The Search for the Alpha and Omega - Softcover

Charles Seife

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553814699 ISBN 13: 9780553814699

Publisher: Transworld Paperbacks, 2004

Synopsis

Since A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME scientists have been in the midst of a revolution in cosmology. Gradually, astronomers and physicists are answering questions that have plagued mankind since prehistory: how was the universe born, how will it end? As we are now able to peer ever more closely into the cradle of the universe, so we are increasingly able to envisage its grave. By the middle of this decade, scientists will be able to provide some of the answers. These will be among the greatest triumphs of science. This book tells that story and will reveal results of the most advanced experiments in cosmology ever conducted. It's also an intensely human story - a tale of men solving the insoluble, of the controversy and intense competition abd rivalry between individuals and laboratories pursuing the same goal. Even more thrillingly - it is a lucid explanation of new scientific ideas that stretch our powers of understanding to their highest levels, and beyond.

About this title

About the Author:

A graduate of Yale University in Mathematics, Charles Seife's areas of research include probability theory and artificial intelligence. His journalism includes articles for The New Scientist, The Economist, and Scientific American among others. His first book, Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea, won the PEN Award for Non-fiction.

From Publishers Weekly:

Did the universe really begin with a bang, and will it end with a whimper? Well-known science journalist Seife gives a comprehensive survey of "theories of everything" from the ancients to the latest discoveries. He explains why some scientists now theorize that the universe may have begun-and may end-with a "big splat," and explains the "ekpyrotic scenario," which says a parallel universe, like a giant membrane, may be floating toward our universe. The recent, highly publicized discovery that the universe is expanding at an ever faster rate seems to support this idea. Another theory of everything that is sure to be encountered more and more frequently in magazines and newspapers is "M-theory," which combines the weird worlds of supersymmetry and string theory. According to supersymmetry, every particle has a twin superpartner endowed with very different properties than familiar subatomic particles. This helps solve the question of where the missing matter in the universe is, since the baryonic particles that we are able to detect make up only 5% of the total. String theory postulates the existence of membranes unimaginably minuscule and curled up in multiple dimensions. Seife also explains how large-scale projects in Louisiana and other sites are aimed at detecting gravity waves, one of the holy grails in science. In an appendix, he lays odds on which scientists look destined to win a Nobel Prize for their discoveries and the areas of research that we will probably see in tomorrow's headlines. In short, Seife provides lucid explanations of very complicated topics for the science buff or well-rounded general reader.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Transworld Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0553814699
• ISBN 13: 9780553814699
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 359