Celestial Treasury: From the Music of the Spheres to the Conquest of Space

Lachieze-Rey, Marc; Jean-Pierre Luminet

ISBN 10: 0521800404 / ISBN 13: 9780521800402

Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001

About this Item

207 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Light rubbing and curling to dust jacket, otherwise clean bright copy. Color illustrations throughout. Large book. Record # 4450166.

Seller Inventory # 4450166

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Celestial Treasury: From the Music of the Spheres to the Conquest of Space
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521800404
• ISBN 13: 9780521800402
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Throughout history, the mysterious dark skies have inspired our imaginations in countless ways, influencing our endeavors in science and philosophy, religion, literature, and art. Filled with 380 full-color illustrations, Celestial Treasury shows the influence of astronomical theories and the richness of illustrations in Western civilization through the ages. The authors explore the evolution of our understanding of astronomy and weave together ancient and modern theories in a fascinating narrative. They incorporate a wealth of detail from Greek verse, medieval manuscripts and Victorian poetry with contemporary spacecraft photographs and computer-generated star charts. Celestial Treasury is more than a beautiful book: it answers a variety of questions that have intrigued scientists and laymen for centuries.

How did philosophers and scientists try to explain the order that governs celestial motion?

How did geometers and artists measure and map the skies?

How many different answers have been proposed for the most fundamental of all questions: When and how did Earth come about?

Who inhabits the heavens--gods, angels or extraterrestrials? No other book recounts humankind's fascination with the heavens as compellingly as Celestial Treasury. Marc Lachièze-Rey is a director of research at the Centre National pour la Récherche Scientifique and astrophysicist at the Centre d'Etudes de Saclay. He is the author of The Cosmic Background Radiation (Cambridge, 1999), and and The Quest for Unity, (Oxford, 1999 ), as well as many books in French. Jean-Pierre Luminet is a research director of the Centre National pour la Rechérche Scientifique, based at the Paris-Meudon observatory. He is the author of Black Holes, (Cambridge 1992), as well as science documentaries for television.

About the Authors

Marc Lachièze-Rey is a director of research at the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique and astrophysicist at the Centre d'Etudes de Saclay. He is the author of the The Cosmic Background Radiation (1999), and Cosmology: A First Course (1995), both published by Cambridge University Press, and The Quest for Unity published by Oxford University Press (1999), as well as many books in French.

Jean-Pierre Luminet is a research director of the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique, based at the Paris-Meudon observatory. In addition to many research papers in cosmology, the structure of space-time and relativistic astrophysics, he has written several popular science articles and books (including Black Holes, Cambridge University Press, 1992), as well as science documentaries for television. Beyond his outstanding scientific research, he is also a renowned expert in the history of cosmology, and astronomical art and poetry. His first novel, Le rendez-vous de Vénus, was published in 1999 by JC Lattès.