Einstein's Universe Gravity at Work and Play

by Zee, A.

• ISBN13: 9780195142853
• ISBN10: 0195142853
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

On Albert Einstein's seventy-sixth and final birthday, a friend gave him a simple toy made from a broomstick, a brass ball attached to a length of string, and a weak spring. Einstein was delighted: the toy worked on a principle he had conceived fifty years earlier when he was working on his revolutionary theory of gravity--a principle whose implications are still confounding physicists today. Starting with this winning anecdote, Anthony Zee begins his animated discussion of phenomena ranging from the emergence of galaxies to the curvature of space-time, evidence for the existence of gravity waves, and the shape of the universe in the first nanoseconds of creation and today. Making complex ideas accessible without oversimplifying, Zee leads the reader through the implications of Einstein's theory and its influence on modern physics. His playful and lucid style conveys the excitement of some of the latest developments in physics, and his new Afterword brings things even further up-to-date.

Author Biography

A. Zee is a permanent member at the Institute for Theoretical Physics and Professor of Physics at the University of California in Santa Barbara

Table of Contents

Preface to the Oxford Edition	vii
Preface	ix
Prologue: The Apple and te Moon	xv
PART I THE RISE OF GRAVITY	1	(46)
An Old Man's Toy	3	(15)
Hastening Through Space and Time	18	(14)
The Mighty Shall Be Weak	32	(15)
PART II THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE	47	(56)
Outward Bound	49	(21)
Darkness at Night	70	(15)
From the Big Chill to the Big Bang	85	(18)
PART III STRUCTURES OUT OF THE VOID	103	(86)
The Universe Begets Matter	105	(18)
The Rich Get Richer	123	(11)
From Hair Whorls to the Edge of Creation	134	(21)
Ghost Riders in the Sky	155	(20)
Crowned with a Halo	175	(14)
PART IV THE MYSTERY OF GRAVITY	189	(56)
The Fall and Rise of Gravity	191	(20)
The Music of Strings	211	(20)
The Thinking Man and the Laughing God	231	(14)
Afterword	245	(10)
Notes	255	(20)
Index	275