Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony: The Story of a Gamble, Two Black Holes, and a New Age of Astronomy

by Marcia Bartusiak

An updated classic that recounts the long hunt for Einstein’s predicted gravitational waves—and celebrates their recent discovery

In February 2016, astronomers announced that they had verified the last remaining prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity—vibrations in space-time, called gravitational waves. Humanity can now tune in to a cosmic orchestra. We have heard the chirp of two black holes dancing toward a violent union. We will hear the cymbal crashes from exploding stars, the periodic drumbeats from swiftly rotating pulsars, and maybe even the echoes from the Big Bang itself.
 
Marcia Bartusiak was one of the first to report on the new generation of observatories, showing the motivations of the detectors’ creators and the gamble they made to prove Einstein right when all other attempts had failed. She traces the quest of astronomers to build the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, the most accurate measuring devices humans have created, and the discovery of gravitational waves, revealing the brilliance, personalities, and luck required to start a new age of astronomy.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, History, Space, Astronomy, Music

296 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2000

About the author

Combining her skills as a journalist with an advanced degree in physics, Marcia Bartusiak (pronounced MAR-sha Bar-TOO-shack) has been covering the fields of astronomy and physics for three decades. Currently, she is a visiting professor with the Graduate Program in Science Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bartusiak is the author of Thursday's Universe, a layman's guide to the frontiers of astrophysics and cosmology, Through a Universe Darkly, a history of astronomers' centuries-long quest to discover the universe's composition, and Einstein's Unfinished Symphony, about the on-going attempt to detect gravity waves, the last experimental test of Einstein's theory of general relativity. All three were named notable science books by The New York Times. She also co-authored A Positron Named Priscilla, a National Academy of Sciences book on cutting-edge science. Her latest books are Archives of the Universe, a history of the major discoveries in astronomy told through 100 of the original scientific publications, and The Day We Found the Universe.

Graduating in 1971 with a degree in communications from American University in Washington, D.C., Bartusiak first spent four years as a TV reporter and anchorwoman in Norfolk, Virginia. Assignments at the nearby NASA Langley Research Center sparked a love for science news, which encouraged her to enter Old Dominion University for a master's degree in physics. Her research involved the effects of radiation on materials sent into space as parts of orbiting astronomical observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Ultraviolet Explorer.

Starting her science-writing career as an intern at Science News and then as a charter member of Discover's writing staff, she continues to write about astronomy and physics in a variety of national publications. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, Science, Popular Science, World Book Encyclopedia, Smithsonian, and Technology Review. For many years a contributing editor at Discover, she is now on the editorial advisory board of Astronomy magazine. She has also reviewed science books for both The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Bartusiak was awarded the distinguished 2006 Andrew W. Gemant Award from the American Institute of Physics, a prize given annually by the AIP to recognize "significant contributions to the cultural, artistic, or humanistic dimension of physics," and in 2008 was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1982, she was the first woman to receive the AIP Science Writing Award and won the award again in 2001 for Einstein's Unfinished Symphony. She was also a finalist in NASA's Journalist-in-Space competition. For the 1994-95 academic year, she was a Knight Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Marcia Bartusiak lives with her husband, mathematician Steve Lowe, and their dog Hubble in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.

Reviews

[Mark Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was skeptical, because while there are many popular books on physics and astronomy, not very many of them are well written. This one is. There are not too many of the "hyped-up" sentences that makes physicists sound like wizards. I just ignored those sentences. Most of the book is a down-to-earth history of gravitation wave research, mostly experimental, and the prospects for detection. Of course, now LIGO has detected two events, but even so, this early history is interesting.

For the technically savvy reader, much of the first few chapters can be skimmed, as Bartusiak is reviewing well-known physics. For other readers, though, this is some valuable background. If you are really interested in the technical background, I recommend Kip Thorne's book "Black Holes and Time Warps" from 1994. He gives a nice prediction of how the first gravitational wave will be observed, and he was almost completely correct.

The insight into the physicists involved and their human-ness is pleasing to me, because you see that we are just the same as everyone else. We have faults as well as good qualities, but we're driven by a desire to understand something greater than ourselves. And that's exciting.

[John Gribbin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the best book about the history of the long search for gravitational waves. This edition appeared before such radiation was actually discovered, but puts everything in perspective -- and an updated edition is coming soon.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the first edition (published 2000) before goodreads (founded 2006). Really interesting story of creating ways to measure gravity waves, which were purely theoretical at the time. An updated version was published after the first advanced LIGO run of a few years, including the first confirmation of the theory (14 September 2015). It isn't obvious where the updates are, but the whole book was worth the reread.

The symphony of the title refers to the fact that these gravity waves are measurable in Hz, and change over the course of the detection. Truly big masses whacking together result in musical notes, of a sort. The science is not overwhelming, and was pretty well explained. An understanding of light wave interference is helpful, but not required.

A recommended read (and reread) for those who love science. Are gravity waves the answer to life, the universe, and everything? Maybe not, but this was the 42nd book I finished this year.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four years ago, the first gravity waves were detected by the LIGO detectors in Washington and Louisiana; by coincidence, the same day the detections were announced I finished reading the 2007 book by Daniel J. Kennefic, Travelling at the Speed of Thought, about gravity waves and the efforts to prove that they existed. This book by Marcia Bartusiak was written even earlier, in 2000, but revised in 2017 to include the developments in the intervening 17 years including the first detections. (I looked up the latest information on the Internet about the LIGO and VIRGO detectors; they have now detected eleven waves before recently being shut down to install new and more sensitive equipment.)

Bartusiak's book, as I expected from reading some of her other books, was more popular and less technical than Kennefic's, without the mathematical treatment of general relativity, but it gives a good qualitative and historical account of the theory and the history of the search; it has more (and more up to date) information about the actual technology of the detectors, which is the main thrust of the book.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys popular books about physics or astronomy.

[David Medders · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun and interesting book! Written clearly enough for the astrophysical novice. Detailed enough to open up an incredible field of scientific exploration and discovery. The theme of the book documents the historical development of Einstein's general theory of relativity and the subsequent extraordinary expansion of experimentation and theory. The specific focus is the pursuit of observing/detecting a gravity wave as one implication of Einstein's theory. I was dazzled by the exceptional efforts and creativity of pioneers in this field, both in crafting profound levels of precision in experimental testing along with the persevering pursuit of theory to express our growing understanding.

I was pleased with the author's balance between fair descriptions of key players and the global development of this field of study. Given the extraordinary range of wave frequencies being measured and sought, this book was music to my ears whetting my anticipation for the discoveries to come.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Amazon review on April 8, 2018: Happy ending...after the 1st edition.

I read the first edition which was actually more fun in retrospect because the ending was by no means assured. She stated several time that 'they' might get the Nobel Prize if LIGO succeeded in detecting gravitational waves. But that event (in September 2015) was still 15 years off, hardly the blink of an eye when what they ended up detecting occurred 1.3 billion light years ago! Also had to read Wikipedia to find out that LIGO struck out from 2002-2010 and that very expensive upgrade to Advanced LIGO probably enabled final success. Interesting ideas and a worthy read. Nice that the chief scientists (Weiss, Barish, Thorne) got their Nobels and lived to see it.

[joseph lavelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but don't believe the subtitle.

I was anxious to read about the development of that LIGO detectors. Great topic.
Unfortunately, the first100+ pages of this book are just a rehash of the vastly over told story of Einstein's development of the general theory. Nothing new. Also the last 60 or so pages are just hopes and dreams about what laser based gravitation detectors in space might someday do.
So very little of the book wound up be about what I thought I buying.

[Richard Starks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be overly detailed and focused too much on the obstacles that researchers faced when trying to raise money and build LIGO (but perhaps I'm too interested in results rather than the process). Also, in some places, this book duplicates the author's much better book, Black Hole, which I strongly recommend. Marcia Bartusiak is an excellent science writer, well worth following, but I suggest reading one of her other books first.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great overview of the history of general relativity and the search (and detection!) of gravity waves. Each of the major players in the development of LIGO and other detectors is discussed, including controversial ones. Sometimes a little too much time spent on their background and personality for my taste, but it did not detract from the overall narrative, which was fascinating. Updated in 2017 to cover the actual detection of gravity waves in 2015 (and what a great story that was!)

[Drake Tungsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good background on the study of gravity and the related technology/facilities (such as LIGO). This book came out before any gravity waves were actually detected, so it's nice to see that in the last few years that the search has born fruit.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed what I read as an accompaniment to my visit to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO–Hanford). But once the visit was over, even though it *is* an interesting book, I got distracted and lost motivation to finish.

[Kristina Watts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable, considering it's a book about physics. A bit outdated now, that we have since recorded gravity waves. Great background on the project. Imagery about the ways in which we have yet to perceive the universe is fascinating.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly readable and understandable explanation of the multi-generation quest to discover and observe the gravity waves predicted a hundred years ago by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. It almost reads like a mystery novel.

[Michael Nichols]

Quite interesting although some concepts were beyond me.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved several books by this author. “Black Hole” is still my favorite.

[Pete Fleurant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterpiece! To get this story strait and presented in a clear and coherent manner was beautiful. This is the future of astronomy.

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Prelude and First chapter cover the basics quickly which is merciful for the reader familiar with the concepts but reinforces the important geometrical ideas concerning space-time. The major focus of this work is on the development of gravity wave detectors and the personalities involved. The astronomical sources of gravity waves, such as binary neutron stars and black holes, are covered to a lesser extent but it's not till late in the book that you begin to understand the relationship between the frequency of these waves from these sources and the sensitivity of the current generation of gravity wave detectors. As mentioned, you later learn that the current detectors would only be sensitive to cataclysmic events of low probability, such as collision of neutron stars and black holes, even while events that continually propagate gravity waves, i.e. neutron stars in orbit about a companion star, remain undetectable because the frequency of their gravity waves remain well below the limit of detectability. The last couple of chapters now seem to be wishful thinking since severe economic issues after the book’s publication a decade ago have severely dampened schedules for planned improvements.

[Bill Pellerin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the story of the search for gravity waves. It begins with information about Einstein's work that predicted gravity waves and continues with the development of systems to detect gravity waves. The book talks about the first detection, and about the detections that followed. At the end of the book the author talks about the future of gravity wave research and how this work opens up new opportunities for research.

The book is well written, as was her book, "The Day We Found the Universe". It's clear that the author did a lot of research into the science of the subject as well as research into the engineering of systems that would allow for the detection of gravity waves. There's some discussion in the book of the cost of such systems and the difficulty of getting funding to set them up.

If gravity waves (more generally, astronomy and engineering) interests you, you'll like this book.

[Jeff Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having just completed Walter Isaacson's biography on Einstein, this book was next in my pile. I really enjoyed reading this rendition on how the LIGO facilities came to be. The book was written in such a way that I believe I understood most all of the concepts they were attempting to measure. The creation of the interferometers, how they are constructed, and how they propose to detect the gravitational waves was fascinating and it sort of came together like a mystery novel -- only it's not fiction. It really happened. I really enjoyed this book

[Colette]

I read this back when it first came out about 15 or 16 years ago. It is one that I have thought about over and over through the years. I no longer remember what captured my interest and imagination, but I do remember earnestly hoping these scientists would find what they were looking for. I'm glad they finally have. The writing has stayed with me.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is cool but the author tries to hard to continue using the music metaphor throughout the book. Also, I think it's too long. It was interesting for like 2/3 of it but she really stretches things out for no reason.

[Ashish Jaituni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book. Very well written. It tells the story of search for Gravitational waves till today. Prof. Bartusiak is a very good writer, much better than many scientists who write books on popular science.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

As are her other books, this well written. However, I found it dragged a bit after she covered the basics of gravity wave physics. Tough when you pick a topic that is still in the realm of theoretical.

[Liam Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it somewhat repetitive toward the end and the chapters on current interferometrical efforts to detect gravity waves not nearly as interesting as the history leading up to them, but that history is among the best histories of the science of gravity I have ever read.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I learned from this book... lots and lots of physics! Wonderful introduction to the thinkers that came before and after Einstein. Good intro for the beginner into how physicists think and work