Einstein's unfinished symphony : the story of a gamble, two black holes, and a new age of astronomy / Marcia Bartusiak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bartusiak, Marcia, 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Space and time.

General relativity (Physics).

Physical Description:

xiv, 280 pages : illustrations, 1 map ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Yale University Press edition.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Astronomers have verified the last measurable prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity-vibrations in space-time. Converted to sound, these waves become a cosmic orchestra, allowing us to hear exploding stars, colliding black holes, rotating pulsars, and possibly even echoes from the Big Bang itself. Marcia Bartusiak chronicles the quest to build the world's most sensitive listening device, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), and its historic detection of gravitational waves, revealing the brilliance, personalities, and luck required to start a new age of astronomy. Book jacket.

Contents:

Prelude

Space in G flat

The maestro enters

Starlight waltz

Pas de Deux

Bars and measures

Dissonant chords

A little light music

The chirp

Variations on a theme

The music of the spheres

The unending symphony

Coda.

Notes:

"An earlier edition of this book was published in 2000 by Joseph Henry Press as Einstein's unfinished symphony : listening to the sounds of space-time."--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-269) and index.

ISBN:

9780300223392

0300223390

OCLC:

961309917