The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas about the Origins of the UniverseKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 20.05.2009 - 384 Seiten What conceptual blind spot kept the ancient Greeks (unlike the Indians and Maya) from developing a concept of zero? Why did St. Augustine equate nothingness with the Devil? What tortuous means did 17th-century scientists employ in their attempts to create a vacuum? And why do contemporary quantum physicists believe that the void is actually seething with subatomic activity? You’ll find the answers in this dizzyingly erudite and elegantly explained book by the English cosmologist John D. Barrow. Ranging through mathematics, theology, philosophy, literature, particle physics, and cosmology, The Book of Nothing explores the enduring hold that vacuity has exercised on the human imagination. Combining high-wire speculation with a wealth of reference that takes in Freddy Mercury and Shakespeare alongside Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, the result is a fascinating excursion to the vanishing point of our knowledge. |
Inhalt
| 1 | |
| 12 | |
Much Ado About Nothing | 49 |
Constructing Nothing | 89 |
The Drift Towards the Ether | 115 |
Whatever Happened to Zero? | 144 |
Empty Universes | 167 |
The Box That Can Never Be Empty | 193 |
How Many Vacuums Are There? | 230 |
Notes | 303 |
| 350 | |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas about the Origins ... John D. Barrow Keine Leseprobe verfügbar - 2000 |
The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas about the Origins ... John D. Barrow Keine Leseprobe verfügbar - 2002 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
accelerating ancient appear astronomers atoms axioms Babylonian beginning behaviour billions black holes Casimir Casimir effect century colour charge concept contain cosmic cosmic strings cosmological cosmological constant created creation curved density distance Earth effect Einstein's equations Einstein's theory electron elementary particles empty set empty space ether everything example exist expanding universe expansion experiment finite fluctuations forces of Nature galaxies geometry gravitational waves gravity Greek idea Indian infinite infinity inflation J.D. Barrow lambda force landscape laws logical look mass and energy mathematical mathematicians Mayan means measure mercury metres Michelson motion move Newton's Nothingness observations Oxford University Press paradoxes particles Pascal philosophical physical physicists picture plates possible predicted pressure problem properties quantum vacuum radiation region scalar field shown in Figure simple stars string structure supernovae surface temperature theory of relativity things tion Torricelli vacuum energy vacuum fluctuations void wavelength zero symbol zero-point