Cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, has become a precise physical science, the foundation of which is our understanding of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) left from the big bang. The story of the discovery and exploration of the CMBR in the 1960s is recalled for the first time in this collection of 44 essays by eminent scientists who pioneered the work. Two introductory chapters put the essays in context, explaining the general ideas behind the expanding universe and fossil remnants from the early stages of the expanding universe. The last chapter describes how the confusion of ideas and measurements in the 1960s grew into the present tight network of tests that demonstrate the accuracy of the big bang theory. This book is valuable to anyone interested in how science is done, and what it has taught us about the large-scale nature of the physical universe.
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"A thrilling page-turner, Finding the Big Bang is the adventure story of one of modern science's great discoveries, the cosmic microwave background radiation from the early universe. ...[The book] will be of interest to anyone who wants to know how scientific discoveries are really made. For me, reading the essays was like studying my family tree, and it was endlessly fascinating. For all of us, the answers to key questions in this area of cosmology-for example, How did we get here? Where are we going?--can now be discovered in this fine book." - John C. Mather, Physics Today
"Among the essays I found to be particularly interesting are those dealing with the situation in the Soviet Union. The rich essays of Rashid Sunyaev and Malcolm Longair provide remarkable insight into the hard conditions of physics and astronomy during the Communist era. Two other contributions that deserve to be singled out are those of Peebles and Partridge, who offer fascinating details about their pioneering work in Princeton in the 1960s. Although the book clearly celebrates the CMBR as a fossil of the big bang, it also includes a few critical voices, among them the seasoned critics Geoffrey Burbidge and Jayant Narlikar who favor a very different and more mundane explanation of the CMBR. Many of the essays are concerned with measurements and observational techniques rather than theory. One gets from the book a vivid impression of how important engineering competences are in modern cosmology." - Helge Kragh, Journal for the History of Astronomy
"...a new benchmark. ... Highly recommended." - CHOICE
"Among the essays I found to be particularly interesting are those dealing with the situation in the Soviet Union. The rich essays of Rashid Sunyaev and Malcolm Longair provide remarkable insight into the hard conditions of physics and astronomy during the Communist era. Two other contributions that deserve to be singled out are those of Peebles and Partridge, who offer fascinating details about their pioneering work in Princeton in the 1960s. Although the book clearly celebrates the CMBR as a fossil of the big bang, it also includes a few critical voices, among them the seasoned critics Geoffrey Burbidge and Jayant Narlikar who favor a very different and more mundane explanation of the CMBR. Many of the essays are concerned with measurements and observational techniques rather than theory. One gets from the book a vivid impression of how important engineering competences are in modern cosmology." - Helge Kragh, Journal for the History of Astronomy
"...a new benchmark. ... Highly recommended." - CHOICE
Book Description
Gathered together for the first time, this book contains a collection of essays on research on CMBR in the 1960s by eminent cosmologists who pioneered the work. It is an important resource for anyone interested in what physical science has taught us about the large-scale nature of the physical universe.
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This is an account of the discovery and exploration of a sea of thermal radiation that smoothly fills space. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hot big bang interpretation, explosive formation picture, relativistic big bang cosmology, light element formation, fireball hypothesis, anisotropy spectrum, cold big bang, hot big bang picture, fossil radiation, relict radiation, blackbody peak, starlight photons, steady state cosmology, cold load, hoop cover, radio astronomy group, large mass density, gravitational growth, baryon mass density, background radiation spectrum, radio source counts, aether drift, thermal sea, antenna side lobes, cosmological tests Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Soviet Union, Bell Labs, Bob Dicke, Bell Laboratories, Fred Hoyle, Milky Way, Gravity Group, Dave Wilkinson, Jim Peebles, David Wilkinson, White Mountain, Crawford Hill, Dennis Sciama, Yakov Zel'dovich, Princeton University, Einstein-de Sitter, Bruce Partridge, The Astrophysical Journal, World War, Nobel Prize, George Gamow, George Field, University of California, Solar System, Roger Tayler Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
This is an account of the discovery and exploration of a sea of thermal radiation that smoothly fills space. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hot big bang interpretation, explosive formation picture, relativistic big bang cosmology, light element formation, fireball hypothesis, anisotropy spectrum, cold big bang, hot big bang picture, fossil radiation, relict radiation, blackbody peak, starlight photons, steady state cosmology, cold load, hoop cover, radio astronomy group, large mass density, gravitational growth, baryon mass density, background radiation spectrum, radio source counts, aether drift, thermal sea, antenna side lobes, cosmological tests Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Soviet Union, Bell Labs, Bob Dicke, Bell Laboratories, Fred Hoyle, Milky Way, Gravity Group, Dave Wilkinson, Jim Peebles, David Wilkinson, White Mountain, Crawford Hill, Dennis Sciama, Yakov Zel'dovich, Princeton University, Einstein-de Sitter, Bruce Partridge, The Astrophysical Journal, World War, Nobel Prize, George Gamow, George Field, University of California, Solar System, Roger Tayler Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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