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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $33.95

Format:
Paperback
256 pp.
13 black and white halftones, 129 mm x 196 mm

ISBN-13:
9780199533619

Publication date:
March 2008

Imprint: OUP UK


The Infinite Cosmos

Questions from the frontiers of cosmology

Joseph Silk

In The Infinite Cosmos Joseph Silk takes the reader on a tour of the universe, past, present, and future, showing how the very latest observations and theories are unlocking clues about its origin and structure: X-ray, radio, and high-energy views of space are revealing fossil radiation left over from the big bang and providing us with unprecedented views of the most distant reaches of the universe. Theories from the frontiers of current research seek to explain its structure from the first moments to the present day, and we are beginning to understand its extraordinary nature and possible fate.

This is a story involving the visible and the invisible; subatomic particles and unusual forces; long ages of darkness and spectacular and violent events. It tells of supernovae, dark matter, dark energy, curved spacetime, colliding galaxies, and supermassive black holes. Weaving the ideas of poets and writers as well as scientists into the story, from Kant and Keats to Einstein and Lemaître, Silk explains our present state of knowledge, and how much more there is to understand about our infinite cosmos.

Readership : General readers of popular science, particularly those with an interest in astronomy and cosmology.

Reviews

  • `Review from previous edition This book packs so much into a decidedly finite space. Silk covers everything you might hope to find in a book by one of the world's leading cosmologists, and much more besides... Accessible and informative.'
    Peter Coles, Nature
  • `This is an outstanding work, suited to readers of all ages and all backgrounds, and is recommended without the slightest hesitation.'
    Patrick Moore, THES

1. Introduction
2. Perspectives
3. Principles
4. Our neighbourhood
5. The universe of galaxies
6. The invisible cosmos
7. Supermassive black holes and the birth of galaxies
8. Clusters and clustering
9. Space is nearly flat
10. Dark energy and the runaway universe
11. The panacea of cold dark matter
12. Origins
13. The seeds of structure
14. Beyond the beginning
15. Towards the infinite universe
16. From time to time machines
17. A brief moment in time
18. Into the infinite future
19. And so to God
20. Where next?
Index

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Joseph Silk is Savilian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford. He has published a number of books on cosmology for the general reader, including <i>The Big Bang</i> (W. H. Freeman), <i>The Left Hand of Creation</i> (with J. D. Barrow, published by Oxford University Press), and <i>On the Shores of the Unknown</i> (Cambridge University Press).

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Special Features

  • A thought-provoking tour through the cosmos, guided by renowned cosmologist and science writer Joseph Silk
  • Explains the most recent discoveries in cosmology, from high-energy views of space, to dark energy and supermassive black holes
  • In parallel with accessible explanations of the science, Silk weaves the ideas of writers, poets and philosophers into the story, reflecting on the progress of science, the implications of our discoveries, and our perpetual fascination with the Universe