The Unruly Universe: The Struggle to Decipher Our Expanding Cosmos
Adam G. Riess · Donald Goldsmith
Apr 2027 · Harvard University Press - T
Ebook
224
Pages
Tools
info
infoThis book will become available on April 13, 2027. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
How the quest to determine a single number—the expansion rate of the universe—is upending our understanding of the cosmos.
For more than a century, ever since Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are receding from us, cosmologists equipped with powerful space telescopes have sought to pin down the Hubble constant, the rate at which the universe expands. By the start of the twenty-first century, a consensus seemed within reach. Then came a surprise. Measurements of the faint afterglow of the big bang pointed to a significantly slower expansion. The two approaches stubbornly refused to agree.
In The Unruly Universe, Nobel Prize–winning cosmologist Adam G. Riess and science writer Donald Goldsmith chronicle the high-stakes quest to describe the universe with a single number. What emerges is a sobering possibility. The standard model of cosmology—our best account of dark matter, dark energy and gravity, and even cosmic history—may be incomplete.
Abandoning a model that has explained so much would be no small step. But as Riess and Goldsmith show, the universe has no obligation to conform to our expectations. It may be more complex, more surprising, and more unruly than we imagined.
For more than a century, ever since Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are receding from us, cosmologists equipped with powerful space telescopes have sought to pin down the Hubble constant, the rate at which the universe expands. By the start of the twenty-first century, a consensus seemed within reach. Then came a surprise. Measurements of the faint afterglow of the big bang pointed to a significantly slower expansion. The two approaches stubbornly refused to agree.
In The Unruly Universe, Nobel Prize–winning cosmologist Adam G. Riess and science writer Donald Goldsmith chronicle the high-stakes quest to describe the universe with a single number. What emerges is a sobering possibility. The standard model of cosmology—our best account of dark matter, dark energy and gravity, and even cosmic history—may be incomplete.
Abandoning a model that has explained so much would be no small step. But as Riess and Goldsmith show, the universe has no obligation to conform to our expectations. It may be more complex, more surprising, and more unruly than we imagined.
How the quest to determine a single number—the expansion rate of the universe—is upending our understanding of the cosmos.
For more than a century, ever since Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are receding from us, cosmologists equipped with powerful space telescopes have sought to pin down ...
Discover more
About the author
Adam G. Riess is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas J. Barber Professor in Space Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery that the universe’s expansion is accelerating.
Donald Goldsmith has written and edited more than twenty books on astronomy, including Origins with Neil deGrasse Tyson, The End of Astronauts with Martin Rees, and Exoplanets. He was the science editor and cowriter of the PBS television series The Astronomers and the cowriter of NOVA's Is Anybody Out There? with Lily Tomlin.
Adam G. Riess is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas J. Barber Professor in Space Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery that the universe’s expansion is accelerating.
Donald Goldsmith has written and edit...
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
