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The Runaway Universe: The Race to Find the Future of the Cosmos
For decades, astronomers have sought to discover the ultimate fate of the universe. Will the cosmos continue forever in its expansion, which began billions of years ago with the big bang? Or will gravity someday reverse the process, producing a "big crunch?" Two groups of astronomers have recently announced a discovery that seems to resolve the issue but that also shakes the science of cosmology to its very the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating. The Runaway Universe is the story of these astronomers who have stood the world of cosmology on its ear-and of their competitive race to discover the future of the universe.
- GenresScience
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 6, 2000
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About the author
Donald Goldsmith
54 books28 followersDonald Goldsmith is an astrophysicist, popular science author and screenwriter. He is the president of Interstellar Media. He is also the winner of the 1995 American Astronomical Society's Annenberg Foundation Award for Education and the Klumpke-Roberts Prize for his contributions to the public understanding of astronomy.
He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969.He taught at Stony Brook University before becoming a full-time popularizer, and has written, co-written, or edited a number of popular science books.
His book "Origins," co-written with Neil Tyson, was the companion volume to the four-hour PBS series with the same title. Dr. Goldsmith worked on Carl Sagan's "COSMOS" series, and on Neil Tyson's series of the same name, and was the science editor and co-writer of the six-part PBS series "THE ASTRONOMERS." He has written many popular articles for journals such as Scientific American, Natural History, Discover, and Astronomy.
He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969.He taught at Stony Brook University before becoming a full-time popularizer, and has written, co-written, or edited a number of popular science books.
His book "Origins," co-written with Neil Tyson, was the companion volume to the four-hour PBS series with the same title. Dr. Goldsmith worked on Carl Sagan's "COSMOS" series, and on Neil Tyson's series of the same name, and was the science editor and co-writer of the six-part PBS series "THE ASTRONOMERS." He has written many popular articles for journals such as Scientific American, Natural History, Discover, and Astronomy.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 5, 2015
Goldsmith is no Ferris or Sagan, but his account of the hunt for the cosmic future is relatively interesting and easy to follow. Even though it's a bit out of date, the fundamental ideas are still sound (just a bit of Wikipedia research is needed to catch up to present research). Parts of the book are math-heavy, so not an ideal intro to cosmology for beginners.
April 26, 2022
Very heady, covering scientific and philosophical theories about the universe; including both Hubble and Einstein.
November 5, 2022
The key cosmic parameters - what we see is what we know.
POSTED BY ME AT AMAZON 2002
Supernova stars observations in the end of 1990s suggest a nonzero Constant capable of accelerating universal expansion and validate inflationary model.
How true are determinations indicating the fifth significant break through in modern cosmology?
This work is a pure scientific report revolving essentially around two equations containing only two unknown parameters.
First equation is a sum: Density (of all types of matter in the Universe) + Constant (called Einstein's cosmological constant).
Second equation is just a difference between these two.
Density and Constant provide us with the view of our Universe and its current behavior. I enjoyed this book. It describes all-important practical ways used by scientists and astronomers to look into depth of our sky. Then it shows how the valuable information is extracted from observations. Knowing sum and a difference of Density and Constant allow us to calculate value of each single parameter separately. Simple isn't it?
But how accurate are the observations and what obstacles have to be overcome?
Read about it and you will know about history of modern observational cosmology and mysteries of our cosmos.
Certain sections of this book are more difficult and require extra focusing power to get by (for example: dependence of peak luminosity on light curve- for supernova observation or: how the curvature of space determines the angular size on which we now see the largest "surfaces of last scattering"-for cosmic background radiation study).
Do not get discouraged however, just glide through these parts and author will eventually clarify most of it later, leaving you with the good idea what has been tried to accomplish.
I am, and I have always been impressed by careers of top world-class astronomers, their knowledge, ability to design observational methods and skills for processing obtained spectra. Goldsmith gives many stories of dedication and determination, stories about geniuses contributing to total understanding of what Universe was and what will become.
You will find very little in this book about extra dimensions, falling into black holes, traveling in time, strings, TOE and other mumbo-jumbo theories existing only on paper. What we learn here is only about what we perceive and deduce from it.
"The Runaway Universe" is a great update on astronomy and astrophysics, compact and easy to read. Do not miss it if you like to be in space from time to time.
POSTED BY ME AT AMAZON 2002
Supernova stars observations in the end of 1990s suggest a nonzero Constant capable of accelerating universal expansion and validate inflationary model.
How true are determinations indicating the fifth significant break through in modern cosmology?
This work is a pure scientific report revolving essentially around two equations containing only two unknown parameters.
First equation is a sum: Density (of all types of matter in the Universe) + Constant (called Einstein's cosmological constant).
Second equation is just a difference between these two.
Density and Constant provide us with the view of our Universe and its current behavior. I enjoyed this book. It describes all-important practical ways used by scientists and astronomers to look into depth of our sky. Then it shows how the valuable information is extracted from observations. Knowing sum and a difference of Density and Constant allow us to calculate value of each single parameter separately. Simple isn't it?
But how accurate are the observations and what obstacles have to be overcome?
Read about it and you will know about history of modern observational cosmology and mysteries of our cosmos.
Certain sections of this book are more difficult and require extra focusing power to get by (for example: dependence of peak luminosity on light curve- for supernova observation or: how the curvature of space determines the angular size on which we now see the largest "surfaces of last scattering"-for cosmic background radiation study).
Do not get discouraged however, just glide through these parts and author will eventually clarify most of it later, leaving you with the good idea what has been tried to accomplish.
I am, and I have always been impressed by careers of top world-class astronomers, their knowledge, ability to design observational methods and skills for processing obtained spectra. Goldsmith gives many stories of dedication and determination, stories about geniuses contributing to total understanding of what Universe was and what will become.
You will find very little in this book about extra dimensions, falling into black holes, traveling in time, strings, TOE and other mumbo-jumbo theories existing only on paper. What we learn here is only about what we perceive and deduce from it.
"The Runaway Universe" is a great update on astronomy and astrophysics, compact and easy to read. Do not miss it if you like to be in space from time to time.
December 17, 2020
Как понять будущее нашей Вселенной? Надо уметь заглянуть в прошлое и затем предположить, как оно определяет предстоящее.
Астрономы изобретательно подходили к тому, чтобы измерять размеры Вселенной, добавляя метод за методом. И это все — только определяя яркость и спектр света. Яркость дает расстояние. Спектр дает скорость. Зная расстояния и скорости движения — можно предположить, что происходило и будет происходить. Как это устроено? https://maxlapin.com/2020/11/06/b284/
Астрономы изобретательно подходили к тому, чтобы измерять размеры Вселенной, добавляя метод за методом. И это все — только определяя яркость и спектр света. Яркость дает расстояние. Спектр дает скорость. Зная расстояния и скорости движения — можно предположить, что происходило и будет происходить. Как это устроено? https://maxlapin.com/2020/11/06/b284/
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews