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A Student's Guide Through the Great Physics Texts : Volume I: The Heavens and The Earth / by Kerry Kuehn.

Springer Nature - Springer Physics and Astronomy (R0) eBooks 2015 English International Available online

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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Kuehn, Kerry., Author.
Series:
Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics, 2192-4791
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Physics.
Philosophy and science.
Science--Study and teaching.
Science.
Cosmology.
History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics.
Philosophy of Science.
Science Education.
Local Subjects:
History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics.
Philosophy of Science.
Science Education.
Cosmology.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (XXVII, 396 p. 79 illus., 11 illus. in color.)
Edition:
1st ed. 2015.
Place of Publication:
New York, NY : Springer New York : Imprint: Springer, 2015.
Language Note:
English
Summary:
This book provides a chronological introduction to the sciences of astronomy and cosmology based on the reading and analysis of significant selections from classic texts, such as Ptolemy’s Almagest, Kepler’s Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, Shapley’s Galaxies, and Lemaître’s The Primeval Atom. Each chapter begins with a short introduction followed by a reading selection. Carefully crafted study questions draw out key points in the text and focus the reader’s attention on the author’s methods, analysis, and conclusions. Numerical and observational exercises at the end of each chapter test the reader’s ability to understand and apply key concepts from the text. The Heavens and the Earth is the first of four volumes in A Student’s Guide Through the Great Physics Texts. This book grew out of a four-semester undergraduate physics curriculum designed to encourage a critical and circumspect approach to natural science, while at the same time preparing students for advanced coursework in physics. This book is particularly suitable as a college-level textbook for students of the natural sciences, history, or philosophy. It also serves as a textbook for advanced high-school students, or as a thematically-organized source-book for scholars and motivated lay-readers. In studying the classic scientific texts included herein, the reader will be drawn toward a lifetime of contemplation.
Contents:
Nature, Number and Substance
The Shape and Motion of the Heavens
Harmony and Complexity
Earth at the Center of the World
The World of Ptolemy
Measuring the Tropical Year
Geometrical Tools
The Sun, the Moon and the Calendar
From Astronomy to Cartography
Climates and Continents
Heliocentrism: Hypothesis or Truth?
Earth as a Wandering Star
Re-ordering the Heavenly Spheres
Celestial Physics
Broken Spheres
Kepler's Third Law
Kepler's First and Second Laws
Mountains on the Moon
The Medician Stars
The Luminosity of Variable Stars
Galactic Spectra
Measuring Astronomical Distances
A New Theory of Gravity
Euclid, Gauss and Mercury's Orbit
A Finite Universe with No Boundary
The Structure of the Universe
Measuring the Potentially Infinite
The Birth of the Big Bang
The Primeval Atom.
Notes:
Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
ISBN:
1-4939-1360-3
OCLC:
891716727

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