Depicting the great challenges these men faced and the lasting contributions they made, Hawking explains how their works transformed the course of science – and gave us a better understanding of the universe and our place in it.

    "The Theory of Everything" presents the most complex theories, both past and present, of physics; yet it remains clear and accessible. It will enlighten readers and expose them to the rich history of scientific thought and the complexities of the universe in which we live.

    He provides readers with non-trivial insights into research fields they may not have encountered previously . . . I think everyone who has ever considered the possibility that other intelligent civilizations exist elsewhere within our galaxy will enjoy Where Is Everybody? They will find much to agree with, and much to argue about, in this very accessible volume.� �SCIENCE During a Los Alamos lunchtime conversation that took place more than 50 years ago, four world-class scientists agreed, given the size and age of the Universe, that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations simply had to exist. The sheer numbers demanded it. But one of the four, the renowned physicist and back-of-the-envelope calculator Enrico Fermi, asked the telling question: If the extraterrestrial life proposition is true, he wondered, "Where IS everybody?" In this lively and thought-provoking book, Stephen Webb presents a detailed discussion of the 50 most cogent and intriguing answers to Fermi's famous question, divided into three distinct groups: - Aliens are already here among us. Here are answers ranging from Leo Szilard's suggestion that they are already here, and we know them as Hungarians, to the theorists who claim that aliens built Stonehenge and the Easter Island statues. - Aliens exist, but have not yet communicated. The theories in this camp range widely, from those who believe we simply don't have the technologies to receive their signals, to those who believe the enormities of space and time work against communication, to those who believe they're hiding from us. - Aliens do not exist. Here are the doubters' arguments, from the Rare Earth theory to the author's own closely argued and cogently stated skepticism. The proposed solutions run the gamut from the crackpot to the highly serious, but all deserve our consideration. The varieties of arguments -- from first-rate scientists, philosophers and historians, and science fiction authors -- turn out to be astonishing, entertaining, and vigorous intellectual exercises for any reader interested in science and the sheer pleasure of speculative thinking. Stephen Webb is a physicist working at the Open University in England and the author of Measuring the Universe.

    The book is designed for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students and assumes no prior knowledge of general relativity. An emphasis is placed on developing the readers' physical insight rather than losing them with complex math. An approachable writing style and wealth of fresh and imaginative analogies from "everyday" physics are used to make the concepts of cosmology more accessible. The book is unique in that it not only includes recent major developments in cosmology, like the cosmological constant and accelerating universe, but also anticipates key developments expected in the next few years, such as detailed results on the cosmic microwave background.

    He recounts his own experiences as an enthralled lifelong amateur astronomer and reports from around the globe -- from England and Italy to the Florida Keys and the Chilean Andes -- on the revolution that's putting millions in touch with the night sky. In addition, Ferris offers an authoritative and engaging report on what's out there to be seen -- what Saturn, the Ring nebula, the Silver Coin galaxy, and the Virgo supercluster really are and how to find them. The appendix includes star charts, observing lists, and a guide on how to get involved in astronomy. Ferris takes us inside a major revolution sweeping astronomy, as lone amateur astronomers, in global networks linked by the Internet, make important discoveries that are the envy of the professionals. His ability to describe the wonders of the universe is simply magical, and his enthusiasm for his subject is irresistible.

    After the horror of the Kennedy and King assassinations, amid the deepening quagmire of Vietnam, the moon landing brought the sixties to a triumphant end. But the upheavals of that decade have somehow eclipsed this "one giant leap" and the even bolder explorations that followed. Now Andrew Chaikin tells the story of the Apollo missions as never before: through the eyes of the astronauts who made those heroic voyages. A decade in the making, A Man on the Moon is based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with each of the twenty-four moon voyagers, as well as those who contributed unprecendented brain power, training, and teamwork on earth. With breathtaking immediacy, Chaikin conveys every aspect of the Apollo missions, from the rush of liftoff atop a Saturn V rocket to the heart-stopping touchdown on the moon, to the final hurdle of reentry. He tells of the intense competition for a seat on a moon flight, and of the resurrection of Alan Shepard, at age forty-seven, from grounded pilot to moon voyager. We see the Apollo missions unfold from their tragic beginning - the spacecraft fire that killed three astronauts - to their spectacular conclusion high on the slopes of lunar mountains, where the astronauts searched for clues to the origin of the solar system. Here are the stories of a unique handful of men who have been to the farthest edge of human experience. For the first time, we learn what the men inside the space suits truly felt. Through them we can look back and understand the achievement that began on that almost mythic July night when, as Chaikin writes in his preface, "we touched the face of another world and became a people without limits."

    It has been developed specifically for emerging courses in astrobiology, though it can also be used for introductory astronomy.

    From these observations he developed his Tychonic system of the universe-- a highly original, if incorrect, scheme that attempted to reconcile the ancient belief that the Earth stood still with Nicolaus Copernicus's revolutionary rearrangement of the solar system some fifty years earlier. Tycho knew that Kepler, the brilliant young mathematician he had engaged to interpret his findings, believed in Copernicus's arrangement, in which all the planets circled the Sun; and he was afraid his system-- the product of a lifetime of effort to explain how the universe worked-- would be abandoned.In point of fact, it was. From his study of Tycho's observations came Kepler's stunning three Laws of Planetary Motion-- ever since the cornerstone of cosmology and our understanding of the heavens. Yet, as Kitty Ferguson reveals, neither of these giant figures would have his reputation today without the other. The story of how their lives and talents were fatefully intertwined is one of the more memorable sagas in the long history of science.Set in a singularly turbulent and colorful era in European history, at the turning point when medieval gave way to modern, Tycho & Kepler is both a highly original dual biography and a masterful recreation of how science advances. From Tycho's fabulous Uraniborg Observatory on an island off the Danish coast to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II; from the religious conflict of the Thirty Years' War that rocked all of Europe to Kepler's extraordinary leaps of understanding, Ferguson recounts a fascinating interplay of science and religion, politics and personality. Her insights recolor the established characters of Tycho and Kepler, and her book opens a rich window onto our place in the universe.

    A photographic survey of space exploration captures the major firsts of this extraordinary chapter in human history, from Sputnik I through landings on the Moon and Mars, in some three hundred dramatic images.

    Sir Patrick Moore has compiled a new list of 109 deep-sky delights, the Caldwell Catalog, which covers the entire celestial sphere. Stephen James O'Meara has observed all 109 Caldwell objects and Deep Sky Companions presents his beautiful sketches and detailed visual descriptions and discusses each object's rich history and astrophysical significance. The latest fundamental data on each object are tabulated, and the book's star charts will lead observers to each object's precise location. Stephen James O'Meara is known worldwide for his precise drawings of astronomical objects as seen through the telescope. Among his many astronomical achievements, he was the first to sight Halley's Comet on its 1985 return; he noticed the dark spokes in Saturn's B ring before the Voyager 1 spacecraft imaged them; and he was the first person to determine the rotation period of the distant planet Uranus. The International Astronomical Union named asteroid 3637 O'Meara in his honor. He is also the author of Deep Sky Companions: The Messier Objects (Cambridge, 1998) and co-author with his wife, Donna Donovan O'Meara, of Volcanoes: Passion and Fury (Sky Publishing, 1994).

    Living in space is part of an exciting new series of books for children who are beginning to read on their own. The easy-to-read text has been specially written with the help of a reading expert.

    Full of facts about our solar system with illustrations that glow in the dark.

    Using a combination of Braille and large-print captions that face 14 pages of brilliant Hubble Space Telescope photos, it is embossed with shapes that represent various astronomical objects such as stars, gas clouds, and jets of matter streaming into space.Universally designed for both the sighted and visually impaired reader, Touch the Universe takes readers on a voyage of discovery, starting at Earth, proceeding through the solar system, and ending with the most distant image taken by Hubble, the mind-boggling Hubble Deep Field photo--the first telescope image ever to bring home to human consciousness in a deeply fundamental way the literally infinite reaches of our universe of galaxies.As the author puts it, A visually impaired person can still touch and smell a flower, or a tree, or an animal, but he or she could only imagine what an astronomical object is like ... until now.

    The author's purpose is to provide a standard reference to all work that has been published since the mid-1970s and to link this work together in a single conceptual framework and a single notational formalism. A working knowledge of basic general relativity is assumed. The book will be essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students in mathematics, theoretical physics, and astronomy interested in cosmic strings.

    The authors showcase the excitement of contemporary astronomy and encourage readers to consider both the methods and the goals of scientific research.

    I watch them, photograph one. And you can hardly talk about Zubenelgenubi them, research them, write about them. Their wonder without bringing in Zubeneschamali, so they too are is that they are there not simply for scientists, but for treated within one story. The Sun is not included in the all of us, filling the night sky with their sparkling beauty. 100 list, but instead leads the pack as "Star Zero. " There are as many different kinds as there are stars Before describing the glories of the 100 stars, an themselves, each an individual. The heavens give us introduction briefs the beginning stargazer on basic bright ones, dim ones, near ones, far ones, the aged, stellar properties and explains the astronomical the young, those that help tell our ancient stories, and terminology, without which we would be continuously those nearly invisible even with the greatest of our tongue-tied. A separate glossary provides a quick technologies. Taken together, they relate the tale of our reminder. Then we move on to the stars themselves. existence, of the birth, life, and death of the Sun on Each of my favorite stars is introduced by a short which we depend.

    There are more than three thousand alphabetically organized articles accompanied by five hundred stunning color and black and white photographs, star maps, and diagrams, The Encyclopedia is aimed at both the researcher and general enthusiast who wants to. More than one hundred astronomers from leading universities and observatories, each an expert in a specialized area of the field, wrote and reviewed the entries to ensure their accuracy. Sir Patrick Moore, distinguished astronomer and longtime host of the popular BBC television program The Sky at Night, served as the general editor.

    Did you know that termites have built nests almost 7m (23ft) high; that octopi can change colour to suit a variety of situations; and that the Madagascan butterfly protects itself by mimicking the head of a venomous snake? You'll find masses of fascinating facts such as these in the vivid, colourful pages of this book. The book is packed with hundreds of natural wonders that will fill you with wonder: plants that can carry electical currents, a volcano almost as high as Mount Everest, and the amazing journeys of sea turtles, salmon and caribou on their annual treks to breeding and spawning grounds. Illustrated with more than 600 magnificent photographs that capture the splendour of the natural world, this book also includes time lapse and freeze-frame sequences, along with superb diagams to explain, for example, how animals move, feed and build their houses, how a storm builds and how a shark senses its prey. This is an illuminating guide to the wonders of nature that will excite and intrigue the whole family.

    All types of galaxies, clusters and nebulae were culled from every available catalog, organized and cross-referenced for ease of use at the viewing site. Object-oriented maps include special symbols to aid in identifying objects, stars, double stars and asterisms whether using a telescope or binoculars. Simple enough for the beginner; detailed for the advanced.The digest-sized, spiral bound 5th Edition features 717 mag-10 or brighter deep-sky objects (not including 74 at >mag-10.5) viewable from the northern hemisphere, all with 1.2011 location data. Those objects of mag 7 and brighter - 189 ''city'' objects - are specially highlighted in the lists and in the 70 maps. Astronomical details are in ''expanded shorthand'' and set large for reading by flashlight. Newly included in the 5th Edition is a 7-page section for viewing the Moon through its daily phases, 160 double/multiple stars and brief constellation grouping stories to present a bigger picture; these stories have proven helpful teaching the sky to kids of all ages.This multi-purpose guide is most convenient at the viewing site instead of carrying larger, bulkier books and computers, or as a companion to the larger sky atlases when planning a night's viewing. It's compact size makes it ideal for camping, hiking or in the car.Objects in the Heavens - by Peter BirrenOITHv5.1 is available as of October 1, 2011 through the author's website. 128 pages; black coil; laminated covers; 5.5'' x 8.5''US $24.95; 128 pages; ISBN: 978-1-55369-662-9