Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos - Tapa dura

"Extremely well researched. . . . According to Natarajan, the word 'universe' may be on the verge of its most radical redefinition yet."-Marcus Chown, Times Higher Education "I am studying the big picture as thrillingly projected in Mapping the Heavens, a strikingly lucid account of the expansion, not just of the universe, but of the way we have tried to understand it, from the Babylonians to black holes and dark matter."-Richard Holmes, "By the Book," New York Times Book Review "By introducing the major players behind each discovery, Natarajan adds a lively human touch to her discussion, reinforcing the dynamism of a field that 'fans human curiosity and is driven by it as well.'"-Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Natarajan bring a philosophical and well-informed historical depth to [her topic], consistently tying them in the theme of her passion for mapping. . . . She deals with subjects that are extremely complex but makes them very clear, and the book is packed with well-researched facts."-Hazel Muir, BBC Sky at Night "Mapping the Heavens is more than a simple skip through the development of the understanding of our universe. It maps, using both allegorical and literal maps, the change in man's perception of the universe. . . . Exciting stuff."-Colin How, Methodist Recorder "A tour de force of the cosmos . . . an instructive and thought-provoking exploration of the connections, tensions and mishaps that so often accompany scientific venture."-Lionel London, Physics World Won an Honorable Mention in the Cosmology and Astronomy category for the 2017 American Publishers Awards for Professional & Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) Priyamvada Naterajan is the winner of the 2018 Gustav Ranis International Book Prize for Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas that Reveal the Cosmos. "Mapping the Heavens gives a highly readable, insider's view of recent discoveries in astronomy with unusual attention to the instruments used and the human drama of the scientists."-Alan Lightman, author of The Accidental Universe and Einstein's Dream "This excellent book describes the boisterous debates and hard slog whereby our current understanding of the cosmos has emerged. It's especially welcome as a faithful portrayal of how science is actually done."-Martin Rees, author of Just Six Numbers "Priyamvada Natarajan's love affair with the heavens began in childhood, continues with her notable work in astrophysics, and is now enhanced with this insightful overview of the hottest topics in astronomy today-including black holes, dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets. Moreover, she traces how these ideas struggled to get accepted, providing the reader with an excellent peek at how science gets done."-Marcia Bartusiak, author of Black Hole and The Day We Found the Universe "Part history, part science, all illuminating. If you want to understand the greatest ideas that shaped our current cosmic cartography, read this book."-Adam G. Riess, Nobel Laureate in Physics, 2011 "Here is an authoritative guide to the major cosmological breakthroughs of the past century. Natarajan writes as an accomplished guide to contemporary astronomy including dark matter and dark energy."-Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

For all curious readers, a lively introduction to radical ideas and discoveries that are transforming our knowledge of the universe This book provides a tour of the "greatest hits" of cosmological discoveries-the ideas that reshaped our universe over the past century. The cosmos, once understood as a stagnant place, filled with the ordinary, is now a universe that is expanding at an accelerating pace, propelled by dark energy and structured by dark matter. Priyamvada Natarajan, our guide to these ideas, is someone at the forefront of the research-an astrophysicist who literally creates maps of invisible matter in the universe. She not only explains for a wide audience the science behind these essential ideas but also provides an understanding of how radical scientific theories gain acceptance. The formation and growth of black holes, dark matter halos, the accelerating expansion of the universe, the echo of the big bang, the discovery of exoplanets, and the possibility of other universes-these are some of the puzzling cosmological topics of the early twenty-first century. Natarajan discusses why the acceptance of new ideas about the universe and our place in it has never been linear and always contested even within the scientific community. And she affirms that, shifting and incomplete as science always must be, it offers the best path we have toward making sense of our wondrous, mysterious universe.