by Marcus Chown
Royal Observatory, Berlin 68
Royal Society 29, 149, 228, 235
Rubin, Vera 78, 80, 236
Rutherford, Ernest 248
St Paul’s Cathedral 28, 32
Sagittarius A* 160
Salam, Abdus 32, 229
Salyut space station 102
Sands, Matthew 26, 238
Sargasso Sea 57, 207
SatNav 126
Saturn 7, 59, 64, 73–4, 76, 88, 232
Sauter, Josef 107, 118
Schucking, Engelbert 241
Schulman, Lawrence 166–7, 247
Schwarzschild, Karl 152–4, 244
Schwarzschild radius 154
Scott, Dave 120–2
Schrödinger, Erwin 181, 218
Schrödinger equation 181–2, 204, 218–19
Schwarz, John 206
Seelig, Carl 237, 242
selectron 197
Serbia 136, 147
Severn
bore 37–8, 44, 67
estuary 37–8
river 36, 40
Shakespeare, William 31, 36, 39, 221, 230
Shaw, George Bernard 28
Sheehan, William 234
Shoemaker, Caroline 234
Simmons, Dan 161, 245
singularity 152, 154–6, 158, 160, 167–9, 191, 209, 218, 244
singularity theorems 168–9
Sistine chapel 31
smartphone 126
Smolin, Lee 220, 242, 252
solar system 9–10, 19, 33, 56–7, 59–64, 68, 70–2, 74, 76, 78–9, 82–5, 88–9, 132, 140, 146, 165, 232, 236–7
age of 225, 235
definition of 225
formation of 225–6, 235
long-term instability of 234
Solovine, Maurice 240
space
absolute 32, 104–6, 113, 130
disintegration of 215–17, 251, 254
nature of xvn, 215
space-time xvi, 108–10, 112, 125–6, 131, 173, 191–2, 194, 209, 252
warped xvi, 117, 123, 125–30, 134–5, 138, 140–4, 153–4, 160–2, 166, 188–9, 201–2, 211, 216, 242–4
10-dimensional 203, 208
spectrograph 78, 235
spectrum 165, 211, 238, 247, 254
Spock, Mr 88
spring 38, 40, 44, 65
Stalin 251
Standard Model of particle physics 198–9, 201, 203, 207, 214, 221–2
star xvi, 7–9, 13, 16, 20, 22, 31, 33, 54, 64–6, 68–70, 74, 76–80, 85, 87–8, 114, 117, 119, 127, 129, 131, 134, 144, 146, 148, 153–60, 163, 167–70, 174, 197, 211–14, 220, 222, 225, 235–6, 241, 244–7, 255
star ship 224
Star Trek 82, 88, 105
Star Trek tractor beam 114
Stark, Johannes 115
stars
immense distance of 70
Steady State theory 167, 246
Steve’s apple 4
string theory 199–206, 208–9, 213, 217–20, 241, 253
birth of 253
first revolution 206
second revolution 206
string vacua 203
Strominger, Andrew 213, 254
Stukeley, 'William 3–4, 225
sub-sizar 6
summer 44, 65, 228
sun
debris disc surrounding newborn sun density compared with moon 230
surface temperature of 237
total eclipse of 52–3, 56, 84, 87, 146–8, 230
sunspot 86, 237
superconductor 253
supersymmetry 81, 197, 201, 203–4, 255
Super Earth 76
Surowitz, Eugene 241
Sussman, Gerry 228
Susskind, Leonard 213–14, 216–17
Suez Canal 157
Sundrum, Raman 207–8, 253
supernova 134, 159
superstring theory (see string theory)
Swiss Federal Patent Office 98, 115, 118, 135–6
Swiss Federal Polytechnic 98, 100, 109, 134–6
Sydney 86
symmetry 206
Taj Mahal 32
Tardis 143
tau particle 199
2001: A Space Odyssey 125
Taurus, constellation of 73
Taylor, Joseph 134
telescope, astronomical
invention of xvi, 9, 48, 131
reflecting 29
refracting 29
Telstar satellite 165
Temple of Solomon 34
tensor
curvature 143
stress-energy 143, 243
Thales of Miletus 9
Theia 57
Theory of Everything 209, 241–2
TGV 231
The Vintner’s Luck 3, 225
thermal equilibrium 174
thermodynamics 212
thermodynamics, second law 166, 212
Theta Cancri 87
Thomson, George 181
Thomson, J. J. 181
Thonnard, N. 236
thorium 62
Thorne, Kip 132–3, 212, 224, 240, 256
Thuban 66
Thurber, Steven 234
t’Hooft, Gerard 212–14
tides xvii, 36–67
effect of on lep beam 47
in ocean xvii, 36–45
in rock 45–8
in wells 45–6
on Io 59–61
on the moon 48–50
time
absolute 104, 113, 130
arrow of 166–7
relativistic dilation of 102–4
time machine xvii, 82, 224
Tombaugh, Clyde 62
Tombaugh Regio 62
Tong, David 191, 203
Toronto 189
torque 226
Townsend, Paul 204, 207
Transient Lunar Phenomena 48–50
transit 85–6
Trinity College, Cambridge 26, 29
Trinity, the 34
Trotta, Roberto 93, 237
Tuchschmid, August 94
Turok, Neil 169, 208–9
U-boat 144
Uhuru satellite 160
Ulm 135
ultraviolet light 174
ultraviolet catastrophe 174–6, 219
universal law 21, 113
universe
age of 80–1, 164, 214, 254
big bang 162
cyclic 208–9
expanding 163, 166
holographic 213–14
horizon of 213–14
observable 214
origin of XV, xvii, 223
parallel xvii
what is it? Xvii
uranium 49, 62, 164, 196
Uranus 72–4, 79, 84, 89, 222
Ursa Minor, constellation of 66
Vafa, Cumrun 231, 254
Van Raamsdonk, Mark 215–17, 254
Vasileiou, Vlasios 251
vector boson 190, 198
velcro 103
velocity 14, 32
Veneziano, Gabriele 200, 253
Venus 7, 71, 73, 82–4
phases of 9
Vesta 236
Villard, Paul 248
virtual particle 188, 210
Voyager 1 space probe 59
Vulcan 82, 86–9, 141, 150, 170, 222, 243
warp drive xvii
Washington DC 87
Watson, James Craig 87
wave
sine 186, 249–50
wavelength 174, 176–7, 186, 202, 204, 237–8, 248–50
wave function 182, 218
wave-particle duality 155, 180–1, 184, 218
wave, probability (see also wave function) 182, 218
Weber, Joe 242
Weinberg, Steven 252
Weiss, Rainer ‘Rai’ 132
Westminster Abbey 150
Weyl, Hermann 110
Westley, Kieran 230
Wheeler, John 129, 143, 152–153, 188, 216, 221, 239^10, 244
white dwarf 127, 155–9
Williams, Roy H. 200, 253
window pane
reflection of light by 178–80
transmission of light by 178–80
Wigner, Eugene 226
Winteler, Marić 93–4
winter 44, 65
Wilson, Robert 165–7
Witten, Edward 202, 204
Wolchover, Natalie 251
Woolsthorpe Manor 3–5, 7, 10
world line 110
World Wide Web xvii
wormhole 216–17, 224
Wren, Christopher 28–9, 108
Wright brothers 87
Wright, Orville 243
Wright, Stephen 154
X-rays 175, 248, 251
discovery of 89, 174
Yellowstone Park 60
Young, Thomas 95, 237, 249
Z-ino 252
Zangger, Heinrich 242
Zeppelin 144
Zodiac 65, 225
Zurich 93, 98–100, 106, 109, 118, 134–7, 140, 238, 240
Zwicky, Fritz 79–80
THE ASCENT OF GRAVITY
Pegasus Books. Ltd.
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Copyright © 2017 by Marcus Chown
First Pegasus Books hardcover edition November 2017
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