Einstein's Dream: The Search For A Unified Theory Of The Universe

by Barry Parker

Overview

The author chronicles the search for . . . a theory to explain all natural fields and their interaction with particles. . . . Lives and contributions of physicists and cosmologists, starting with the pioneers of scientific cosmology in the 19th century, are described. Topics range from Maxwell's discovery of the laws of magnetic fields to Hawking's work on black hole physics. A concluding chapter looks at the current state of unified field theory. (Sci Books Films)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738205755
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	07/30/2001
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1080L (what's this?)

About the Author

Barry Parker, Ph.D, is an award-winning science writer and the author of eleven highly acclaimed books in popular science, including Alien Life, Cosmic Time Travel, Einstein's Dream, and Einstein's Brainchild.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1	The Goal	1
	The Search for Meaning	8
	Einstein's Dream	17
Chapter 2	Warped Space-Time	21
	Curved Space	26
	Einstein and Warped Space-Time	29
	Extreme Warping	46
Chapter 3	Early Unified Field Theories	41
	Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field	50
	Early Attempts at Unification	61
	Einstein's Unified Field Theory	66
Chapter 4	Star Death	73
	Eddington	74
	The Life Cycle of a Star	79
	Chandrasekhar and the White Dwarfs	84
	Beyond the White Dwarf	89
	Reflection	95
Chapter 5	The Ultimate Abyss: The Black Hole	97
	Oppenheimer and Continuing Collapse	100
	Collapse of a Star to a Black Hole	107
	Inside a Black Hole	110
	Other Types of Black Holes	112
	Searching for Black Holes	114
	Other Black Hole Candidates	118
	A Realistic Look at the Exotic Possibilities	120
	Where the Theory Breaks Down	124
	The Discovery of Evaporating Black Holes	126
	The Link between General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics	131
Chapter 6	The Early Universe	133
	Discovery of the Expanding Universe	134
	Back to the Big Bang	154
	The Ultimate Singularity	156
	Inflation	159
	The Hadron Era	159
	The Lepton Era	161
	The Radiation Era	161
	The Cosmic Background Radiation	162
	The Galaxy Era	166
	Reflection	168
Chapter 7	Cosmological Controversy	171
	The Age of the Universe	174
	The Redshift Controversy	181
	Rival Cosmologies	186
	Varying G Cosmologies and Cosmic Numbers	191
	Antimatter and Other Cosmologies	193
	Other Universes	195
Chapter 8	The Final Fate of the Universe	199
	The Missing Mass	201
	Other Methods of Determining if the Universe Is Open or Closed	206
	Fate of the Closed Universe	208
	Bounce	209
	Fate of the Open Universe	211
Chapter 9	The World of Particles and Fields	213
	Dirac's Equation	217
	The Infinities	220
	Renormalization	222
	Yukawa	230
	Gauge Theory	233
	The Weak Interactions	237
	Quantum Chromodynamics	241
	Summary and Further Subdivision	249
Chapter 10	A Unified Theory of the Universe	253
	Supergravity and Superstrings	263
	Twistors and Heaven (H Space)	268
Chapter 11	Epilogue	271
	The Future	273
	The New Einstein	274
	Further Reading	277
	Index	279