Gravity's Arc

The Story of Gravity, from Aristote to Einstein and Beyond

David Darling

280 pages, parution le 04/07/2006

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Résumé

How did they do it?

How did one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived retard the study of gravity for 2,000 years? How did a gluttonous tyrant with a gold nose revolutionize our view of the solar system? How could an eccentric professor shake the foundations of an entire belief system by dropping two objects from a tower? How did a falling apple turn the thoughts of a reclusive genius toward the moon? And how could a simple patent clerk change our entire view of the universe by imagining himself riding on a beam of light?

In Gravity's Arc, you'll discover how some of the most colorful, eccentric, and brilliant people in history first locked, then unlocked the door to understanding one of nature's most essential forces. You'll find out why Aristotle's misguided conclusions about gravity became an unassailable part of Christian dogma, how Galileo slowed down time to determine how fast objects fall, and why Isaac Newton erased every mention of one man's name from his magnum opus Principia. You'll also figure out what Einstein meant when he insisted that space is curved, whether there is really such a thing as antigravity, and why some scientists think that the best way to get to outer space is by taking an elevator.

L'auteur - David Darling

David Darling has a Ph.D. in astronomy and has been a full-time freelance science writer for more than twenty years. He is the author of Teleportation: The Impossible Leap, as well as three science encyclopedias: The Universal Book of Mathematics, The Universal Book of Astronomy, and The Complete Book of Spaceflight, all available from Wiley. His other narrative science titles include Deep Time and Equations of Eternity, a New York Times Notable Book. Darling's articles and reviews have appeared in Astronomy, Omni, Penthouse, New Scientist, the New York Times, and the Guardian, among others. He also hosts a major informational Web site, www.daviddarling.info.

Sommaire

Acknowledgments
Prelude: The Weighting Game
No Laughing Matter
The Path of Dissent
The Parabolic Man
The Day the Sky Fell
Escape from Earth
One of Our Planets Is Missing
When Gravity Became Geometry
Alpha and Omega
The Ripples of Space
Disturbing News
In the Dark
All Together Now
Engineers of the Continuum
References
Bibliography
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Wiley
Auteur(s)	David Darling
Parution	04/07/2006
Nb. de pages	280
Format	15 x 22
Couverture	Relié
Poids	415g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780471719892
ISBN13	978-0-471-71989-2