Ebook Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson
Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson. Negotiating with reviewing routine is no requirement. Reviewing Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson is not kind of something sold that you could take or not. It is a thing that will change your life to life better. It is the important things that will certainly provide you numerous points around the world and also this universe, in the real life and also here after. As just what will be made by this Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson, how can you negotiate with the thing that has several perks for you?
Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson
Ebook Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson
Why must choose the problem one if there is very easy? Get the profit by acquiring the book Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson here. You will get different method to make a bargain as well as get guide Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson As recognized, nowadays. Soft documents of the books Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson become incredibly popular amongst the readers. Are you among them? And also right here, we are providing you the extra compilation of ours, the Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson.
When obtaining this e-book Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson as referral to check out, you could get not simply inspiration yet also brand-new expertise and also sessions. It has more compared to typical advantages to take. What kind of book that you review it will be useful for you? So, why must get this book qualified Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson in this short article? As in link download, you could obtain guide Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson by online.
When obtaining the e-book Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson by on the internet, you could read them anywhere you are. Yeah, even you are in the train, bus, waiting checklist, or other places, on the internet book Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson can be your buddy. Whenever is a great time to review. It will enhance your understanding, enjoyable, entertaining, driving lesson, as well as experience without investing even more money. This is why on the internet publication Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson comes to be most really wanted.
Be the first that are reviewing this Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson Based upon some factors, reading this publication will certainly provide even more benefits. Even you require to read it tip by step, web page by page, you can complete it whenever as well as any place you have time. Once again, this on-line book Measuring The Universe: Our Historic Quest To Chart The Horizons Of Space And Time, By Kitty Ferguson will certainly offer you very easy of reviewing time as well as task. It likewise provides the experience that is economical to reach as well as obtain substantially for far better life.
More than 2,000 years ago, Eratosthenes, in Alexandria, used a stick, a hole in the ground, sunllght at summer solstice, and elementary geometry to measure the circumference of the Earth with surprising accuracy, long before anyone was able to circumnavigate it. Today, scientists are attempting to measure the entire universe and to determine its origin. Although the methods have changed, the quest to chart the horizons of space and time continues to be one of the great adventures of science.
Measuring the Universe is an eloquent chronicle of the men and women– from Aristarchus to Cassini, Sir Isaac Newton to Henrietta Leavitt and Stephen Hawking–who have gradually unlocked the mysteries of "how far" and in so doing have changed our ideas about the size and nature of the universe and our place in it. Kitty Ferguson reveals their methods to have been as inventive as their results were–and are–eye-opening. Advances such as Copernicus's revolutionary insights about the arrangement of the solar system, William Herschel's meticulous creation of the first three-dimensional map of the universe, and Edwin Hubble's astonishing discovery that the universe is expanding have by turns revolutionized our concept of the universe. Connecting centuries of breakthroughs with the political and cultural events surrounding them, Ferguson makes astronomy part of the sweep of history.
To measure the seemingly immeasurable, scientists have always pushed the boundaries of the imagination–today, for example, facing the paradox of an ever-expanding universe that doesn't appear to expand into anything. In Kitty Fergeson's skillfill hands, the unimaginable becomes accessible and the splendid quest something we all can share.
- Sales Rank: #1550414 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Walker n Company
- Published on: 1999-07-01
- Released on: 1999-07-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.25" h x 1.25" w x 6.50" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 352 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
Amazon.com Review
If you want to measure how big a stick is, you can use a ruler. Want to know how tall a windmill is? Don't waste time climbing to the top with a long measuring tape. Instead, use the old shadow trick--measure the length of a yardstick's shadow, then measure the windmill's shadow and use ratios to figure out the windmill's height. Even though the windmill is big and intimidating, you can find out its size while remaining safely on the ground. This is the first example in science author Kitty Ferguson's fine book Measuring the Universe, and it sets the reader's brain firmly on the right track for understanding.
The topic here is measurement of faraway, distant, difficult things. Starting with Eratosthenes, who found a way of measuring the earth's circumference, and continuing through to modern astrophysicists' quest to measure the universe itself, Ferguson takes us on a full tour of the seemingly immeasurable. Readers are treated to enthusiastic chapters covering all the basic steps astronomers (dating back to Aristarchus of Samos) have taken to understand the arrangement of astronomical objects. How big are stars? Is that black hole moving toward us or away from us? Where is the edge of everything? And how big will the universe get before it stops expanding? You'll meet the men and women who have sought answers to these seemingly impossible questions in this accessible history. Ferguson brilliantly illuminates their personal quests and demonstrates the usefulness of each discovery in driving the next attempt to measure the universe. --Therese Littleton
From Publishers Weekly
When you wish upon a star, do you ever consider that the bright one over there in the Hyades might be closer than the one in the Big Dipper that you usually wish on? Or that your wish might get there faster? Although even the closest star (Proxima Centauri) is so far away (25 1/4 trillion miles) that humanity will probably never travel to it, Ferguson (Prisons of Light: Black Holes) demonstrates why knowing its distance from us is important, and not just for reasons of wish fulfillment. For only by drawing an accurate scale map of the universe, she explains, can scientists estimate its age, one of the most hotly contested issues of our time. Ferguson begins with attempts in antiquity to establish the distance to the sun and the five planets seen by the naked eye. She discusses the findings of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo, and how each drew on the others' work. Her simple explanations of the discoveries of stellar parallax, the Doppler effect and redshift, and of absorption spectra make important scientific concepts clear for general readers. She goes on to elucidate how astronomers determine how far away other stars are by using a type of star called Cepheid, as well as the spectacular stellar self-destructions known as supernovae as "standard candles." To conclude her engrossing survey, Ferguson covers some of the paradoxes that scientists confront, such as that some estimates of the age of the universe have determined that it is younger than some of its oldest stars, and that the amount of observable mass in the universe is only about 10% of what should be there. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Ferguson (The Fire in the Equations: Science, Religion, and the Search for God) is a popular science author, and deservedly soAshe has a gift for explaining difficult scientific concepts in clear prose, and her engaging style conveys a real sense of the social, political, and intellectual times in which these discoveries were made. She captures the excitement and wonder of discovery and provides an understanding of what motivates scientists. This book has the feel of a historical novelAin Ferguson's hands, astronomy becomes part of the sweep of history. Starting with Eratosthenes and his calculation of the earth's circumference using the shadows cast in a well, and moving through Stephen Hawking's work on black holes, Ferguson tells the tale of our search for our place in the universe. This book is nicely illustrated with photos, tables, and diagrams, and there is also a useful glossary. Recommended for academic as well as public libraries.AJames Olson, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Wow
By Richard Fitzgerald
This book weaves lucid science and history together into a most fascinating tapestry. You will learn about the search for the size of the universe, but you will also learn about the world around you. You will learn how science works, and how people work. You will learn what we know, and how much more we have to learn. This is a beautifully crafted book and well worth the time of scientists, historians, and normal people too!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Completely entertaining and informative
By David A. Foster
I was wowed by this book completely. The narrative of the relationship between the Catholic church and the sciences alone made it worthwhile. If you haven't read a book such as this and think you know what really happened with Galileo Galilei... well, you probably don't.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Almost a really good book
By A Customer
This is a very readable book, with many ups and downs. It tells the story of key contributors to our understanding of the universe and their quest to measure it in their time and with the tools available to them. It also does a very good job of explaining some basic concepts. It doesn't do such a good job with more complex concepts. And there are some simple concepts that just don't need to be explained repetitively.
For instance, the explanations and diagrams explaining parallax are very good. Sometime after that the term parsec appears in the text without any explanation at all. Another example: Cepheid stars are fundamental to current attempts to measure the distant objects, and that is made very clear. But why we can and should depend on Cepheids is not explained. A final example: I don't know how many times she explains that 10 with an exponent menas one followed by that number of zeros, or preceded by that number of zeroes for a negative exponent - but it is way, way more times than necessary and occurs throughout the entire book.
A second edition, perhaps with better editing, could easily be much better and be a very good book. Never-the-less, this book is interesting and generally easy to read, and covers a lot of ground about the participants.
Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson PDF
Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson EPub
Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson Doc
Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson iBooks
Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson rtf
Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson Mobipocket
Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the horizons of Space and Time, by Kitty Ferguson Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar