The Accelerating Universe: Infinite Expansion, the Cosmological Constant and the Beauty of the Cosmos (Wiley Popular Science) [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Within the last few years, tremendous progress have been made in the field of cosmology. The most notable of them is the determination of the non-zero lambda, which implies that the Universe will not only expand for ever, but it will do so with an ever-increasing speed. These results have mostly come from observations of supernovae in far-away galaxies, mainly using the Hubble Space Telescope. This concept of accelerating Universe is the central theme of Livio's book, and he has done an excellent job in conveying the sometimes esoteric ideas in a surprisingly simple and elegant manner. I very much enjoyed the book, and as a professional astronomer, I can attest to the fact that Livio has maintained all the rigor of correctness of the concepts, in all his attempts to simplify them. This book is a welcome contrast the numerous other similar books in the market in at least two significant respects. First, there is a constant underlying theme, namely, the beauty. The author is in constant search for beauty and elegance in ALL physical theories. Being an 'art-fanatic', he points out the eye-opening similarities between the beauty in the physical theories, and the beauty in the art. Even in the outwardly ugly theory of a cosmology with a positive lambda, which Eistein suggested as the 'greatest blunder of my life', the author does not give up his search for an underlying beauty, and paints a remarkable picture of beauty and splendor. Second, the book is up-to-date in its content and authoritative in its style. Although the book is written in a popular style, the author, being an active researcher in the field, takes the reader right into the most advanced current research topics in the field. And he does so with an inimitably lucid style, with umpteen every day examples, which brings even the difficult mathematical concepts within easy grasp of the reader. The book is very informative and a real pleasure to read.

This book deserves far more than 5 stars.

Astrophysics is a subject that I stay current with about every three years or so. What a pleasant surprise it was to learn form this book that remarkable advances have occurred since my last visit to the starry science. Unless you read in this area regularly, you will find this update informative and fascinating.

This book will also change your thinking in fundamental ways about what qualities scientific theories and knowledge should contain, as well as your ideas about the nature of reality and the future of the universe. That's a lot of benefit from one book.

Two concepts are developed side by side in this book in an intertwined way, not unlike the two strands of DNA. The first concept is what we should look for in a rewarding scientific view of the world. The author argues for a concept of beauty in scientific theories and knowledge. This is not an aesthetic argument, but rather a practical one. When this concept has been pursued, it has advanced knowledge faster than when it was not. Although the point is not fully developed in the book, we should come to expect a symmetry and balance in reality. Whenever those qualities are lacking, we should expect to find them, and should keep looking until we do. The point the author is making is much more complex and powerful than this about scientific knolwedge, but my statement here will be enough to help you begin to understand the book's purpose. I encourage you to read and learn about it for yourself, directly from the author.

The second aspect of the book is looking at current theories about the evolution of the universe since the big bang to consider what has happened and will occur. The scientific concept of beauty is applied here, and you get fascinating glimpses of the latest research from the Hubble Space Telescope and other telescopes around the world.

The arguments build around new thoughts concerning the fundamental nature of matter. The physical explanations are the best I have ever read. I learned more about fundamental particles in this book than in all of the others I have read combined.

What emerges is a fascinating case for the idea that there is a lot of dark matter in the universe that we cannot see. This dark matter serves to repel the light matter, and is causing the expansion of the universe (well known from the red shift phenomenon) to accelerate.

If you are like me, you will develop a lot of fascinating new thoughts from this outstanding book. I also learned that I had better read up on the subject much more often, and plan to do so.

After you have finished with your universal thoughts, I suggest that you also take the author's concept of beauty and apply it to other areas of knowledge where you are familiar. What is missing from the theories and knowledge that your work with? How could experiments be designed to locate those missing elements and expand knowledge, accordingly?

Expand your mind and thoughts in an accelerating way as well!

In one of the most surprising and important discoveries in cosmology of the century, astronomers recently found that the universe may be expanding at an ever-increasing-rather than gradually decreasing-rate. This startling discovery has ignited a new revolution in cosmology in which scientists are wrestling anew with the most fundamental questions and revisiting ideas that were dismissed long ago.

The discovery that the expansion of the universe appears in fact to be speeding up-and therefore that the universe will keep expanding faster and faster for infinity-is troubling as it threatens the long-cherished belief that the fundamental laws governing the cosmos are in themselves perfectly balanced and "beautiful."

What can explain this accelerated expansion? Does the universe have much less mass than originally thought? Is there some exotic unknown force, or new kind of energy, causing acceleration? Was Einstein's "greatest blunder"-his idea of a Cosmological Constant-the right idea after all? What will the ultimate fate of the universe be?

In an entertaining and lively exploration of the answers to all these questions, Mario Livio introduces readers to the "old cosmology" offering lucid explanations of all the key concepts and theoretical ideas pertaining to the Beauty of the Cosmos. He then presents all of the ideas now being explored by cosmologists in the "new cosmology" as they come to grips with the "ugly" discovery of acceleration.

Mario Livio, PhD, is the head of the science programme at the Space Science Institute, which conducts the scientific program of the Hubble Space Telescope. A world-recognised expert on astrophysics, he has published over 300 scientific papers and has lectured to the public about discoveries in astronomy and cosmology all across the globe.