The Shadows of Creation: Dark Matter and the Structure of the Universe [Paperback]

Michael Riordan (Author), David N. Schramm (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0716723662 | ISBN-13: 978-0716723660 | Publication Date: September 1992

More than 90 percent of the Universe is unseen, unknown. Ordinary telescopes cannot detect it - nor can radio antennas. Yet there is convincing evidence that it exists - as something called "dark matter". At the same time, recent discoveries about the structure of the Universe are challenging accepted views about its very origins. Michael Riordan and David Schramm explore a scientific mystery: What is this dark matter? What does it have to-do with the structure of the universe - the uncountable galaxies and clusters of galaxies that constitute the firmament? What does it tell us about the birth of our universe? Riordan and Schramm explore these questions, as they describe efforts underway at observatories, laboratories and particle colliders to determine the nature of dark matter. "The Shadows of Creation" is an account of the complicated puzzles that challenge today's physicists and cosmologists.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the next few years, one of science's grandest speculations will be put to the test of observation as new labs and space observatories begin to gather data on the Big Bang theory. Science writer Riordan ( The Hunting of the Quark ) and Schramm, science professor at the University of Chicago and the Enrico Fermi Institute, focus on the critical search for "missing mass" in the observable universe, the so-called dark matter that today's body of theory requires to provide for a stable, yet expanding universe begun with a Big Bang. Their analogies and explications of the theory serve the lay reader well, though they rely entirely on the deductive cosmology that has held sway for the last 20 years. The next 20 may hold more surprises than the Big Bang can account for; recent satellite measurements of large structures in the nearby galaxies directly contradict many of Big Bang's assumptions. The debate itself will be exciting to watch. This book is a good place for readers to catch up on the terms and theories that will be catching the public's attention in the coming decade. (Apr.) .
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co (Sd) (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716723662
• ISBN-13: 978-0716723660
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,829,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some light over the darkness, February 26, 2001

By 

Henrique Caetano (Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadows of Creation: Dark Matter and the Structure of the Universe (Hardcover)

You'll be hooked by this book just like if you were reading a romance! Only with a few knowledge on physics, you will enjoy the reading from the Stephen Hawking's foreward to the last pages. The autors lead us through the search for the missing (or invisible) part of the Universe. The origin and the fate of the Universe in 11 parts!