Albert Einstein's Vision : Remarkable Discoveries That Shaped Modern Science

by PARKER, BARRY R.

• ISBN13: 9781591021865
• ISBN10: 1591021863
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-01
• Publisher: Prometheus Books

Summary

In clear and eloquent language, Parker helps us appreciate the breadth and richness of Einstein's vision, discussing the renowned scientist's lesser-known contributions, from Einstein's theories supporting time travel, to his research on curved space, the cosmological constant, black holes, wormholes, gravity waves, and cosmic lenses, to quantum theory, and beyond. Parker also discusses Einstein's reluctant connection with atomic weapons, his pacifist philosophy, his quest for the elusive unified theory that occupied thirty years of his life, and the relationship of his work to the recent 'hot' area of superstrings.

Author Biography

Barry Parker is an award-winning science writer and the author of thirteen highly acclaimed popular science books, He served as a professor of physics at Idaho State University from 1967 to 1997

Table of Contents

Preface	11	(2)
Introduction	13	(10)
Twists in the Fabric of Space	23	(22)
The Yearbook Article	24	(3)
The Equivalence Principle	27	(1)
To Prague	28	(2)
The Rotating Disk Paradox	30	(4)
Back to Switzerland	34	(3)
To Berlin	37	(2)
The Breakthrough	39	(3)
The Warping of Space	42	(1)
The Annalen der Physik Paper	43	(2)
Expanding to Space: History of the Cosmological Constant	45	(30)
De Sitter's Universe	47	(3)
Friedmann's Universe	50	(3)
Lemaitre's Universe	53	(1)
Slipher and Hubble	54	(7)
The Big Bang	61	(5)
Inflation Theory	66	(2)
Dark Matter	68	(1)
The Accelerating Universe	69	(3)
Quintessence	72	(1)
Alternate Theories	72	(2)
What Would Einstein Think?	74	(1)
Black Holes, Wormholes, and Other Demons	75	(26)
Never-Ending Collapse	79	(4)
After the War	83	(2)
Collapse to a Black Hole	85	(1)
The No-Hair Theorem	86	(2)
Space-Time Diagrams	88	(4)
The Penrose Process and More	92	(1)
Primordial Black Holes	93	(2)
Exploding Black Holes	95	(2)
White Holes	97	(1)
Into a Black Hole	98	(2)
Einstein's Influence	100	(1)
The Mystery of Time and Time Travel	101	(18)
The River of Time	103	(1)
Einstein's Time	104	(2)
Is Time Travel Possible?	106	(1)
Sagan and Thorne	106	(5)
Transforming to a Time Machine	111	(2)
Other Methods for Time Machines	113	(1)
Casuality and Paradox	113	(2)
Problems	115	(1)
Where are the Visitors from the Future?	116	(1)
Einstein's Vision	117	(2)
Ripples in the Curvature of Space	119	(20)
Weber	122	(3)
Others Look for the Waves	125	(1)
Sources of Gravitational Waves	126	(2)
Taylor and Hulse	128	(2)
Weiss and Drever	130	(1)
The Interferometer Detector	131	(1)
Kip Thorne and the Initiation of LIGO	132	(2)
LIGO	134	(1)
GEO 600, VIRGO, and TAMA 300	135	(1)
Next-Generation Detectors	136	(1)
Einstein's Legacy	137	(2)
Gravity's Cosmic Lenses	139	(14)
Structure of a Gravitational Lens	140	(1)
Early Predictions	141	(1)
Discovery of the First Gravitational Lens	142	(2)
Gravitational Lens Surveys	144	(1)
Determination of the Hubble Constant	144	(2)
The Cosmological Constant	146	(1)
Einstein Rings	146	(1)
Giant Arcs and Arclets	147	(2)
Microlensing of Quasars and Stars	149	(1)
Extrasolar Planets	150	(1)
Cosmic Strings	150	(1)
The Future	151	(2)
Einstein's Quantum Legacy	153	(18)
The Double-Slit Experiment	155	(2)
Einstein and Bohr	157	(1)
EPR	158	(2)
Entanglement	160	(2)
Bell's Inequality	162	(1)
Shimony, Horne, and Clauser	162	(3)
Alain Aspect and Others	165	(1)
Teleportation	165	(3)
Faster Than the Speed of Light	168	(1)
Einstein's Quantum Vision	169	(2)
Superbombs	171	(16)
E = mc2	171	(1)
Meitner, Hahn, and Nuclear Fisson	172	(3)
The Letter	175	(1)
Heisenberg's Bomb	176	(1)
The American Bomb	177	(1)
To Norway	178	(1)
The Manhattan Project	179	(1)
The Continuing German Threat	180	(1)
Einstein's Role	181	(1)
The Hydrogen Bomb	182	(4)
Einstein's Reaction	186	(1)
Other Einstein Insights	187	(16)
Bose	188	(2)
Einstein's Response	190	(1)
Bose-Einstein Condensate	191	(3)
Einstein's Inventions	194	(3)
Masers and Lasers	197	(3)
Einstein's Photons	200	(1)
Atoms and Molecules	201	(1)
Brownian Motion	202	(1)
Dreams of a Unified Theory	203	(18)
The First Unified Field Theories	204	(2)
The Problem	206	(6)
Three Routes to Quantum Gravity	212	(2)
Loop Quantum Gravity	214	(1)
The Black Hole Connection	215	(3)
The Hologram Connection	218	(1)
Einstein and the Latest Developments	219	(2)
Strings and Superstrings	221	(16)
The Beginnings	221	(3)
The Standard Model	224	(1)
The First String Quantum Gravity Theory	225	(1)
The Schwarz-Green Breakthrough	226	(1)
The First String Revolution	227	(1)
String Interactions	228	(2)
Supersymmetry	230	(2)
Adding More Dimensions	232	(1)
A Plethora of Theories	233	(1)
Testing the Theory	234	(3)
Beyond Superstrings: M-Theory	237	(14)
The Standard Approach: Perturbation Theory	238	(3)
The Second Superstring Revolution	241	(2)
Link to Supergravity	243	(1)
Small-Large Dualities	244	(1)
M-Theory	245	(1)
P-Branes and the Brane World	246	(1)
Another Black Hole Connection	247	(1)
Holograms and Branes	248	(1)
The Final Consensus	249	(2)
Epilogue	251	(4)
Notes	255	(10)
Glossary	265	(8)
Bibliography	273	(6)
Index	279