The Cosmic Century: A History of Astrophysics and Cosmology

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Cambridge University Press, 2006 M06 15 - 545 pages
The twentieth-century witnessed the development of astrophysics and cosmology from subjects which scarcely existed to two of the most exciting and demanding areas of contemporary scientific inquiry. In this book Malcolm Longair reviews the historical development of the key areas of modern astrophysics, linking the strands together to show how they have led to the extraordinarily rich panorama of modern astrophysics and cosmology. While many of the great discoveries were derived from pioneering observations, the emphasis is upon the development of theoretical concepts and how they came to be accepted. These advances have led astrophysicists and cosmologists to ask some of the deepest questions about the nature of our Universe and have pushed astronomical observations to the very limit. This is a fantastic story, and one which would have defied the imaginations of even the greatest story-tellers.
 

Contents

Section 1
3
Section 2
23
Section 3
100
Section 4
125
Section 5
154
Section 6
173
Section 7
175
Section 8
177
Section 19
281
Section 20
317
Section 21
319
Section 22
321
Section 23
327
Section 24
343
Section 25
365
Section 26
368

Section 9
187
Section 10
190
Section 11
216
Section 12
237
Section 13
240
Section 14
244
Section 15
249
Section 16
257
Section 17
258
Section 18
269
Section 27
369
Section 28
380
Section 29
387
Section 30
388
Section 31
395
Section 32
412
Section 33
416
Section 34
425
Section 35
429
Section 36
433

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About the author (2006)

Malcolm Longair is Emeritus Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy and Director of Development at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He has held many highly distinguished positions within physics and astronomy and has served on and chaired many international committees, boards and panels, working with both NASA and the European Space Agency. He has received much recognition for his work, including the Pilkington Prize of the University of Cambridge for Excellence in Teaching and a CBE in the millennium honours list for his services to astronomy and cosmology. His previous well-received books for Cambridge University Press include Theoretical Concepts in Physics (2003), The Cosmic Century: A History of Astrophysics and Cosmology (2005) and High Energy Astrophysics (2011).

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