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The Ascent of Gravity

Page 31

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
r />   Wimbledon 87

  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.

  148 West 37 th Street, 13th Floor

  Now York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2017 by Marcus Chown

  First Pegasus Books hardcover edition November 2017

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or

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  ISBN: 978-1-68177-537-1

  ISBN: 978-1-68177-594-4 (e-book)

  Dstributed by W.W.Norton & Company, Inc.

 

 

 


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