Book Read Free

Coming of Age in the Milky Way

Page 57

by Timothy Ferris


  Astrophysics, 144, 165, 168, 367

  Asymmetries, 313

  Atomism, 99n, 106

  Atoms

  Bohr model of, 258

  cosmic element abundance curve and, 277

  early-universe theory and, 343

  principal constituents of, 256

  quantum mechanics and, 257

  stellar energy and, 256

  Avoidance effect in nebulae, 166

  Azurara, Gomez Eannes de, 55

  Baade, Walter, 171, 173–174

  Banks, Walter, 134, 135

  Beagle (Darwin’s ship), 229, 232, 233, 235, 239

  Becquerel, Henri, 249, 255

  Bellarmine, Cardinal Robert, 97, 98, 100

  Bernstein, Jeremy, 264

  Beryllium, 276, 278–279

  Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm, 139, 140

  Besso, Michele Angelo, 190, 191, 203

  Beta decay, 264, 312

  Bethe, Hans, 252, 263–264, 278,327

  Big bang, 211, 212, 213, 214, 277, 279

  fusion of elements in, 272–275, 281

  as giant accelerator, 347

  inflationary universe hypothesis and, 359

  particle physics-cosmology link and, 336–337

  Big Dipper, 21, 48

  Big galaxy hypothesis, 171, 172

  Binary star systems, 81

  Black-body curve, 286

  Black holes, 204, 348, 361–362, 390

  Blue giant stars, 70

  Boethius, Ancius, 33, 43–44

  Bohr, Niels, 285, 288, 290, 313, 356, 364, 381, 384n, 386

  electrons and, 257–258

  Born, Max, 285, 290

  Bose, Satyendra Nath, 292

  Bosons (integer spin particles), 292–293, 352–353

  fermions and, 328

  Bradley, James, 137–139, 154, 155, 178n

  Brahe, Tycho, see Tycho

  Bright nebulae, 143–144

  Brown dwarf stars, 348

  Bruno, Giordano, 86, 369–370

  Buffon, Georges, 225, 246, 247

  Bunsen, Robert, 164, 165

  Burbidge, Geoffrey and Margaret, 276, 277, 278

  Caccini, Thommaso, 96–97

  Calculus, the, 106, 108–110

  Californium-254, 276

  Cannon, Annie Jump, 258–259

  Carbon cycle for stellar nuclear fusion, 263, 264, 265, 272, 276, 278, 279

  Carbon-14, 251

  Cartan, Elie-Joseph, 311–312

  Cartography, 127, 130

  Cassini, Giovanni, 130, 134, 153

  Catastrophism, 224–225, 227, 228, 229

  Causation doctrine (origin of the universe), 350–351

  Celestial harmony, Pythagorean doctrine of, 75–77

  Cepheid variable stars, 169, 170, 172, 173, 208, 274, 390

  CERN accelerator, 319, 320–321, 322, 325–326, 336, 347, 352–353

  Chamberlin, Thomas Chrowder, 255, 256

  Chemical elements, see Elements

  China (ancient), 19, 52–54

  Marco Polo’s travels to, 47, 49–50, 54

  Christian cosmology, 220–229

  Chronometry, 127, 129–130

  Cicero, 40, 62

  Clausius, Rudolf, 246

  COBE satellite, 390–391

  Cockroft, John, 319n

  Cockroft-Walton generator, 319

  Columbus, Christopher, 22, 47, 49, 54–59

  Coma cluster, 174

  Comets, 69–70

  Tycho and, 70–73

  Compound apochromatic lenses, 152

  Constantine, Emperor, 65n, 220

  Cook, Captain James, 134–135, 140, 280

  Copernicus, Nicolaus, 20, 35, 59, 61–68, 98, 145

  Galileo and, 88, 89, 90

  mean distances of planets from the sun as measured by, 124

  solar system and, 65–66, 123, 124

  Copper, 279

  Coral atolls, Darwin’s theory of origin of, 232–233, 234, 239, 253

  Cosmic background radiation, 212n, 213–214, 390–391

  Cosmic element abundance curve, 277, 278

  Cosmic neutrinos, 344

  Cosmogony, 211, 212, 349–366

  inflationary universe hypothesis, 345, 356–360, 362

  prescientific creation myths, 349–350

  quantum genesis hypothesis, 351, 362–365

  vacuum genesis hypothesis, 351–356, 361, 362

  Cosmological constant, 205–206, 208

  Coulomb barrier, 260, 262–263, 274, 352

  penetration by protons of, 262, 264–265

  quantum indeterminacy and, 288

  Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325), 220

  Creation estimated date of, 220–221

  myths of, 349–350

  Curie, Marie, 253n

  Curie, Pierre, 252–253

  Curtis, Heber, 167, 171–172

  Cyclical time, 217–220

  Da Gama, Vasco, 52, 54

  Dark Ages, 44–45

  Dark energy, 389–393

  Dark matter, 347–348, 391–393

  Dark nebulae, 144, 158

  Darwin, Charles, 67, 68, 116, 225–226, 229, 231–253

  Darwin, Erasmus, 235

  Darwin, Robert, 233–234

  Darwinism, 231–246, 254, 367, 368, 369

  Darwinism (cont.)

  nuclear fusion and, 248, 252–254

  religious and scientific opposition to, 240–241, 244–245

  Davy, Sir Humphry, 185, 186

  Delusion of apartness, 289

  Descartes, Rene, 106, 113, 370

  De Sitter, Willem, 209n, 210, 211

  Deuterium, 343

  Dialogue … Concerning the Two Chief

  World Systems, Ptolemaic and

  Copernican (Galileo), 98–99

  Dialogues Concerning Two New

  Sciences (Galileo), 91, 100–101

  Dicke, Robert, 213, 356, 357

  Dirac, Paul, 182, 302, 308

  Dixon, Jeremiah, 132–133

  DNA macromolecules, 339

  Doppler, Christian Johann, 207

  Doppler shifts, astronomical use of, 207

  Double stars, 168

  “Down” quarks, 296, 312

  Dwarf stars, 175, 259, 260, 348

  lifetime of, 266–271

  Dynamo, principle of, 188–189

  Early-universe theories, 341–348

  Earth age of catastrophism vs.

  uniformitarianism, 225–229

  nuclear fusion and, 248, 252–254

  scientific age-dating, 221–229

  thermodynamics and, 246–248, 254

  ancient Greeks’ conception of, 26n

  conditions necessary for intelligent life on, 372–374 death of the sun and, 270

  four elements as composition of, 69

  mean distance from the sun (est.), 123–124

  measuring velocity of, 179–180

  orbit of (est.), 136–137, 138

  Renaissance exploration of, 47–59

  retrograde motion of, 23

  stellar fusion of elements and, 279–280

  triangulation of the stars and, 136–137

  Eccentrics of Ptolemy, 29–30

  Eddington, Arthur Stanley, 38n, 170, 203, 210, 211, 253, 272

  Eddington’s number, 38n

  Egypt (ancient), 20

  Eightfold way (hadron arrangement), 311

  Einstein, Albert, 10, 11, 15, 177–178, 182–204, 211, 212, 283, 302, 364

  four-dimensional space-time continuum and, 197, 198, 199–202

  on Galileo, 83, 94–95

  general theory of relativity of, 178, 185, 191, 196–197, 200–204

  gravitation and, 120

  inertial and gravitational mass and, 34, 193–196

  Lemaître’s origin of the universe and, 212

  on mystery of science, 385

  on Newton, 103, 121

  nuclear weapons and, 252, 254

  quantum indeterminacy and, 290–291

 
; quantum physics and, 178, 200

  special theory of relativity of, 178, 183, 185, 191–194, 197, 200

  symmetry and, 307

  thought experiments of, 91, 184–185, 196–197

  unified field theory and, 186, 332–333

  Electromagnetic field theory, 185–188

  Electromagnetism, 187, 293, 294, 295, 297

  weak nuclear force and, 315, 316–318, 326, 337, 345

  Electrons, 256, 257–258

  early-universe theory and, 343

  as fermions, 292

  inflationary universe hypothesis and, 360

  symmetry and, 307

  Electroweak theory, see Unified electroweak theory

  Elements atomic nuclei of, 257

  big bang as source of, 272–273, 281

  cosmic element abundance curve, 277, 278

  stellar nuclear fusion as source of, 271–272, 275–280

  in the sun, 164–165

  terrestrial, 69

  Elliptical nebulae, 144, 146, 148, 152, 161–162, 165

  beyond the Milky Way, 175

  island universe theory of, 161, 171, 172, 173

  Emission lines, 164

  Emission nebula, 143

  Enceladus (satellite of Saturn), 156

  Epicycles of Ptolemy, 29

  Equinoxes, precession of, 23n

  Erikson, Leif, 56n

  Essay on the Principle of Population, The (Malthus), 237

  Euclid, 40, 41, 62, 116

  Euclidean geometry, 26, 198–199

  Eudoxus, 25–27, 33, 65

  Evolution, theory of, see Darwinism

  Expansion of the universe, 205–215, 354–356, 392–393

  general theory of relativity and, 205, 208–209, 210–214

  Exploding stars, 167

  Extraterrestrial life, 368–380

  conditions necessary for, 372–374

  networking of interstellar communications to determine, 375–380

  SETI projects and, 371–372, 374

  Falling bodies, law of, 84, 90–94

  Faraday, Michael, 185–186, 188, 190

  Fermi, Enrico, 212, 273, 292, 374

  Fermilab accelerator, 319–320, 322, 324–325, 326, 336

  Fermilab Tevatron, 340

  Fermions, 292, 294

  bosons and, 328

  Feynman, Richard, 311n, 352, 363

  Fibonacci series, 305, 306

  Ficino, Marsilio, 65, 77

  Field theory, 186–187

  See also Quantum field theory; Unified field theory; Yang-Mills gauge field theory

  Finite universe, infinite universe and, 200–204

  First law of thermodynamics, 247

  Fission bomb (atomic bomb), 252

  Fitz-Roy, Robert, 233, 245

  Flamsteedjohn, 115, 153, 156

  Flatness problem, inflationary universe hypothesis and, 359

  Fossils, scientific age-dating of, 222–229

  Four-dimensional geometry, 199, 202

  Four-dimensional space-time continuum, 197, 198, 199–202

  Fowler, Willy, 276, 277, 278

  Fraunhofer, Joseph, 10, 139, 163–164

  Fraunhofer lines, 164

  Free quarks, 344

  Fusion bomb (hydrogen bomb), 252, 253

  Galactic plane, 159

  Galaxies, 167–175

  quasars and, 174

  redshift-distance relation of, 207–208, 209–211, 214

  stars in, 144

  superclusters of, 175, 214

  See also Milky Way galaxy

  Galilei, Galileo, 11, 69, 71, 83–101, 107, 130, 167

  Einstein and, 185

  inertia experiments of, 34, 91–94

  law of falling bodies and, 84, 90–94

  observations of planets by, 88–90, 101

  Roman Catholic Church persecution of, 11, 84, 96–100

  solar system and, 88–90, 123, 132

  telescope and, 84, 86–88, 95–96

  thought experiments of, 90–91, 92, 93–94

  velocity of light determined by, 179–180

  Galilei, Vincenzo, 84

  Gamma Draconis, 137, 139

  Gamma rays, 293, 297

  Gamow, George, 212–214, 262, 263, 264

  big bang and, 273–274, 277, 279

  Gauge field theory, see Yang-Mills gauge field theory

  Gauss, Karl Friedrich, 199, 308

  Gell-Mann, Murray, 294n, 310–311, 317, 330, 332, 336, 337, 340

  General theory of relativity, 120, 178, 185, 191, 196–197, 200–204

  expansion of the universe and, 205, 208–209, 210–214

  quantum genesis hypothesis and, 362–363

  scientific testing of, 203–204

  space-time continuum of, 31, 32

  string theory and, 330, 331

  symmetry and, 307

  Genes, natural selection and, 241–242

  Geology radiometric age-dating and, 251–252

  scientific age-dating and, 221–229

  Geometry, 25–26, 40, 110

  euclidean, 26, 198–199

  four-dimensional, 199, 202

  space-time, 364–365

  symmetry in, 303–304

  Giant stars, 70

  lifetime of, 266–271

  Glashow, Sheldon, 313, 314–317, 321, 326, 333

  Global symmetry, 309–310

  Globular star clusters, 170–171

  Glossary of terms, 391–411

  Gluons, 293–294, 312

  Gödel, Kurt, 384, 385

  Gold, 279

  Gold, Thomas, 275, 338

  Grand unified theories (GUTs), 327–328, 332–334

  early-universe theory and, 345, 348

  Gravitation, 293–298

  contraction of the sun and, 247–248

  Einstein’s conception of, 120

  general theory of relativity and, 196–197

  Kepler’s theories of, 94

  Newton and, 103, 107–109, 113–118, 120–121, 177

  stellar energy and, 280

  string theory and, 330, 331

  unified field theory and, 346

  Gravitational mass, 194–195

  equality of inertial mass and, 195–196

  Graviton, 330

  Graviton decoupling, 346n

  Great Chain of Being, 223

  Greece (ancient), 20

  conception of inertia in, 34–35

  conception of time in, 217–220

  Earth as conceived by, 26n

  Grossmann, Marcel, 190, 199–200

  Guth, Alan, 356–357, 361–362

  h (quantum of action), 286, 287

  Hadrons, 311, 330

  Hakluyt, Richard, 128

  Hale, George Ellery, 168, 208

  Half-life of radioactive materials, 250–252

  Halley, Edmond, 103, 112–116, 127, 128, 131, 137, 201n

  publication of the Principia and, 118

  Halley’s comet, 70n, 112, 113, 117, 131

  Harrison, John, 129–130

  Hawking, Stephen, 356, 362–364

  Heavy hydrogen, 264–265

  Heisenberg, Werner, 286, 287, 288, 291, 302, 333, 351–352

  Heisenberg indeterminacy principle, 351–352

  Heliocentric universe Aristarchus and, 35–36, 38, 43

  Copernicus and, 63–68

  Kepler and, 77–82

  Helium, 250, 343

  big bang and, 273

  composition of the sun and, 265–266

  stellar fusion and, 272, 278–279

  Helium-3, 264–265

  Helmholtz, Hermann von, 246–247, 248

  Henderson, Thomas, 139

  Henry the Navigator, Prince, 50–52, 53, 54, 55

  Heraclitus, 33, 367

  Hereditary traits, transmission of, 242

  Herman, Robert, 213, 214

  Herodotus, 50–51

  Herschel, John, 163, 241

  Herschel, William, 143, 144, 150–159, 395

  Her
tzsprung, Ejnar, 259, 260

  Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, 259–260, 261, 263, 266

  tree of stars and, 267–270

  Heyerdahl, Thor, 56n

  Hipparchus, 29, 124

  History of the universe, 415–429

  stairway depiction of, 341–348

  Hoffmann, Banesh, 179n

  Hooft, Gerard’t, 318

  Hooke, Robert, 112–113, 115, 118, 137

  Hooker, Joseph, 240, 244

  Hoskin, Michael, 201n

  Hoyle, Fred, 211, 274–277, 278

  Hubble, Edwin, 161, 172–174, 207–210, 211–212, 274

  Hubble law, 208–210, 214

  Hubble Space Telescope, 389–390

  Huggins, William, 165, 167

  Humason, Milton, 173, 274

  Hume, David, 151

  Hutton, James, 205, 225–226

  Huxley, Aldous, 119

  Huxley, Thomas, 243, 244–245, 247

  Huygens, Christian, 118, 120, 125, 130, 136

  Hyades (star cluster), 203, 259

  Hydrogen atoms of, 256, 260

  big bang and, 273

  composition of the stars and, 260

  composition of the sun and, 265–266

  stellar fusion and, 272, 278–279

  Hypatia, 42

  Hyperdimensionality, 332–334

  Imaginary numbers, 363

  Imaginary time, 363, 364

  Incompleteness theorem, Gödel’s, 384–385

  Inertia ancient Greeks’ conception of, 34–35

  Aristotle and, 92–94

  Descartes on, 106

  Einstein and, 193–195, 196

  Galileo’s experiments on, 34, 91–94

  Newton and, 34, 94, 116–117, 177

  Inertial mass, 193–195

  equality of gravitational mass and, 195–196

  Infinite universe, finite universe and, 200–204

  Inflationary universe hypothesis, 345, 356–360, 361, 362

  model of, 275n

  Initial conditions, problem of, 122

  Integer spin particles, 292

  Interferometry, 180, 181

  Interstellar communications network, 375–380

  Interstellar space flights, 374–376

  Invariance theory, 193

  symmetry and, 307

  Inverse-square law, 108n

  gravitation and, 117

  Kepler’s third law and, 112–113, 114, 115, 117

  Iron, 165, 279

  stellar evolution and, 140–141

  stellar fusion and, 275, 276–280

  Irrational numbers, 305n

  Islamic astronomical scholarship, 43

  Island universe theory of elliptical nebulae, 161, 171, 172, 173

  Isospin, 31, 309

  Jeans, James, 166, 167n

  John Paul II, Pope, 100n

  Jupiter, 25, 72, 112, 117

  Galileo’s observation of, 88, 90

  mean distance from the sun (est.), 124

  satellites of, 88, 90, 158, 179

  Kaluza, Theodor, 332

  Kaluza-Klein theory, 332

  Kant, Immanuel, 75, 143, 144–148, 150, 161, 246

 

‹ Prev