Modern cosmology aims to determine the origin, evolution, and ultimate fate of the Universe. This is an area of modern science that has engendered fierce debates which have captured public interest. This book recounts the development of modern cosmology, in chapters contributed by many of the leading protagonists. It is a fascinating account of physical and observational cosmology, the great cosmological debates, important observations and the riddle of dark matter. The enormous controversy surrounding the Big Bang theory is retold in personal recollections from H. Bondi, W. McCrea, and Fred Hoyle. This is followed by chapters on the discovery of cosmic radio waves and the contributions made by radio astronomers to current cosmology. The book concludes with a tribute to some of the pioneers of cosmology.

Cosmology is a relatively new science, but cosmological questions are as old as mankind. Turning philosophical and metaphysical problems into problems that physics can treat, and hopefully solve, has been an achievement of the twentieth century. Modern Cosmology brings together contributions from a number of outstanding scientists currently working

Scientific and popular literature on modern cosmology is very extensive; however, scholarly works on the historical development of cosmology are few and scattered. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Modern Cosmology offers a comprehensive and authoritative account of the history of cosmology from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. It provides historical background to what we know about the universe today, including not only the successes but also the many false starts. Big Bang theory features prominently, but so does the defunct steady state theory. The book starts with a chapter on the pre-Einstein period (1860-1910) and ends with chapters on modern developments such as inflation, dark energy and multiverse hypotheses. The chapters are organized chronologically, with some focusing on theory and others more on observations and technological advances. A few of the chapters discuss more general ideas, relating to larger contexts such as politics, economy, philosophy and world views.

An examination of the claims of modern physics, and their impact on our view of the world.

Jammer then devotes a chapter to the distinction between inertial and gravitational mass and to the various versions of the so-called equivalance principle with which Newton initiated his Principia but which also became the starting point of Einstein's general relativity, which supersedes Newtonian physics. The book concludes with a presentation of recently proposed global and local dynamical theories of the origin and nature of mass."--BOOK JACKET.

This volume presents a selection of contributions by Russian scholars - historians and philosophers to science - to the Einstein Studies industry, broadly construed. This work explores the historical and foundational issues in general relativity and relativistic cosmology, Einstein's contributions to early quantum mechanics and the rise of Dirac's quantum electrodynamics. It also includes a detailed description of the physics colloquium Einstein established and coordinated in 1912-1913 and comments on his brief interest in the construction of the plane wing in 1916. most scholars. Materials from various Russian archives shed new light on the famous exchange (regarding the first evolutionary cosmological models) between Einstein and Alexander Friedmann in the early 1920s and on the role of Boris Podolsky and Vladimir Fock in the emergence of quantum electrodynamics. The little-known correspondence between Einstein and a famous German pilot Paul Erhardt suggests that during World War I, the former was involved with aero- and hydrodynamics research and ways of improving airplane design. Other articles introduce new approaches to important foundational questions in general relativity and cosmology.

The past decade has seen a considerable surge of interest in historical and philo sophical studies of gravitation and relativity, due not only to the tremendous amount of world-wide research in general relativity and its theoretical and observational consequences, but also to an increasing awareness that a collaboration between working scientists, historians and philosophers of science is, in this field, partic ularly promising for all participants. The expanding activity in this field is well documented by recent volumes in this Einstein Studies series on the History of General Relativity as well as by a series of international conferences on this topic at Osgood Hill (1986), Luminy (1988), and Pittsburgh (1991). The fourth of these conferences, hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, was held in Berlin from 31 July to 3 August 1995, with a record attendance of some 80 historians and philosophers of science, physicists, mathematicians, and as tronomers. Based on presentations at the Berlin conference, this volume provides an overview of the present state of research in this field, documenting not only the increasing scope of recent investigations in the history of relativity and gravitation but also the emergence of several key issues that will probably remain at the focus of debate in the near future. RELATIVITY IN THE MAKING The papers of this section deal with the origins and genesis of relativity theory.

Astronomy is the science of everything – with the exception of the Earth and everything on it and inside. Astronomy has a rich heritage dating back to the myths and legends of antiquity and the course of civilization has been greatly affected by mankind’s interpretation of what they saw in the starry sky and experienced through seasonal changes associated with the Sun and Moon. Early astronomy is associated with the definition of calendars which were needed to predict the dates of such as religious festivals and the numbers of months. A gradual shift of emphasis from astronomy to its sister, astrophysics, which took place through the 19th century, is generally attributed to the measurement of reliable stellar distances and the development of spectroscopy as a tool for understanding the physical nature of stars. Many paradigms in astronomy and its many subfields are continuously being shaken. New insights in the intricacy and elegance of the cosmos are steadily being obtained. Every few decennia, our concepts of the Universe are challenged and substantially modified. The reasons for this are the continuous development of new observing techniques and instruments for observatories both ground-based and in space, in addition to considerable progress in mathematics and physics, including computational ability. Our Universe harbors numerous phenomena and processes representing conditions that cannot be duplicated in terrestrial laboratories. Astronomy therefore frequently leads to fundamentally new insight and knowledge far beyond astronomy itself. Last but not least, it represents a first inspiring introduction to natural science, especially among young people, which is an extra motivation to many scientists to contribute to the Astronomy and Astrophysics Theme of this Encyclopedia. The book on Astronomy and Astrophysics with contributions from distinguished experts in the field, represents a first inspiring introduction to natural science, especially among young people, which is an extra motivation to many scientists to contribute to the Astronomy and Astrophysics Theme of this Encyclopedia. The first chapter which treats the development of astronomy and astrophysics in a historical perspective is followed by an account of the impact of astronomy on human culture and civilization. Observational astronomy is facing a number of environmental challenges. The nature and complexity of these and how the associated problems are met and overcome are described in the third article. Various aspects of our solar system are covered by authoritative articles on the Sun, planets including their satellites and smaller bodies, plus a review of the laws of motions and orbits of celestial bodies. The detection and studies of exo-solar planetary systems is rapidly developing field in astronomy which is treated in a separate chapter. Then follow fascinating up-to-date overviews on stars describing their formation, structure and life cycles. Stars are the building blocks of larger cosmic entities leading to the enigmatic galaxies composed of billions of stars, and gradually to clusters of galaxies. The final chapters cover the origin and evolution of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the Universe, including dark matter and dark energy which are among the most fascinating problems of physics today. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

The Reader's Guide to the History of Science looks at the literature of science in some 550 entries on individuals (Einstein), institutions and disciplines (Mathematics), general themes (Romantic Science) and central concepts (Paradigm and Fact). The history of science is construed widely to include the history of medicine and technology as is reflected in the range of disciplines from which the international team of 200 contributors are drawn.

A highly original, and truly novel, approach to theoretical reasoning in physics. This book illuminates the subject from the perspective of real physics as practised by research scientists. It is intended to be a supplement to the final years of an undergraduate course in physics and assumes that the reader has some grasp of university physics. By means of a series of seven case studies, the author conveys the excitement of research and discovery, highlighting the intellectual struggles to attain understanding of some of the most difficult concepts in physics. Case studies include the origins of Newton's law of gravitation, Maxwell's equations, mechanics and dynamics, linear and non-linear, thermodynamics and statistical physics, the origins of the concepts of quanta, special relativity, general relativity and cosmology. The approach is the same as that in the highly acclaimed first edition, but the text has been completely revised and many new topics introduced.