The true story of modern cosmology : origins, main actors and breakthroughs / Emilio Elizalde.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Elizalde, E., author.

Standardized Title:

Cosmología moderna desde sus origenes. English

Language:

English

Spanish

Subjects (All):

Cosmology--History.

Cosmology.

History.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (some color)

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer, [2021]

Language Note:

Translated from Spanish.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

This book tells the story of how, over the past century, dedicated observers and pioneering scientists achieved our current understanding of the universe. It was in antiquity that humankind first attempted to explain the universe often with the help of myths and legends. This book, however, focuses on the time when cosmology finally became a true science. As the reader will learn, this was a slow process, extending over a large part of the 20th century and involving many astronomers, cosmologists and theoretical physicists. The book explains how empirical astronomical data (e.g., Leavitt, Slipher and Hubble) were reconciled with Einstein's general relativity; a challenge which finally led Friedmann, De Sitter and Lemaître, and eventually Einstein himself, to a consistent understanding of the observational results. The reader will realize the extraordinary implications of these achievements and how deeply they changed our vision of the cosmos: From being small, static, immutable and eternal, it became vast and dynamical - originating from (almost) nothing, and yet now, nearly 14 billion years later, undergoing accelerated expansion. But, as always happens, as well as precious knowledge, new mysteries have also been created where previously absolute certainty had reigned.

Contents:

Introduction

What is a Scientific Theory?

The First Cosmological Revolution of the 20th Century

The Theory of General Relativity and Its Main Solutions

The Hubble-Lemaître Law and the Universe Expansion

The Big Bang Theory

Towards the Very Instant of Universe Creation

The Second Cosmological Revolution of the 20th Century

Conclusion. .

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed September 1, 2021).

ISBN:

9783030806545

3030806545

OCLC:

1265085477

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.