From the acclaimed author of Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space--an authoritative, wholly accessible, fascinating guide to the most challenging phenomena of contemporary science, which is now the anchor of our understanding of the cosmos. Throughout her career, astrophysicist Janna Levin has focused, alongside her research, on making the science she studies not just accessible, but, perhaps more important, intriguing to the nonscientist. And that is what she has done again here, helping us to understand the black hole: perhaps the most opaque theoretical construct ever imagined by physicists. She explains how their existence came to be proven decades after they were first predicted in Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity. And she explores the ways in which what we know about them has changed our most basic understanding of the galaxy, the universe, the whole expanse of reality that we inhabit. Lively, engaging and utterly unique, Black Hole Survival Guide is not just informative. It is as well, a wonderful read from first to last
Janna Levin Volgorde van de boeken (chronologisch)
Janna Levin is een professor in de natuurkunde en astronomie wiens wetenschappelijk onderzoek zich verdiept in het vroege universum, chaos en zwarte gaten. Ze overbrugt meesterlijk complexe wetenschappelijke concepten met boeiende proza, waardoor de kosmos toegankelijk wordt voor een breed publiek. Haar schrijven wordt gekenmerkt door een unieke mix van persoonlijke reflectie en rigoureus wetenschappelijk onderzoek, waarbij ze vaak epistolaire formaten en levendige beelden gebruikt om de diepste mysteries van het universum te verkennen. Levin's onderscheidende stem nodigt lezers uit op een reis door de uitgestrektheid van de ruimte en de complexiteit van de geest.





Black Hole Blues
- 241bladzijden
- 9 uur lezen
"In 1916, Einstein became the first to predict the existence of gravitational waves: sounds without a material medium generated by the unfathomably energy-producing collision of black holes. Now, Janna Levin, herself an astrophysicist, recounts the story of the search, over the last fifty years, for these elusive waves--a quest that has culminated in the creation of the most expensive project ever funded by the National Science Foundation ($1 billion-plus). She makes clear the how the waves are created in the cosmic collision of black holes, and why the waves can never be detected by telescope. And, most revealingly, she delves into the lives and fates of the four scientists currently engaged in--and obsessed with--discerning this soundtrack of the universe's history. Levin's account of the surprises, disappointments, achievements, and risks of this unfolding story provides us with a uniquely compelling and intimate portrait of the people and processes of modern science"--
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
- 240bladzijden
- 9 uur lezen
In a saga of genius, madness, and seminal scientific accomplishment, a physicist obsessed with logician Kurt Gödel and mathematician Alan Turing chronicles the lives of both men in parallel narratives that reveal each man's great achievements and sorry deaths. Reprint.
How the Universe Got Its Spots
- 224bladzijden
- 8 uur lezen
"Is the universe infinite or just really big? With this question, cosmologist Janna Levin announces the central theme of this book, which established her as one of the most direct, unorthodox, and creative voices in contemporary science. As Levin sets out to determine how big "really big" may be, she offers a rare intimate look at the daily life of an innovative physicist, complete with jet lag and the tensions between personal relationships and the extreme demands of scientific exploration."--