state, not in a cold nucleus as Lemaitre envisaged – because only in a hot state of millions of degrees could nucleosynthesis “cook” elements like hydrogen, helium and heavier elements.

Gamow took Lemaitre’s primeval atom and turned it into the recognizable big bang model that remains the basis of the standard model to this day!

What I discovered from reading Farrell’s book was how – like anything else – often from finding the “wrong” answer, another scientist is inspired to find the “right” answer!

So, I wanted to know who came up with these theories and how. This book answered all my questions – and then some!

A great read!

[Dallas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine little book on Lemaître's role in birth of modern cosmology. Actually, Lemaître *was* the first modern cosmologist, along with Eddington. He took the pieces of modern physics known in the 1920s (which includes all the basics) and comprehensively applied them, drawing out the ultimate logical conclusions. With a few exceptions, like Eddington, Gamow, and a handful of others, Lemaître was the only one to do this before the 1965 discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Almost no physicist wanted to bother with it.

Lemaître is the one mainly responsible for our modern evolutionary conception of the whole cosmos, developing dynamically through time, not the static, eternal, and infinite universe that scientists had vaguely believed in beforehand, if they thought about it at all. He was also incredibly prescient in his views and interests -- not dismissing the cosmological constant as "blunder" but keeping it as intrinsically interesting, including the idea that it is a property of the vacuum; the notion of an initial "ur-quantum" that decays, producing our universe; intuiting the analogy between living inside a contracting universe and falling inside the event horizon of a black hole; and pursuing the use of computers to solve physics problems in the 1930s (!) (desktop electromechanical calculators in those days).

The only problem with his final view of cosmic evolution is that Lemaître postulated what we would today call a "cold" big bang, not the standard "hot" big bang. (Although the pre-"hot" big bang of inflationary cosmology is again cold!) The father of the "hot" case was Gamow. Lemaître deserves recognition as the grandfather, with Eddington floating around as the guardian angel.

[Marina Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a field where people have searched for decades for grand unifying theories ("GUTs", lol), I think I've just read a grand unifying book! The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaître, Einstein and the Birth of Modern Cosmology is a great intro to the field. It's very significant again now, with the recent discovery of a long-lost TV interview with the “Father of the Big Bang”!

A few points to note
- I read the kindle edition, published in 2012, which features updates from the paperback and hardcover versions
- I am tagging the author as his updated byline (John W. Farrell), though the book was originally published as “John Farrell” — this is to avoid confusion with another author, John A. Farrell
- The interview, available on YouTube , is in French, but I was able to follow with closed captions in English.

Back to the book!
It’s an easy read at 11 chapters, about 150 pages. (It’s also a useful reference book, with a comprehensive glossary, bibliography, and index.) Farrell has an easy and engaging style which deftly moves from historic meetings to Lemaître’s origin and life, to fleshing out names and moments with background context. You get to know Lemaître the priest-mathematician-physicist-astronomer, but also the world around him and the various disciplines whose experts contributed to the development of cosmology. It truly takes a village!

Georges Lemaître himself was a brilliant, methodical, diligent man, modest and principled by nature. He was affable with students and peers alike — even those who disagreed or had values completely different from his.

The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaître, Einstein and the Birth of Modern Cosmology collated a lot of far-flung information and packaged it into a very accessible and interesting orientation. I found it a great launching pad into a pool with many runoff streams and lagoons for me to move on to next. There are some formulae in there, but they are not critical to digesting the book. And for me, it was useful to have scaffolding for concepts like Einstein’s cosmological constant, Lambda or Λ, to sink in; or to be reminded who this person is again and why they’re here. (Yes, at times it felt like when you’re the new kid following someone around at a party or conference, and meeting all the different people they meet. But they’re all in here for a reason.)

No-One Left Behind

Farrell also shines spotlights on lesser known figures along the way whose labour and discoveries enabled the achievements of more iconic figures.

“Just how Shapley and Hubble and their generation of astronomers used Cepheid variables to measure the distance to such far-flung objects as globular clusters and nebulae can be traced back to the diligent work of one of the first female astronomers in the modern era, Henrietta Swan Leavitt.”
— John W. Farrell

People Being People

Farrell spends time fleshing out (economically, but in a very human way) Lemaître’s journey and peers. You become acquainted with great minds (and the accompanying personalities, irascible, irrepressible, or otherwise). You sigh at history's narrow misses, and at the poignancy of a brilliant, honourable man who is also a dutiful and loving son. Lemaître gadded about soaking up and sharing knowledge, then turned down prestigious opportunities to stay close to his widowed mother for years until her death.

On a lighter note, there are also droll anecdotes where you really get into the mindsets of those who were actually there, and imagine how they must have laughed — or tried hard not to! I’ve long known that “even the experts disagree” — that’s why certain topics are controversial. Here, you see moments where they are forgetful or insecure, facepalm and worry about public mistakes that won’t go away, and get caught up in ultimately chasing goss and soap opera — it’s hilarious how all these academics and experts are all human!

The Author and his Subjects

An enthusiast of the history of science without actually being a scientist, Farrell is the ideal writer for a book like this, geared towards the layperson. He traces the roots at times back to hundreds, even thousands of years. (There is a brief comparison of the concept/age of the Universe from the point of view of the Aztecs, Egyptian, Chinese, and Babylonians, culminating in the grand magnitude contemplated in the Hindu Puranas.)

“We can compare space-time to an open, conic cup….The bottom of the cup is the origin of atomic disintegration; it is the first instant at the bottom of space-time, the now which has no yesterday because, yesterday, there was no space.”
— Georges Lemaître

This is book is humbly and gently written, in terms of how it lays out the various branches of science theory and history for the noob, as well as how it tactfully addresses human foibles and tragedies. One almost feels as though, in a book about his life and work, Monsignor Lemaître was also guiding the hand and tone of the scribe.

Farrell, a producer and poet (among other hats he wears), seems to be interested in the HOWs and WHYs behind the WHATs and WHENs — how history has emerged from the human things we do for and to one another (and ourselves). His works in other media also have a similar feel of gently holding up the different sides of human nature (delight, tragedy, horror) for us to see ourselves. He has another book which I may check out: The Clock and the Camshaft: And Other Medieval Inventions We Still Can't Live Without also appears to be a very layman-oriented, user-friendly book, thematically organised and tracing the origin of several inventions. We shall see.

[Tyrife · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at the stars because we are human?" - Neil Gaiman

Perhaps humanity gazes towards the sky because it knows it belongs there. It knows that that is its home.
And perhaps that is why I have felt drawn to this book.

Despite not being able to follow a path related to astronomy, my long-lasting love for it awakened upon seeing this book, and pushed me to read it.

A choice I do not regret; most books about science, in particular math, physics, etc., are unnecessarily complicated. Their language is difficult to follow, and hard to understand due to words that are more likely to be in the vocabulary of specialists in those respective fields than in the vocabulary of the average person.

"Day Before Yesterday" is a book that is, surprisingly (in a good way), took the opposite path in its explanation of physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, as it presents the life, and work of Lemaitre (mainly), Einstein, Gamow, etc.

It is a book that explains in simple, easy to understand terms how the Universe came to be, how its origins were discovered, including how the big bang theory got proven (and popular)! It is quite clear that the author understands the fields of physics, astrophysics, and cosmology quite well, as they are able to explain it in such a way that anyone can easily understand their concepts.

Truly a magnificent book!

I do, however, have one small complaint: though I am aware that I have been given a review copy that is intentionally typed wrongly (some words being separated from each other, such as "Prince ton"), there were times where this would easily become a problem. I would become so immersed in the topic of the book that sometimes I wouldn't realize that a word was separated in two, creating confusion about the sense of a sentence.

While, ultimately, it wasn't that much of an impediment in my reading, and though I understand the reasoning behind such a decision for a review copy, it still was an obstacle wasn't welcomed in my reading experience.

I had considered leaving my rating at 4 stars because of it, but I felt it would had been shameful to downvote such a stellar book because of this particular complaint, all the more because books whose main subject is physics (or other sciences that usually come together with it) that so easily draw one in are as rare as they come.

In the closing of my review, I would like to say that I hope the author continues to write about challenging topics, as explaining something complicated in simpler terms is a gift not many possess, but a talent that everyone seeks.

[Joy Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent place to start if you want to know more about the origins of the universe and the people behind the theories. Einstein is generally given pride of place for his relativity equations, but it seems he didn’t believe they applied to anything but a steady state universe. George LeMaitre was a Belgian priest who say far more action possible in these keys equations and he set about solving them without assumptions to see where they led. It was he who became the “Father of the Big Bang” theory although that was not what he actually proposed initially.

LeMaitre has been a name lost in history when compared to Eddington, Einstein, Planck, And Hubble, but he was the first to arrive at many of the conclusions for which others received credit. His life and training are fascinating and this book draws you into the story.

You don’t have to know much about math or cosmology to enjoy this book as the author has done an excellent job explaining some very deep thoughts. As a person with a degree in mathematics, I am especially excited when someone can illuminate the ideas in such a compelling way. For those who want to dive deeper, the bibliography is extensive.

I applaud the author both for his depth of research, but also his facility with language. This is truly an excellent book on LeMaitre and his contributions to our current understanding of our universe.

[Smriti · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Day Without Yesterday is an absolutely fascinating read-- and a great guide to cosmology. I found myself excited to continue reading this, and as someone who typically stays away from non-fiction, I was impressed by how concise and well-written this book is.

I was initially a bit iffy about reading this one. Cosmology is a complicated topic, and my background for physics was HS physics. I found that Farrell, for the most part, has no trouble making these broad concepts easy to understand. Of course, there are parts where a more nuanced understanding of physics would have been useful, but, if anything, it has increased my curiosity around the subject.

This book is a great way to introduce yourself to developments in cosmology during the 20th century and mentions some of the unsung heroes who helped us get to where we are today in terms of understanding the universe.

I received an e-copy of this book via Booktasters in exchange for an honest review.

[Benedict Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a unique mix of science and biography.

Little known facts about some great scholars are revealed, including their interactions, arguments, mutual support, appreciation etc.

Cosmology is the predominant topic in the book. However, we sometimes forget that this modern science has its roots in the past.

Einstein and Lemaitre were actually a great team. Not always in agreement, but they developed theories that were later proven with the help of modern technology. Many years later, in fact.
Such bright minds. Geniuses indeed. Brilliant!

Well researched, excellent narrative style - quite accessible, bearing in mind the nature of the book.

The author also outlines the 'state of affairs' in terms of science then and describes the prominent figures at the time. The comparisons he draws are quite useful and paint a picture of the foundations of modern science.

Recommended to people interested in science.

[Cwrit8 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discover the beautiful sky via this book: The Day Without Yesterday by John Farrell

The day without Yesterday is a beautifully written, easily understood book.
Mr. Farrell writes, "...if the universe was genuinely infinite in existence, for what cause was the sky dark at twilight time?"
Reading literature written before 1940 that use French or Latin terms to represent a concept is similar to that, and I appreciate the way Mr. Farrell portrayed it. This book talks about Big Bang Theory in a different pov. Being a cosmo lover i love this book. One should read this book to have different and interesting point of view to understand cosmo. Plus, title of the book adds a glint on this well written piece. Loved it!

[David Spanagel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very taken with the cleverness, eloquence, and sheer efficiency that Farrell brings to this project. To have written such a succinct little book about such an extraordinary (cosmic) topic, and to have delivered within it a deeply argued, well evidenced, coherent historical narrative that unites the relevant thoughts and actions of mathematicians, experimental issues and theorists from the 17th century through the 20th century, Farrell deserves enormous respect and thanks. I look forward to incorporating this slender volume as required reading in the instance when I teach "space and time" as a featured topic in the history of the physical sciences to my WPI undergraduates.

[Vybhav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, and easy to read book. This is book which anyone can read and is a great book if you're reading it. No Matter what subject you are intrested in this book is gonna hook you up till the end and prolly gonna make your intrest back into Sciences and Universe. You can easily discover the complicated theories which Einstien gave just by reading this in basic and simple language in a fun way!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a free read through Booktasters.
I thought this was a fantastic summary about a little known scientist who contributed to how we understand the universe today. I found the historical points interesting because you don't always get an indepth understanding of how equations came about. I found the scientific points easy to understand. I think this would be an enjoyable read for scientists, engineers and historians alike.

[Jia Coleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read.

I didn't know what came over me to have read this book. It's intriguing since I have little knowledge about it. I didn't even know who LeMaitre was until this book. Definitely eye-opening. The explanations were well-written and therefore easy to understand. For an introduction to modern cosmology, this is a great start.

[Meghan Davis strader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought Farrell was incredibly accessible in this book. While I didn’t follow all the math, the point of the book was the *ideas* which I could follow much more easily. Great book and it reminds me how much I miss reading nonfiction!

[Geofrey Spalding · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book for anyone who is interested in the big questions of where we came from and how did the Universe begin.

[SuedePuzzler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned stuff from reading this book, and I had a decent knowledge of the history of science before, and I enjoyed it.

It is not the best book to learn about the Big Bang theory itself, I recall Simon Singh's Big Bang book being better if you want a popular treatment. Neither is it a comprehensive biography of Lemaitre.

Rather it describes some episodes from the early history of the Big Bang theory, with a focus on Lemaitre. The story is not told strictly chronologically, which leads to some needless repetition and can be confusing.

[lena · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the very beginning I would like to thank the author and Booktasters for the opportunity to read this book.
I have to start by saying that, in my opinion, the author has done a good job when it comes to the physical side of this book. You can see how much work has been devoted to writing it well and correctly. And the description of how the concept of modern cosmology created and changed was very interesting and engaging. Unfortunately, I got the impression that this is what the book was devoted to. I missed the biographical part and hoped that while reading I would find more moments dedicated just to the life of George Lemaître. If there is one more thing I would like to say in praise of the book, it is the simple and comprehensible language in which it was written.

[michael boron]

Beyond the stars

A riveting review of the life and accomplishments of a unique individual.
The final frontier will be explored until our species no long exists