How Cosmologists Explain The Universe To Friends And Family

This fascinating book provides an accessible and up-to-date overview of modern cosmology. In particular, the book discusses the formation of the Cosmic Microwave Background and the evolution of large scale structures in the universe, the distribution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies on very large distance scales. Following a brief introduction, the authors describe the scientific method – how science is done. They then discuss observational cosmology, the instruments and what observations can be done with them, and what is derived from those observations. After discussing the constituents of the universe, including dark matter and dark energy, the authors provide an outline of the forces that shape the universe, with particular emphasis on gravitation. Following this, the reader is taken on a journey in time from the present day back to the very beginning of the universe, a period called inflation, which sets the initial conditions for the subsequent evolution of the universe. The book ends with a brief chapter on what lies beyond. Written by two experts, the book is aimed at the interested lay-person with little or no physics background, but an interest in modern cosmology.

This is a different kind of book about cosmology, a field of major interest to professional astronomers, physicists, and the general public. All research in cosmology adopts one model of the universe, the hot big bang model. But Fred Hoyle, Geoffrey Burbidge and Jayant Narlikar take a different approach. Starting with the beginnings of modern cosmology, they then conduct a wide ranging and deep review of the observations made from 1945 to the present day. Here they challenge many conventional interpretations. The latter part of the book presents the authors' own account of the present status of observations and how they should be explained. The controversial theme is that the dependency on the hot big bang model has led to an unwarranted rejection of alternative cosmological models. Writing from the heart, with passion and punch, these three cosmologists make a powerful case for viewing the universe in a different light.

Drawn from the pages of Scientific American and collected here for the first time, this work contains updated and condensed information, made accessible to a general popular science audience, on the subject of cosmology.

This book is a gentle introduction for all those wishing to learn about modern views of the cosmos. Our universe originated in a great explosion – the big bang. For nearly a century cosmologists have studied the aftermath of this explosion: how the universe expanded and cooled down, and how galaxies were gradually assembled by gravity. The nature of the bang itself has come into focus only relatively recently. It is the subject of the theory of cosmic inflation, which was developed in the last few decades and has led to a radically new global view of the universe. Students and other interested readers will find here a non-technical but conceptually rigorous account of modern cosmological ideas - describing what we know, and how we know it. One of the book's central themes is the scientific quest to find answers to the ultimate cosmic questions: Is the universe finite or infinite? Has it existed forever? If not, when and how did it come into being? Will it ever end? The book is based on the undergraduate course taught by Alex Vilenkin at Tufts University. It assumes no prior knowledge of physics or mathematics beyond elementary high school math. The necessary physics background is introduced as it is required. Each chapter includes a list of questions and exercises of varying degree of difficulty.

Do you want to learn about the physical origin of the Universe, but don’t have the rest of eternity to read up on it? Do you want to know what scientists know about where you and your planet came from, but without the science blinding you? ‘Course you do – and who better than For Dummies to tackle the biggest, strangest and most wonderful question there is! The Origins of the Universe For Dummies covers: Early ideas about our universe Modern cosmology Big Bang theory Dark matter and gravity Galaxies and solar systems Life on earth Finding life elsewhere The Universe’s forecast

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and God saw that it was good.-Gen. 1:14-18 The universe was created with purpose and reason; and modern science with all of its experiments, exploration, and sophistication has never proven otherwise. In fact, as author Dr. Danny Faulkner makes plain, advanced science argues more for a created cosmology than a big bang. Written for the upper-level student through the well-read layman, Universe by Design explores the universe, explaining its origins and discussing the historical development of cosmology from a creationist viewpoint. Includes: Recent developments in cosmology Explanatory diagrams and illustrations Theories and facts on the origin and expansion of the universe The contributions of Ptolemy, Galileo, Brahe, Newton, Hubble, Einstein, and other famous scientists to the field Thorough discussion and problems with the big bang theory Many examples and analogies to help understand concepts of cosmology Difficulties and critiques of modern cosmology Chapter questions and answers for homeschool study As an excellent supplement to an upper-level homeschool curriculum or the library of an astronomer - amateur or advanced - this book will inform and enlighten the scientific mind.

"There are few topics more awe-inspiring than cosmology. What is the universe? How does it work? Where did it come from? These fundamental questions intrigue adults and children alike. This approachable guide brings alive humanity's attempts to explain the existence of everything and explores the latest and best theories on how the universe came into being. With approachable text, assuming no previous knowledge, and uniquely in such an illustrated book, the reader is taken beyond the certainties to explore the strange concepts that fill modern cosmology. Is the universe a hologram? Is everything we know part of a membrane floating in multidimensional space? Could we be living in a computer simulation? It sounds like science fiction, but these are among the ideas cosmologists seriously propose for the nature of reality. This book is for students, amateur astronomers, and anyone who has looked up at the sky and wondered about our place in the universe."

A concise introduction to the greatest questions of modern cosmology. What came before the big bang? How will the universe evolve into the future? Will there be a big crunch? Questions like these have no definitive answers, but there are many contending theories. In A Little Book about the Big Bang, physicist and writer Tony Rothman guides expert and uninitiated readers alike through the most compelling mysteries surrounding the nature and origin of the universe. Cosmologists are busy these days, actively researching dark energy, dark matter, and quantum gravity, all at the foundation of our understanding of space, time, and the laws governing the universe. Enlisting thoughtful analogies and a step-by-step approach, Rothman breaks down what is known and what isn’t and details the pioneering experimental techniques scientists are bringing to bear on riddles of nature at once utterly basic and stunningly complex. In Rothman’s telling, modern cosmology proves to be an intricate web of theoretical predictions confirmed by exquisitely precise observations, all of which make the theory of the big bang one of the most solid edifices ever constructed in the history of science. At the same time, Rothman is careful to distinguish established physics from speculation, and in doing so highlights current controversies and avenues of future exploration. The idea of the big bang is now almost a century old, yet with each new year comes a fresh enigma. That is scientific progress in a nutshell: every groundbreaking discovery, every creative explanation, provokes new and more fundamental questions. Rothman takes stock of what we have learned and encourages readers to ponder the mysteries to come.