Black hole : how an idea abandoned by Newtonians, hated by Einstein, and gambled on by Hawking became loved / Marcia Bartusiak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bartusiak, Marcia, 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Black holes (Astronomy).

Discoveries in science.

Science--Social aspects.

Science.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (252 pages): illustrations, photographs

Place of Publication:

New Haven, [Connecticut] ; London, [England] : Yale University Press, 2015.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

The contentious history of the idea of the black hole--the most fascinating and bizarre celestial object in the heavens For more than half a century, physicists and astronomers engaged in heated dispute over the possibility of black holes in the universe. The weirdly alien notion of a space-time abyss from which nothing escapes--not even light--seemed to confound all logic. This engrossing book tells the story of the fierce black hole debates and the contributions of Einstein and Hawking and other leading thinkers who completely altered our view of the universe. Renowned science writer Marcia Bartusiak shows how the black hole helped revive Einstein's greatest achievement, the general theory of relativity, after decades during which it had been pushed into the shadows. Not until astronomers discovered such surprising new phenomena as neutron stars and black holes did the once-sedate universe transform into an Einsteinian cosmos, filled with sources of titanic energy that can be understood only in the light of relativity. This book celebrates the hundredth anniversary of general relativity, uncovers how the black hole really got its name, and recounts the scientists' frustrating, exhilarating, and at times humorous battles over the acceptance of one of history's most dazzling ideas.

Contents:

1 It Is Therefore Possible That the Largest Luminous Bodies in the Universe May Be Invisible 1

2 Newton, Forgive Me 16

3 One Would Then Find Oneself... in a Geometrical Fairyland 35

4 There Should Be a Law of Nature to Prevent a Star from Behaving in This Absurd Way! 44

5 I'll Show Those Bastards 60

6 Only Its Gravitational Field Persists 70

7 I Could Not Have Picked a More Exciting Time in Which to Become a Physicist 87

8 It Was the Weirdest Spectrum I'd Ever Seen 110

9 Why Don't You Call It a Black Hole? 122

10 Medieval Torture Rack 142

11 Whereas Stephen Hawking Has Such a Large Investment in General Relativity and Black Holes and Desires an Insurance Policy 148

12 Black Holes Ain't So Black 163.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Local Notes:

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest, 2015. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest affiliated libraries.

Other Format:

Print version: Bartusiak, Marcia, 1950- Black hole : how an idea abandoned by Newtonians, hated by Einstein, and gambled on by Hawking became loved.

ISBN:

9780300213638

OCLC:

905902885

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.