Product Description

One of the world's leading astronomers, Robert Kirshner, takes readers inside a lively research team on the quest that led them to an extraordinary cosmological discovery: the expansion of the universe is accelerating under the influence of a dark energy that makes space itself expand. In addition to sharing the story of this exciting discovery, Kirshner also brings the science up-to-date in a new epilogue. He explains how the idea of an accelerating universe - once a daring interpretation of sketchy data - is now the standard assumption in cosmology today. This measurement of dark energy - a quality of space itself that causes cosmic acceleration - points to a gaping hole in our understanding of fundamental physics. In 1917, Einstein proposed the "cosmological constant" to explain a static universe. When observations proved that the universe was expanding, he cast this early form of dark energy aside. But recent observations described first-hand in this book show that the cosmological constant - or something just like it - dominates the universe's mass and energy budget and determines its fate and shape. Warned by Einstein's blunder, and contradicted by the initial results of a competing research team, Kirshner and his colleagues were reluctant to accept their own result. But, convinced by evidence built on their hard-earned understanding of exploding stars, they announced their conclusion that the universe is accelerating in February 1998. Other lines of inquiry and parallel supernova research now support a new synthesis of a cosmos dominated by dark energy but also containing several forms of dark matter. We live in an extravagant universe with a surprising number of essential ingredients: the real universe we measure is not the simplest one we could imagine. This book invites any reader to share in the excitement of a remarkable adventure of discovery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #727481 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-11
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 312 pages

Review
Kirshner is a talented writer, and both experts and general readers will find his book a consistently enjoyable read... The Extravagant Universe is a personal book... For the general reader interested in the excitement of how science is done, this strategy makes for a fascinating account... The story ... is irresistible in its own right, and is related with verve and good humor... Books like this one will help inspire the next generation of physicists. -- Sean Carroll Nature An extravagant and thoroughly enjoyable account of our amazing universe. -- Michael S. Turner Science Robert Kirshner has written an excellent insider's account of the race to discover the fate of the cosmos... Kirshner shows an impressively deft touch with complex explanations, and he doesn't hesitate to bridge gaps in the reader's knowledge with an apt metaphor... The Extravagant Universe delivers the promise of its subtitle extremely well, and should serve as the definitive insider's story of how Kirshner led his motley group of astronomers to glory in their search to find the fate of the universe. -- Donald Goldsmith Natural History Fellow astronomers--and generations of Harvard undergraduates--have long appreciated [Kirshner] as a raconteur of exceptional eloquence, so it is hard to imagine anyone better suited to give us the inside story on the new discoveries. [He] does not disappoint. He tells, in large part, a story of how improved technology has enabled astronomers to look farther into the distance and thus further into the past. -- Laurence Marschall Discover Magazine The Extravagant Universe is hugely enjoyable... It's wonderful ... an entertaining and witty account of one of the biggest scientific stories of the past 10 years: how exploding supernovae show that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating... Do buy this delightful book. -- Michael Rowan-Robinson New Scientist More than one book already exists about this momentous discovery, but this new entry, The Extravagant Universe, by Robert Kirshner, is probably the best one to read... This is an insiderA's account of how the work was done. Besides giving an up-to-the-minute account of the science, Mr. Kirshner lets us share vicariously in the thrill of discovery. The Economist [A] witty new book. -- Sharon Begley Wall Street Journal A pleasure to read. -- Maggie McDonald New Scientist The Extravagant Universe isn't the only accessible book about dark energy and cosmic acceleration on the market. However, it provides a unique behind-the-scenes feeling for the heady days leading up to the discovery. I found it ever harder to put down as I drew closer to the crucial moment when Kirshner and his colleagues found themselves staring the cosmological constant in the face. -- Joshua Roth Sky & Telescope Talented researcher Kirshner clearly describes the scientific detective work responsible for current ideas about the history of the universe... Kirshner has been at the forefront of these developments... He brings everything together using simple, effective, and often humorous analogies and anecdotes to explain how research teams interact as they built the chronology of how the universe developed and evolved to where it is today. Choice The gripping story of how two competing groups of scientists came to make, and finally believe, the surprising measurements on which a radical new view of the universe depends... It is an evocative reminder that cosmology, too, is now a true observational, experimental science, securely grounded in the messy practical realities of making measurements. -- Michael Riordan The New York Times Book Review [A] delightful and accessible book... And Kirshner's unique combination of after-dinner-style repartee and physics-for-novices analogies makes for a very entertaining read. -- Richard Ellis Physics World An insider's scoop on what is arguably the hottest astronomy story of our time. Kirshner has written a book that is not only history of modern cosmology, but also a case study in the scientific process... Kirshner uses wonderfully simple and sometimes amusing analogies to explain complicated concepts. -- Jennifer Birriel Mercury A wonderfully informative and engaging book on one of the most exciting developments in modern cosmology. -- Alex Filippenko Astronomy A readable, entertaining, and informative account of an ancient and familiar--yet newly reinvigorated--branch of science. -- James Case SIAM News I loved this book. Kirschner writes with passion, humanity and generosity. -- Margaret Dobbins The Daily Telegraph Kirshner's book represents a high point in popular science publishing. It works at several levels, especially the personal, in which he offers a well-written, even classic, account of the life of a working scientist... The Extravagant Universe is a book that will be read for pleasure... Kirshner has a real gift for visualizing the shape and structure of the universe. -- Martin Ince Times Higher Education Supplement The first eight chapters provide an introduction to cosmology at the level of Astronomy 101... That tale is often told, but seldom so engagingly. The analogies are apt, the anecdotes are amusing, and the writing is brisk and witty--in places downright funny... Kirshner succeeds in conveying the difficulty and excitement of the hunt for remote supernovae. -- David Branch Physics Today

About the Author
Robert P. Kirshner is Clowes Professor of Science and Master of Quincy House at Harvard University. He teaches Harvard's large undergraduate course "Matter in the Universe" and is the author of more than 200 scientific publications. President of the American Astronomical Society, he has also written for "National Geographic, Natural History, Scientific American", and "Sky & Telescope".

Customer Reviews

happy reading
I expected this book to be a fascinating account of Kirshner's (and his team's) investigation of supernovae and the big cosmological questions, and it is certianly that. What I didn't expect was that this book would be wonderfully well written and frequently very entertaining. Kirshner writes with the lightest touch and great wit, makes complex astrophysics crystal clear without condescending to his reader and without clumsy analogies, he is charmingly self-deprecating and a wry observer of the world of physicists. The Extravagant Universe is unputdownable.

Fascinating...
Robert Kirshner's book, `The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Cosmos', is another in a series of interesting texts on cosmology written essentially for those who are science-illiterate, or at least only somewhat informed, and who wish to know some of the key insights and discoveries of our time regarding astronomy. Particularly at the end of this text, where Kirshner explains the importance of this kind of scientific research (why would the government or private agencies want to spend money on research that has little if anything to do with addressing the desires of humanity, encapsulated by Kirshner, as wanting to `rich, safe and immortal'?) for the average person - it is not just for intellectual fancy or whim, but the long-term implications of understanding the universe can affect our lives in ways we can't even contemplate today.

Kirshner's narrative looks at many of the key discoveries, controversies, and personalities of the field of astrophysics, theoretical physics and cosmology in the twentieth century. Kirshner lays the groundwork not with Einstein (as so many texts do) but rather goes behind Einstein to the earlier work of Gauss and Riemann, with mathematics that, at the time, would not have been considered useful in the ways Einstein's general relativity made it. Kirshner looks at observation (Hubble Telescope, observations of background radiation through various methods, etc.) as well as theoretical conjectures to show the strand of thinking from the early universal constructs to present day theories.

Kirshner traces the history of recent astronomy and cosmology through researchers in history such as Einstein and Hubble as well as persons he knows personally and professionally at work in the field today. Particularly in the last half-to-third of the book, where Kirshner brings in this personal level of acquaintance with the people involved, the science comes alive in a very human way. Kirshner is good at showing the limitations, as well - sometimes you just get lucky, or your gifts complement others. With regard to Hubble and Hale, for example, Kirshner recounts the evidence that they did not really understand Einstein's general relativity or the mathematics of his cosmological thinking; nonetheless, they continued their observational researches, and when Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe, Kirshner states that you don't have to know all of the mathematical and technical details involved in science, but rather `you just have to face in the right direction and go forward' with those things that you can do!

Some of the key concepts Kirshner develops include the life-cycle of stars, the overall shape and structure of the universe, the idea of dark matter/dark energy that has gone unknown for so long, and the ideas of reaching back to the origins of the universe and drawing conclusions for the acceleration of the universal expansion. Kirshner does not develop the areas of planetary science or solar-system type ideas in this text except very peripherally - this is a book for grand topics on a cosmic scale indeed.

The book is very readable and accessible to any with an advanced high-school or undergraduate beginning ability in science. How could it not be, given an author whose mis-spent youth watching `Rocky and Bullwinkle' cartoons is confessed in the endnotes? There are technical terms, and (gasp!) even a few equations thrown in here and there, but understanding the narrative is not dependent upon being able to process the equations. There are colour plates in the centre, with other black-and-white photographs and images throughout. In keeping with the non-technical nature of the text, endnotes are kept to a minimum, and recommended readings are few.

An interesting text, and a very good subject.

Einstein daemon awakens!
We could very well start presenting this book as a piece of work that will reveal to you the immense strangeness that lies in our Universe. It is generally known that Einstein considered the Cosmological Constant introduced in the General Relativity field equations as his greatest blunder after Hubble have shown the expansion of the Universe. Well, even if this story is much of an anecdote and that probably no one ever heard or seen it written by Einstein, as Kirshner also reveals in his book, it summarizes very well the feelings most physicists have regarding that constant. We were used to consider our Universe as a place full of matter and energy that is expanding, and because of gravitational attraction between the mass bodies it gradually slows down. Two major possibilities arise for the ultimate fate of the Universe, either it expands forever, or reverses the cycle and starts contracting ending in what is called the Big Crunch, depending on its density. This is what was frequently taught about 10 to 15 years ago. Now, you can start forgetting all that. In the last years a series of observations have shown increasing pieces of evidence that have no place in such a conceptual model. Therefore, astrophysicists and cosmologists started to rewrite that story. One of the pieces of evidence is that, contrary to common belief, the Universe is not slowing down its expansion, is actually accelerating it! Isn't gravity an attractive force, always?! Well, yes… so the answer seems to be to consider a non-zero value for the Einsteins's cosmological constant. And what does that constant mean? Physicists consider it as a measure of the energy of the vacuum, and contrary to gravity it acts as a repulsive force! And where does that come from? Actually nobody knows! Besides, dark matter, a yet unknown form of matter that appears to exist in our Universe (we feel it but do not see it!) seems to be a potential candidate. Thrilled? Then the best thing to do is to pick up this book and read it. There, Robert Kirshner will delight you with the description of these marvellous discoveries, especially the efforts his group and others have put into the analysis of high redshift supernova (far away supernova stars) that allowed them to demonstrate that the Universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate in the past billion years. My statement may be risky but, in the same way relativity theory and quantum mechanics have signalled the major scientific revolutions in the 20th century, also cosmology will revolutionize science for the 21st century. That is the feeling one gets reading about these exciting discoveries. Do not miss the next developments!