Einstein's Brainchild

by PARKER, BARRY R.SCOFFIELD-BEER, LORI

• ISBN13: 9781591025221
• ISBN10: 1591025222
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2007-04-03
• Publisher: Prometheus Books

Summary

While tracing the story of Einstein's life, Parker seizes on the crucial groundbreaking theories that Einstein envisioned. Parker then guides the reader to the next step in Einstein's revelations: the possibility of time travel.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. 9
Preface	p. 13
Einstein as a Youth	p. 17
The Michelson-Morley Experiment	p. 33
The Ether	p. 35
Michelson	p. 38
The Michelson-Morley Experiment	p. 41
Attempted Explanations	p. 45
Strange Results	p. 46
Special Relativity	p. 47
The Foundations of Special Relativity	p. 49
Consequences of Einstein's Point of View	p. 56
Hey! Where Did All the Mass Come From?	p. 60
Adding Velocities: Two and Two Equals Four...Doesn't It?	p. 62
Maxwell's Theory	p. 64
Energy	p. 64
Waiting for a Reaction	p. 65
Four-Dimensional Space-Time and Time Travel	p. 67
Space-Time Diagrams	p. 69
Time Travel	p. 77
Time Travel and Science Fiction	p. 80
Trip to a Star	p. 81
A Professor at Last	p. 83
General Relativity	p. 85
Inertia and Gravity	p. 87
Einstein as a Professor	p. 91
Professor in a Strange Land	p. 93
Back to Zurich	p. 97
The Big Push	p. 98
To Germany	p. 100
Gravity and Curved Space-Time	p. 103
What is Gravity?	p. 104
The Geometry of Space-Time	p. 105
Spaces with Varying Curvature	p. 109
Einstein's Gravity	p. 110
Tidal Forces	p. 112
Waves of Gravity	p. 115
Gravitational Lenses	p. 118
The Twin Paradox Revisited	p. 118
Testing the Theory	p. 121
Eddington and the 1919 Eclipse	p. 122
Hyperspace	p. 127
The Precession of Mercury's Orbit	p. 128
Clocks in a Gravitational Field	p. 130
Other Theories and Other Tests	p. 134
Tests Using Quasars, Satellites, and Lasers	p. 135
Antigravity	p. 136
Einstein the Celebrity	p. 137
Black Holes and Other Exotic Objects	p. 141
Tunnels in Space	p. 144
Oppie and His Cronies	p. 146
Properties of a Black Hole	p. 150
Are There Other Types of Black Holes?	p. 151
Extraction of Energy	p. 155
Space-Time Diagrams	p. 156
Probing a Black Hole	p. 161
Real Black Holes: The Candidates	p. 163
Mini and Exploding Black Holes	p. 167
Journey Into a Black Hole	p. 169
Time Travel via Wormholes	p. 170
Back to Einstein	p. 173
To the Ends of the Universe	p. 175
More Universes	p. 177
Freidmann	p. 178
The Expanding Universe	p. 180
The Laughing Giant	p. 184
A Competitor	p. 185
Radiation from Everywhere	p. 186
Creation	p. 190
The Forces of Nature	p. 197
Problems of the Big Bang	p. 199
A Lumpy Universe	p. 200
Inflation Theory	p. 202
Fate of the Universe	p. 203
Einstein and Cosmology	p. 205
Searching for the Elusive	p. 207
Working in the Dark	p. 208
Einstein Throws in His Hat	p. 212
What Was the Problem?	p. 215
Final Realization	p. 216
He's Got Guts	p. 218
Stringing Along	p. 220
The Future	p. 223
Quantum Quandary	p. 225
Uncertainty and Reality	p. 230
The EPR Paradox	p. 233
Schrodinger's Cat	p. 235
Bell's Inequality	p. 237
Conclusions	p. 239
Epilogue	p. 241
Notes	p. 247
Glossary	p. 257
Bibliography	p. 269
Index	p. 275
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