Time travel in Einstein's universe : the physical possibilities of travel through time / J. Richard Gott, III.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gott, J. Richard.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Space and time.

Time travel.

Physical Description:

xii, 291 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin, [2001]

Summary:

Time Travel in Newton's Universe was inconceivable, but in Einstein's universe it has become a possibility. J. Richard Gott III, a Princeton astrophysicist who is a leading researcher in the field, gives readers a guided tour of the potential of traveling through time. Joining scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne who have previously considered the topic, the delightfully refreshing yet scrupulously careful Gott charts new territory in exploring this exciting idea.

Gott begins by describing how the finest science fiction about time travel has inspired some of today's top scientific ideas on the subject. He goes on to explain how travel to the future is not only possible but has actually happened (astronauts have aged slightly less than we whose feet have stayed solidly on earth), and he examines whether travel to the past might also be possible, given certain physical conditions. He then offers up his most stunning material: the study of time travel can be used to discover whether the universe could have created itself. Finally, asserting that no book on time travel would be complete without a report from the future, Gott predicts the span of human existence, based on a scientific technique he has developed. His conclusion is humbling but wondrous: just in the short time we have lived so far, consider how much we have already learned about the universe.

Contents:

1. Dreaming of Time Travel 3

2. Time Travel to the Future 33

3. Time Travel to the Past 76

4. Time Travel and the Beginning of the Universe 131

5. Report from the Future 200.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-276) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0395955637

OCLC:

45603941