Some 400 years after the first known patent application for a telescope
by Hans Lipperhey, The Astronomy Revolution: 400 Years of Exploring the Cosmos
surveys the effects of this instrument and explores the questions that have
arisen out of scientific research in astronomy and cosmology. Inspired by the
international New Vision 400 conference held in Beijing in October 2008, this
interdisciplinary volume brings together expanded and updated contributions
from 26 esteemed conference speakers and invited others. Looking beyond
questions of science to the role of moral responsibility in human
civilizations, the book offers the unique vantage points of contributions from
both Eastern and Western cultures.
Extensively illustrated in full color, this book consists of six parts. Aimed
at young scientists, the first part presents perspectives on creativity and
technology in scientific discovery. In the second part, contributors examine
how the telescope has impacted our knowledge of the Universe—from the formation
of galaxies to the death of stars. The third part of the book outlines some of
the challenges we face in understanding dark matter, dark energy, black holes,
and cosmic rays, and the fourth part discusses new technologies that will be
useful in attacking new and unresolved questions. The fifth part of the book
examines the intellectual impact that the telescope has had on society in China
and in the West.
The book concludes with an investigation of "big questions": What is
the origin of the laws of physics as we know them? Are these laws the same
everywhere? How do these scientific laws relate to the moral laws of society?
Does what we know depend on cultural ways of asking the questions? Is there
life elsewhere? And what about the questions that science cannot answer?
Celebrating the historical significance of the telescope, this unique book
seeks to inspire all those involved or interested in the enterprise of
astronomy as humankind continues the quest to unveil the heavens.
About
the Authors
Donald
G. York, Chief Editor, is
Horace B. Horton Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at The University of
Chicago. He was the founding director of the Apache Point Observatory in
Sunspot, New Mexico, and of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, one of the most
ambitious collaborative projects ever undertaken by astronomers. He is also the
founder and co-director of the Chicago Public Schools/University of Chicago
Internet Project, a neighborhood schools technology initiative.
Owen
Gingerich, Co-Editor, is Professor
Emeritus of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard University and a
senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics). He is co-author of two successive
standard models for the solar atmosphere and is a leading authority on the
17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler and the 16th-century cosmologist
Nicolaus Copernicus. A world traveler, he has successfully observed 14 total
solar eclipses.
Shuang-Nan
Zhang, Co-Editor, is Professor
and Director of Key Laboratory of and Center for Particle Astrophysics in the
Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as
Research Professor of Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is
also the chief scientist of the Space Science Division of the National
Astronomical Observatories of China and heads the X-ray Imaging Laboratory,
which is leading several space x-ray astronomy missions in China, as well as
the space astronomy program onboard China's Spacelab and Space Station.
Download the book torrent:
Download the password:
0 comments:
Post a Comment