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13.8 : the quest to find the true age of the universe and the theory of everything / John Gribbin.
LIBRA QB981 .G753 2016
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Gribbin, John, 1946- author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Cosmochronology.
- Space and time.
- Cosmology.
- Relativity (Physics).
- Quantum theory.
- Physical Description:
- xiii, 242 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Other Title:
- Thirteen point eight
- Thirteen, eight
- Quest to find the true age of the universe and the theory of everything
- Place of Publication:
- New Haven : Yale University Press, 2016.
- Contents:
- Part 0 Prologue 1
- 2.712 - Taking the temperature of the Universe 3
- Part 1 How Do We Know the Ages of Stars? 21
- 1 2.898 - Prehistory: Spectra and the nature of stars 23
- Locating lines 23
- Hunting helium 26
- Hunting hydrogen 28
- The heat of the Sun 32
- The heat of the stars 34
- The heat inside 37
- 2 0.008 - At the heart of the Sun 41
- A French connection 42
- No free lunch 44
- Seats of enormous energies 50
- A hotter place? 58
- A quantum of solace 62
- 3 7.65 - Making 'metals' 65
- Cycles and chains of fusion 69
- Rocks of ages 75
- From the Bomb to the stars 79
- The last should be first 82
- Stardust 86
- 4 13.2 - The ages of stars 91
- Hertzsprung, Russell and the diagram 91
- Ashes to ashes 93
- Globular cluster ages 96
- White dwarf ages 100
- Radiometric ages and the oldest known star 105
- Part 2 How Do We Know the Age of the Universe? 113
- 5 31.415 - Prehistory: Galaxies and the Universe at large 115
- The power of pure reason 116
- One step forward, two steps back 118
- Nebular spectroscopy 121
- First steps 123
- The long and winding road 128
- An unresolved debate 131
- A universe destroyed 135
- 6 575 - The discovery of the expanding Universe 139
- Surprising speeds 139
- Taking the credit 142
- A Russian revolution 148
- A Priestly intercession 154
- 7 75 - Sizing up the cosmic soufflé 161
- Einstein's lost model 163
- Keeping it simple 165
- Across the Universe 169
- Doubling the distances 169
- Hubble's heir 177
- Another Great Debate 184
- 8 13.8 - Surveys and satellites 189
- The culmination of a tradition 189
- Too perfect? 192
- The dark side 197
- Supernovae and superexpansion 206
- Sounding out the Universe 210
- Ultimate truth 214.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-234) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780300218275
- 0300218273
- OCLC:
- 920453524
- Publisher Number:
- 40025681258
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