The Accelerating Universe: Infinite Expansion, the Cosmological Constant, and the Beauty of the Cosmos - Hardcover

Livio, Mario

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 047132969X ISBN 13: 9780471329695

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2000

Synopsis

Advance Praise for The Accelerating Universe "The Accelerating Universe is not only an informative book about modern cosmology. It is rich storytelling and, above all, a celebration of the human mind in its quest for beauty in all things." ?Alan Lightman, author of Einstein?s Dreams "This is a wonderfully lucid account of the extraordinary discoveries that have made the last years a golden period for observational cosmology. But Mario Livio has not only given the reader one clear explanation after another of what astronomers are up to, he has used them to construct a provocative argument for the importance of aesthetics in the development of science and for the inseparability of science, art, and culture." ?Lee Smolin, author of The Life of the Cosmos "What a pleasure to read! An exciting, simple account of the universe revealed by modern astronomy. Beautifully written, clearly presented, informed by scientific and philosophical insights." ?John Bahcall, Institute for Advanced Study "A book with charm, beauty, elegance, and importance. As authoritative a journey as can be taken through modern cosmology." ?Allan Sandage, Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washingto

About this title

About the Author

MARIO LIVIO, Ph.D., is head of the science program at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which conducts the scientific program of the Hubble Space Telescope. He is a world-recognized expert on topics ranging from dramatic explosions like novae, supernovae, and gamma-ray bursts to compact astronomical objects like white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. He has published over 300 scientific papers and has lectured to the public about discoveries in astronomy and cosmology all across the globe.

From the Back Cover

Advance Praise for The Accelerating Universe "The Accelerating Universe is not only an informative book about modern cosmology. It is rich storytelling and, above all, a celebration of the human mind in its quest for beauty in all things." —Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dreams "This is a wonderfully lucid account of the extraordinary discoveries that have made the last years a golden period for observational cosmology. But Mario Livio has not only given the reader one clear explanation after another of what astronomers are up to, he has used them to construct a provocative argument for the importance of aesthetics in the development of science and for the inseparability of science, art, and culture." —Lee Smolin, author of The Life of the Cosmos "What a pleasure to read! An exciting, simple account of the universe revealed by modern astronomy. Beautifully written, clearly presented, informed by scientific and philosophical insights." —John Bahcall, Institute for Advanced Study "A book with charm, beauty, elegance, and importance. As authoritative a journey as can be taken through modern cosmology." —Allan Sandage, Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington

From the Inside Flap

"If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing and life would not be worth living." —Jules Henri Poincaré In one of the most surprising and important findings in cosmology in the century, astronomers recently discovered that the universe may be expanding at an ever-increasing rate. This discovery of an "accelerating universe" stunned many cosmologists because it directly contradicts their most deeply held beliefs about the evolution and fate of the universe. The discovery has therefore ignited a new revolution in cosmology in which scientists are wrestling anew with the most fundamental questions and revisiting ideas that were dismissed long ago. As leading astrophysicist Mario Livio explains in this elegantly written and timely book, most cosmologists have long believed that the universe will expand at a gradually decreasing rate until the expansion effectively stops. In this pleasing scenario, the universe is perfectly poised between expanding into oblivion or collapsing in a "big crash" and will continue on in this miraculously balanced state for eternity. The discovery that the expansion appears in fact to be speeding up—and therefore that the universe will keep expanding faster and faster for infinity—throws the view of a perfectly balanced "beautiful universe" into question. Even more troubling, it threatens the cherished belief that the fundamental laws governing the cosmos are in themselves exquisitely "beautiful," a belief that has always been a guiding light of discovery in cosmology. What can explain this accelerated expansion? Does the universe have much less mass than originally thought? Is there some exotic unknown force, or new kind of energy, causing acceleration? Was Einstein’s "greatest blunder"—his idea of a cosmological constant—the right idea after all? What will the ultimate fate of the universe be? Must there be beauty in all good theories of the cosmos? Or are some of the laws governing the universe "ugly"? In an entertaining and lively exploration of the answers to all of these questions, Mario Livio introduces readers to the "old cosmology," which culminated in the view of the perfectly balanced universe, and then presents all of the ideas being explored by cosmologists in the "new cosmology" as they come to terms with the discovery of acceleration. Offering extraordinarily clear explanations of all the key concepts and theoretical ideas, Livio is a marvelous guide through this most exciting frontier in science today.

Reviews

One of the most important recent discoveries in cosmology--and science in general--is that the expansion rate of the universe is not staying steady or getting slower, as most scientists had assumed; on the contrary, it is accelerating. Something is counteracting gravity and making it so that in billions of years, the universe will be an even vaster, emptier realm, filled with stars and galaxies flickering out one by one until there is only darkness. In this book, Livio, a senior scientist at Baltimore's Space Telescope Science Institute, evaluates current theories about the universe in terms of whether or not they are "beautiful." Livio defines beauty for purely scientific purposes: a beautiful scientific theory, he explains, must be symmetric and simple (reductionist), and it must follow the Copernican principle that man is not the center of the universe--it need not be elegant. Livio's discussion, however, carefully constructed (like a well-laid-out mathematical proof), certainly is elegant. Readers who only hazily remember high school math and science classes will enjoy the author's clear, jargon-free explanation of such complicated astronomical concepts as inflationary theory, "pocket" or multiple universes and the anthropic principle. Although the opening chapters are weighed down with extraneous references to art and literature, once Livio gets into his subject, he employs such references more selectively. Any educated individual interested in current theories about the past and future of the universe will want to read this lucid book. 10 b&w photos and drawings. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

At least since Copernicus exulted over the beguiling simplicity of a sun-centered planetary system, scientists have counted the beauty of a theory as strong evidence of its truth. But beauty offers little guidance to the astronomers now scrambling to revise theories battered by new evidence of a universe expanding with undreamed-of speed. No one better understands this disturbing new evidence than Livio, who helps direct research conducted with the Hubble Telescope. With laudable clarity, he explains how the latest data are straining the long-standing assumptions of cosmologists, who are now forced to contemplate a universe in which the energy in empty space is unexpectedly dominating matter in pushing the galaxies toward frigid oblivion. Far more than a puzzle for specialists, the struggle to re-interpret the cosmos raises fundamental questions about the human craving for order: Does this craving reflect deep cosmic harmonies that helped create our species? Or does it simply defy an irreducible chaos that we would rather not confront? Livio probes these questions with a daring sufficient to satisfy the hungriest curiosity. Bryce Christensen

Like Donald W. Goldsmith's The Runaway Universe (LJ 1/00), this is a survey of modern cosmology, with an emphasis on recent observations that the universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating speed. But while Goldsmith focuses on the techniques of astronomical research, Livio, a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, concentrates on scientific aesthetics. He argues that a fundamental theory of the universe must be beautiful--symmetrical, reductionist, and compliant with the generalized Copernican principle (i.e., assuming no special circumstances)--even though an eternally expanding universe appears to violate the requisites for scientific beauty. Along the way, Livio often digresses, recounting sometimes irrelevant anecdotes about astronomers or works of art. Superbly accessible explanations of physical and astronomical concepts compensate, however. More appropriate for general readers than Goldsmith's book, this is recommended for public and academic libraries.
-Nancy Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 047132969X
• ISBN 13: 9780471329695
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 274