Three Hundred Years of Gravitation

by Stephen Hawking, W. Israel

Overview

To commemorate the 300th anniversary of the publication of Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Stephen Hawking and Werner Israel assembled a series of unique review papers by many of the world's foremost researchers in cosmology, relativity, and particle physics. The resulting volume reflects the significant and exciting advances that have been made in these fields since the editors' acclaimed volume, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey (CUP 1979). Newton's immense contribution to the physical sciences is assessed, and its relevance to today's physics made clear. The international group of contributors then chart the major developments in the study of gravitation, from Newtonian gravity to black hole physics. In the fields of galaxy formation, inflationary and quantum cosmology, and superstring unification, the book provides important overviews written by workers involved in the many advances described. By shaping such a wide-ranging and scholarly series of articles into a cohesive whole, the editors have created a fitting and lasting memorial to the man who continues to inspire scientists the world over.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521379762
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/30/1989
Pages:	708
Sales rank:	714,586
Product dimensions:	6.77(w) x 9.65(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Stephen Hawking (b. Jan. 8, 1942 - d. Mar. 14, 2018) was a renowned English physicist whose research on black holes, general relativity, and quantum mechanics revolutionized human understanding of the cosmos. He held Isaac Newton's chair as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and authored several books including Black Holes and Baby Universes, The Grand Design, and the ground-breaking bestseller A Brief History of Time. A film adaptation of his life story, The Theory of Everything, was released in 2014 based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity by his first wife Jane Hawking.

Hometown:

Cambridge, England

Date of Birth:

January 8, 1942

Date of Death:

March 14, 2018

Place of Birth:

Oxford, England

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Newton's Principia S. W. Hawking; 2. Newtonianism and today's physics S. Weinberg; 3. Newton, quantum theory and reality R. Penrose; 4. Experiments on gravitation A. H. Cook; 5. Experimental gravitation from Newton's Principia to Einstein's general relativity C. M. Will; 6. The problem of motion in Newtonian and Einsteinian gravity T. Damour; 7. Dark stars: the evolution of an idea W. Israel; 8. Astrophysical black holes R. D. Blandford; 9. Gravitational radiation K. S. Thorne; 10. The emergence of structure in the universe: galaxy formation and dark matter M. J. Rees; 11. Gravitational interactions of cosmic strings A. Vilenkin; 12. Inflationary cosmology S. K. Blau and A. H. Guth; 13. Inflation and quantum cosmology A. Linde; 14. Quantum cosmology S. W. Hawking; 15. Superstring unification J. H. Schwartz; 16. Covariant description of canonical formalism in geometrical theories C. Crnkowic and E. Witten; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...the papers in this collection show us that it [the study of gravitation] is exciting, provocative and stimulating..." Physics Today

"..[I] have not found a comparable compilation of valuable information on the current status of general relativity." American Scientist

From the Publisher