Astronomy Through the Ages - The Story of the Human Attempt to Understand the Universe [Hardcover]

Robert Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 1998

When astronomers today look up at the night sky they picture a spectacular and infinite universe--full of pulsars, quasars, and black holes and ruled by arcane laws of space and time. Once, ancient astronomers looked up and saw only points of light tracing calm movements across the heavens. But they too were moved to wonder about the meaning of what they saw. In Astronomy through the Ages, Sir Robert Wilson tells the story of how our understanding of the universe has evolved through history--of how the sedate and stable star field of ancient times has been replaced by the vast and explosive universe we know today.

Wilson, one of the most distinguished astronomers of the twentieth century, begins by tracing the astronomical studies of the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks and reviews important early contributions from India, China, and the Islamic world. He explains the development of the sun-centered model of the universe in Renaissance Europe. He then tells how the development of the telescope, photography, and spectroscopy pushed back the limits of the observable universe and eventually brought astronomy into the twentieth century. Finally, he describes the rapid advances in radio and space astronomy and other methods over the past fifty years that have ushered in a new "golden age" of astronomy. These advances have not only allowed observation of deep space but also enabled scientists to unlock the secrets of the universe itself from its origin to its possible fate. Wilson himself has played an important role in these discoveries as the developer of one of the most successful astronomical satellites ever launched, the International Ultraviolet Explorer.

While focusing on the human side of astronomical discovery, Wilson also provides readers with a basic understanding of difficult concepts, explaining relativity and quantum mechanics without using technical language or mathematics. Remarkable in its scope and clarity,Astronomy through the Ages provides an accessible view of historical discoveries and modern advances and shows why excitement about astronomy is even greater today than when Galileo first gazed in wonder at the rings of Saturn.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Any reasonably intelligent non-astronomer will find in this book a great deal to interest him, and if he has imagination he will be enthralled by it. . . . It is written with an enthusiastic dignity and it well reflects the excitement and the majesty of its subject.
(Observatory )

Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (January 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691058369
• ISBN-13: 978-0691058368
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,769,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, June 28, 2000

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[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Astronomy Through the Ages - The Story of the Human Attempt to Understand the Universe (Hardcover)

Sir Robert Wilson is a prominent British astronomer, who has contributed significantly to the booming development of astronomy in the second half of the 20th century. His book has arisen out of lecture courses in the University of London, designed to convey some knowledge of, and a feeling for, the way research is done in the science of astronomy. He explicitly aims at presenting his subject without any mathematical formulas. He even dispenses with diagrams: the pictures, several of which are in colour, are for illustration, not for supporting an argument.

Wilson succeeds in bringing out the fascinating story of man's exploration of the universe around him: Eratosthenes' simple, but surprisingly accurate estimate of the size of the earth, Aristarchus' elegant proof of the distance to the moon, and after the Copernican revolution, the gradual realisation of the enormous distances to the outer planets and the "fixed" stars. Finally, the mind-boggling 20th century findings,that the universe contains millions upon millions of galaxies of the size of our own Milky Way, not to speak of other structures of different kinds and ages. Further, that it is much more complex, dynamic, and unpredictable than the ancients thought it was. Wilson tells the story with great clarity and in sufficient detail to make the non-mathematical reader feel that he has at least been given the chance to grasp the nature of the arguments of the astronomers. It is an outstanding achievement.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, June 29, 2000

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Astronomy Through the Ages - The Story of the Human Attempt to Understand the Universe (Hardcover)

Sir Robert Wilson is a prominent British astronomer, who has contributed significantly to the astounding development of astronomy in the second half of the 20th century. His book has arisen out of lecture courses in the University of London, designed to convey to people with a background in the humanitites some knowledge of, and especially a feeling for, the way research is done in the science of astronomy. He explicitly aims at presenting his subject without any mathematical formulas. He even dispenses with diagrams: the pictures, several of which are in colour, are for illustration, not for supporting an argument.

Wilson succeeds in bringing out the fascinating story of man's exploration of the world around him: Eratosthenes' simple, but surprisingly accurate estimate of the size of the earth, Aristarchus' elegant measurement of the distance to the moon, and after the Copernican revolution, the gradual realisation of the enormous distances to the outer planets and the "fixed" stars. Finally, the mind-boggling 20th century findings of the 20th century, that the universe contains millions upon millions of galaxies of the size of our own Milky Way, not to speak of other structures of different kinds and ages. Further, that it is much more complex, dynamic, and unpredictable than the ancients thought it was. Wilson tells the story with great clarity and in sufficient detail to make the non-mathematical reader feel that he has at least been given the chance to grasp the nature of the arguments of the astronomers. It is an outstanding achievement.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just not good history, September 5, 2000

By 

A. B. Whiting (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Astronomy Through the Ages - The Story of the Human Attempt to Understand the Universe (Hardcover)

I found this book disappointing. It is a history of astronomy written by possibly a very good astronomer---but not a good historian. He is given to sweeping statements what are unsupported, and often unsupportable. For instance, he blames Christianity for the fall of Rome, and believes it has always been institutionally antagonistic to science; these contentions are at best very simplistic, and arguably quite wrong. As far as the science goes, I found his explanation of the seasons simply confusing. There are far better histories of astronomy available, in particular "The Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy", which I highly recommend.