Masks of the Universe

by Harrison, Edward

• ISBN13: 9781107402621
• ISBN10: 110740262X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-24
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

In Masks of the Universe, Edward Harrison brings together fundamental scientific, philosophical and religious issues in cosmology and raises thought provoking questions. Philosophical issues dominated cosmology in the ancient world. Theological issues ranked foremost in the Middle Ages; astronomy and the physical sciences have taken over in more recent times. Yet every attempt to grasp the true nature of the universe creates a new "mask," People have always pitied the universes of their ancestors, believing that their generation has at last discovered the "real" universe. Do we now stand at the threshold of knowing everything, or have we created yet another "mask," doomed to fade like those preceding ours? Edward Harrison is Adjunct Professor of Astronomy, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, and Emeritus Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He worked as a scientist for the Atomic Energy Research Establishment and the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory in England until 1966 when he became a Five College professor at the University of Massachusetts and taught at Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith College. He is the author of numerous books, including Cosmology: the Science of the Universe (Cambridge, 2001)

Table of Contents

Preface

Introducing the masks

Worlds in the Making

The magic Universe

The mythic Universe

The geometric Universe

The medieval Universe

The infinite Universe

The mechanistic Universe

The Heart Divine

Dance of the atoms and waves

Fabric of space and time

Nearer to the heart's desire

The cosmic tide

Do dreams ever come true?

The Cloud of Unknowing

The witch universe

The spear of Archytas

All that is made

The cloud of unknowing

Learned ignorance

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