Masters of the Universe: Conversations with Cosmologists of the Past - Tapa dura

This interesting work would be a useful addition to college libraries. Recommended. (CHOICE)

[A]n enthralling journey not only into fantastic cosmic mysteries but also into the human mind. (Mario Livio, Journal of the History of Astronomy)

Helge Kragh tells us the history of twentieth-century cosmology in a most lively and accessible form. Through his ingenious recourse to fictional interviews, he succeeds in conveying both the scientific stakes and the human complexity of one of the greatest adventures of mankind. (Olivier Darrigol, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

An ambitious and highly engaging book that is also a very major contribution to the history of modern cosmology. (Robert Smith, University of Alberta)

A rich and highly imaginative narrative that uses fictional interviews as the platform for the story, which has a fine historiographical style and is presented with flair. This is an absorbing and different approach to the history of cosmology. (Simon Mitton, University of Cambridge)

This is an outstanding book, suitable for the numerous leisure (or pleasure) historians in the astronomy community. (Simon Mitton, The Observatory)

How did our modern picture of the universe come into being? Masters of the Universe tells this fascinating story in an unusual format that blends factual and fictional elements. It is based on a series of interviews that a fictional person conducted with leading astronomers and physicists between 1913 and 1965. Among the interviewed scientists are giants such as Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, and George Gamow, but also scientists who are less well known today or not primarily known as cosmologists such as Karl Schwarzschild, Paul Dirac, and Svante Arrhenius.

By following the interviews the reader gets a lively and "almost authentic" impression of the problems that faced this early generation of cosmologists. Although the interviews are purely fictional, a product of the author's imagination, they could have taken place in just the way that is described. They are solidly based on historical facts and, moreover, supplemented with careful annotations and references to the literature. In this way the book bridges the gap between scholarly and popular history of science.