What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decades ago, a young physicist named Stephen Hawking claimed that it did-and in doing so put at risk everything we know about the fundamental laws of the universe. Leonard Susskind and Gerard "'t Hooft realized the threat and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics. The Black Hole War is the thrilling story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking's theories of black holes with their own sense of reality-an effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong and Susskind and "'t Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space.
One hundred years ago, scientists would have said that lasers, televisions, and the atomic bomb were beyond the realm of physical possibility. In PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, the renowned physicist Michio Kaku explores to what extent the technologies and devices of science fiction that are deemed equally impossible today might well become commonplace in the future.
From teleportation to telekinesis, Kaku uses the world of science fiction to explore the fundamentals–and the limits–of the laws of physics as we know them today. In a compelling and thought-provoking narrative, he explains: How the science of optics and electromagnetism may one day enable us to bend light around an object, like a stream flowing around a boulder, making the object invisible to observers "downstream;" How ramjet rockets, laser sails, antimatter engines, and nanorockets may one day take us to the nearby stars; How telepathy and psychokinesis, once considered pseudoscience, may one day be possible using advances in MRI, computers, superconductivity, and nanotechnology; Why a time machine is apparently consistent with the known laws of quantum physics, although it would take an unbelievably advanced civilization to actually build one.
Kaku uses his discussion of each technology as a jumping-off point to explain the science behind it. An extraordinary scientific adventure, PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE takes listeners on an unforgettable, mesmerizing journey into the world of science that both enlightens and entertains.
Have you ever gone outside at night to admire the stars? And wonder what they all are, and what stories they have to tell? Esteemed professor and astronomer James B. Kaler guides the listener through the sights of the naked eye sky, wherein we directly witness the effects of the turning and revolving of the Earth, the artistry painted by the human mind using the sky and stars, and how the view changes with time and with our place on the planet.
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Irgendwie geschah es wirklich: Jesus Christus wurde geboren.
Ein Gespräch zwischen Theologie und Physik
Thomas Schwartz und Harald Lesch nehmen die Weihnachtsgeschichte auseinander
- theologisch
- historisch
- naturwissenschaftlich.
Am Ende bleibt die Botschaft des Kindes in der Krippe: ' Fürchtet Euch nicht!'
On October 4, 1957, a time of Cold War paranoia, the Soviet Union secretly launched the Earth's first artificial moon. No bigger than a basketball, the tiny satellite was powered by a car battery. Yet, for all its simplicity, Sputnik stunned the world.
Based on extensive research in the US and newly opened archives in the former USSR,
Red Moon Rising tells the story of five extraordinary months in the history of technology and the rivalry between two superpowers. It takes us inside the Kremlin and introduces the Soviet engineer Korolev, the charismatic, politically-minded visionary who motivated Khruschev to support what others dismissed as a ridiculous program. Korolev is virtually unknown to most Americans, yet it is because of him that NASA exists, that college loan programs were started in the US, and that Kennedy and Johnson became presidents.
Character driven, suspenseful, and dramatic, Red Moon Rising unveils the politics, people, science, and mindset behind a critical and transformative world event.
An incredible true-life adventure set on the most dangerous frontier of all–outer space
For a special breed of individual, the call of space is worth the risk it entails: men such as U.S. astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox, and Russian flight engineer Nikolai Budarin, who in November 2002 left on what was to be a routine fourteen-week mission maintaining the International Space Station.
But then, on February 1, 2003, the Columbia exploded beneath them. With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts had suddenly lost their ride home.
TOO FAR FROM HOME chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and Moscow as they work frantically against the clock to bring their men safely back to Earth.
Chris Jones writes beautifully of the majesty and mystique of space travel, while reminding us all how perilous it is to soar beyond the sky.
From the Compact Disc edition.
Traditional scientific determinism has suggested that the natural world is regular and predictable, and that timeless and universal nature is best understood by studying its parts in isolation. For centuries scientists have viewed nature in terms of the conceptual and mathematical tools available—like the regular shapes of Euclidean geometry. But chaos theory suggests that nature is unpredictable and irregular, and that it is better understood by studying the complex and unstable interactions among nature’s many components. Nature’s order and pattern is seen in a complex-looking geometric shape called the fractal, whose fundamental importance was discovered by Benoit Mandelbrot; these well-defined (yet not completely knowable) shapes pervade nature. We see and understand new patterns in what once seemed too complicated to explain—yet uncertainty is complete, inevitable,and necessary.
Science is becoming more rooted in the particular circumstances of time and place. Natural processes are seen to be less smooth and linear than once thought; life itself seems to thrive on non-linearity, in the conditions of far-from-equilibrium systems. The scientist Ilya Prigogine has produced insights into how some natural objects are “self-organizing”. Others have explored how patterns in the exchange of information form a logical or symbolic level of life known as “emergent computation”.
Astronomy is perhaps the oldest science. The ancients saw cosmic meanings in the stars, and they organized their lives around lunar and solar cycles (i.e. the month and year). They also observed the solstices, the equinoxes, and of course the four seasons. Over many centuries the “precession of the equinoxes” corrupted Julius Caesar’s ancient calendar (the Julian calendar); in 1586 it was replaced with the Gregorian calendar, which features the system of leap years we know today. Aristotle’s earth-centered (“geocentric”) system of crystalline spheres dominated astronomy for 2000 years. Aristarchus in 270 B.C. was ahead of his time in suggesting that the sun is at the center of the universe, and that the earth spins like a top. Eratosthenes (ca. 200 B.C.) calculated the size of the earth; Hipparchus (2nd century B.C.) calculated the distance to the moon and established a system of latitudes and longitudes. Ptolemy (1st century A.D.) published the great compilation of astronomical knowledge (the Almagest), and he offered the epicycle theory to explain new observations not explained by the geocentric theory of the universe. In 1543, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus overturned the geocentric theory by publishing a book on his heliocentric (sun-centered) theory. Johannes Kepler soon joined the great astronomer Tycho Brahe, systematizing Tycho’s observations with calculations proving that orbits are elliptical. Kepler also established his three great laws of celestial motion. Galileo improved the telescope and discovered many new astronomical features; his work publicly discredited the geocentric doctrine, leading to the famous recantation forced upon him by the church. Galileo’s celestial and terrestrial discoveries laid the foundation for the great advances and discoveries of Isaac Newton.
The concept of the atom'the smallest physical building block of nature'has been around at least since ancient Greece. Leucippus and Democritus conceived of a mechanical or physical atom; in the Middle Ages the Islamic philosophers Ibn Rushd and Agostino Nifo added a chemical role to atomic theory. In the 17th century, Descartes' mechanical philosophy extended the idea of a corpuscle moving in a 'plenum'; and Robert Boyle suggested the possibility of subatomic particles. During the 18th and 19th centuries, atomic theory was involved in the growing understanding of chemistry and in debates about whether light is made of particles or waves. Atoms also were used to theoretically explain electricity, especially after J.C.Maxwell in 1873 showed that light, electricity, and magnetism are all forms of electromagnetic radiation. J.J. Thompson discovered the electron in 1897, stimulating interest in the internal structure of the atom. Prominent models of the atom included Kelvin's vortex model (1867), Thompson's plum pudding model (1904), and Rutherford's nuclear model (1911). Experimental and theoretical problems began to undermine classical physical theory, and in 1900 Max Panck postulated the 'quantum''a smallest possible unit of energy. Energy thus became 'atomized'; in 1905. Einstein's studies of the photoelectric effect suggested that light itself is atomized. In 1912, Neils Bohr created an atomic model that has 'rings' of orbiting electrons, thus accommodating quantum theory and the latest experimental results. Continued elaboration of this model produced what's called the 'Copenhagen Interpretation'; this conception of the atom explains experimental results yet it abandons precise definition of atomic behavior, abandons classical continuity in favor of quantum discontinuity, uses statistics rather than unambiguous definition, and abandons many traditional notions of determinism and causality.
For most of history, the beginning of the universe has been understood through the many myths offered in various cultures. But in the modern age, scientific cosmology has emerged to offer new explanations for the beginning and evolution of the universe. By 1900, religious and scientific conceptions of creation were widely seen as incompatible. In the 15th century, Nicholas of Cusa anticipated modern relativistic physics by suggesting that the universe has no center, no circumference, and no beginning or end. In the 20th century, Edwin Hubble used statistical analysis to prove that the universe is infinite. Modern cosmology suggests that there are 200 billion billion stars in the universe, including a variety of structures such as the nova, supernova, nebula, quasar, white dwarf, neutron star, pulsar, and black hole. The behavior of stars is governed by the physics of nuclear combustion and gravitation; our theories about stars depend upon advances in particle physics to explain the nuclear reactions that appear to explain star behavior. Edwin Hubble also discovered that the universe is expanding, which tended to confirm the conception that the universe began with a "big bang". Various theories have suggested that the universe either is in a steady state, that it is inflating, that it may be oscillating, or perhaps even winding down.
A must for any serious Trekker or for anyone who wants an easy-to-understand introductionto the world of physics.
What exactly "warps" when you are traveling at warp speed? Whatis the difference between the holodeck and a hologram? What happens whenyou get beamed up? Are time loops really possible, and can I kill my grandmotherbefore I was born?
Until now, fans of Star Trek were hard pressed to find answers tovital questions such as these. Now Lawrence M. Krauss,an internationally known theoretical physicist and educator, has writtenthe quintessential physics book for Trekkers and non-Trekkers alike.
Anyone who has ever wondered, "Could this really happen?" willgain useful insights into the Star Trek universe (and, incidentally,the real universe) in this charming and accessible volume. Krauss boldlygoes where Star Trek has gone -- and beyond. He uses the StarTrek future as a launching pad to discuss the forefront of modern physics.From Newton to Hawking, from Einstein to Feynman, from Kirk to Janeway,Krauss leads the reader on a voyage to the world of physics as we now knowit and as it might one day be.
This is a vibrant collection of essays on the cosmos from the nation's best-known astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, renowned for his ability to blend content, accessibility, and humor. Here he covers astral life at the frontiers of astrobiology to the movie industry's feeble efforts to get its night skies right.
