Empire of the StarsEmpire of the Stars
Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes
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Book, 2005
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Current format, Book, 2005, , Available . Offered in 0 more formatsA history of the idea of "black holes" explores the tumultuous debate over the existence of this now well-accepted phenomenon, focusing particular attention on Indian scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
Released in time for the centenary of Einstein's publication of the famous paper on relativity, this history of the idea of "black holes" explores the tumultuous debate over the existence of this now well-accepted phenomenon, focusing particular attention on Indian scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. 20,000 first printing.
One could imagine their names alone, Subrahmanyan Chandasekhar and Sir Arthur Eddington, said quite a bit about the source of their conflict. That gut instinct proves true in many respects, especially in the distinct world of the academy in the 1930s. Chandasekhar ("Chandra") strongly believed he could describe black holes mathematically. Eddington strongly believed he had more than just the stars on his side, but also the whole of Western society. In a confrontation at the Royal Astronomical Society Eddington roundly castigated Chandra for presuming to believe his own mathematics in opposition to the better work done by someone like Eddington. Chandra endured years of torment, while Eddington rested easy, sure he had nipped both faulty science and upstart Indians in the bud, unaware he had set back astrophysics about 50 years. Along with his able text Miller (history, U. College, London) includes fascinating photographs of the players. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
In August 1930, on a voyage from Madras to London, a young Indian looked up at the stars and contemplated their fate. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar--Chandra, as he was called--calculated that certain stars would suffer a strange and violent death, collapsing to virtually nothing. This extraordinary claim, the first mathematical description of black holes, brought Chandra into direct conflict with Sir Arthur Eddington, one of the greatest astrophysicists of the day. Eddington ridiculed the young man's idea at a meeting of the Royal Astronomy Society in 1935, sending Chandra into an intellectual and emotional tailspin--and hindering the progress of astrophysics for nearly forty years.
Empire of the Stars is the dramatic story of this intellectual debate and its implications for twentieth-century science. Arthur I. Miller traces the idea of black holes from early notions of "dark stars" to the modern concepts of wormholes, quantum foam, and baby universes. In the process, he follows the rise of two great theories--relativity and quantum mechanics--that meet head on in black holes. Empire of the Stars provides a unique window into the remarkable quest to understand how stars are born, how they live, and, most portentously (for their fate is ultimately our own), how they die.
It is also the moving tale of one man's struggle against the establishment--an episode that sheds light on what science is, how it works, and where it can go wrong. Miller exposes the deep-seated prejudices that plague even the most rational minds. Indeed, it took the nuclear arms race to persuade scientists to revisit Chandra's work from the 1930s, for the core of a hydrogen bomb resembles nothing so much as an exploding star. Only then did physicists realize the relevance, truth, and importance of Chandra's work, which was finally awarded a Nobel Prize in 1983.
Set against the waning days of the British Empire and taking us right up to the present, this sweeping history examines the quest to understand one of the most forbidding phenomena in the universe, as well as the passions that fueled that quest over the course of a century.
Released in time for the centenary of Einstein's publication of the famous paper on relativity, this history of the idea of "black holes" explores the tumultuous debate over the existence of this now well-accepted phenomenon, focusing particular attention on Indian scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. 20,000 first printing.
One could imagine their names alone, Subrahmanyan Chandasekhar and Sir Arthur Eddington, said quite a bit about the source of their conflict. That gut instinct proves true in many respects, especially in the distinct world of the academy in the 1930s. Chandasekhar ("Chandra") strongly believed he could describe black holes mathematically. Eddington strongly believed he had more than just the stars on his side, but also the whole of Western society. In a confrontation at the Royal Astronomical Society Eddington roundly castigated Chandra for presuming to believe his own mathematics in opposition to the better work done by someone like Eddington. Chandra endured years of torment, while Eddington rested easy, sure he had nipped both faulty science and upstart Indians in the bud, unaware he had set back astrophysics about 50 years. Along with his able text Miller (history, U. College, London) includes fascinating photographs of the players. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
In August 1930, on a voyage from Madras to London, a young Indian looked up at the stars and contemplated their fate. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar--Chandra, as he was called--calculated that certain stars would suffer a strange and violent death, collapsing to virtually nothing. This extraordinary claim, the first mathematical description of black holes, brought Chandra into direct conflict with Sir Arthur Eddington, one of the greatest astrophysicists of the day. Eddington ridiculed the young man's idea at a meeting of the Royal Astronomy Society in 1935, sending Chandra into an intellectual and emotional tailspin--and hindering the progress of astrophysics for nearly forty years.
Empire of the Stars is the dramatic story of this intellectual debate and its implications for twentieth-century science. Arthur I. Miller traces the idea of black holes from early notions of "dark stars" to the modern concepts of wormholes, quantum foam, and baby universes. In the process, he follows the rise of two great theories--relativity and quantum mechanics--that meet head on in black holes. Empire of the Stars provides a unique window into the remarkable quest to understand how stars are born, how they live, and, most portentously (for their fate is ultimately our own), how they die.
It is also the moving tale of one man's struggle against the establishment--an episode that sheds light on what science is, how it works, and where it can go wrong. Miller exposes the deep-seated prejudices that plague even the most rational minds. Indeed, it took the nuclear arms race to persuade scientists to revisit Chandra's work from the 1930s, for the core of a hydrogen bomb resembles nothing so much as an exploding star. Only then did physicists realize the relevance, truth, and importance of Chandra's work, which was finally awarded a Nobel Prize in 1983.
Set against the waning days of the British Empire and taking us right up to the present, this sweeping history examines the quest to understand one of the most forbidding phenomena in the universe, as well as the passions that fueled that quest over the course of a century.
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