Astronomy Through the Ages - The Story of the Human Attempt to Understand the Universe

by Robert Woodrow Wilson

When astronomers today look up at the night sky they picture a spectacular and infinite universe--full of pulsars, quasars, and black holes and ruled by arcane laws of space and time. Once, ancient astronomers looked up and saw only points of light tracing calm movements across the heavens. But they too were moved to wonder about the meaning of what they saw. In Astronomy through the Ages , Sir Robert Wilson tells the story of how our understanding of the universe has evolved through history--of how the sedate and stable star field of ancient times has been replaced by the vast and explosive universe we know today. Wilson, one of the most distinguished astronomers of the twentieth century, begins by tracing the astronomical studies of the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks and reviews important early contributions from India, China, and the Islamic world. He explains the development of the sun-centered model of the universe in Renaissance Europe. He then tells how the development of the telescope, photography, and spectroscopy pushed back the limits of the observable universe and eventually brought astronomy into the twentieth century. Finally, he describes the rapid advances in radio and space astronomy and other methods over the past fifty years that have ushered in a new "golden age" of astronomy. These advances have not only allowed observation of deep space but also enabled scientists to unlock the secrets of the universe itself from its origin to its possible fate. Wilson himself has played an important role in these discoveries as the developer of one of the most successful astronomical satellites ever launched, the International Ultraviolet Explorer. While focusing on the human side of astronomical discovery, Wilson also provides readers with a basic understanding of difficult concepts, explaining relativity and quantum mechanics without using technical language or mathematics. Remarkable in its scope and clarity, Astronomy through the Ages provides an accessible view of historical discoveries and modern advances and shows why excitement about astronomy is even greater today than when Galileo first gazed in wonder at the rings of Saturn.

Originally published in 1998.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Genres: Science, History, Astronomy

302 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Robert Woodrow Wilson (born January 10, 1936) is an American astronomer, 1978 Nobel laureate in physics, who with Arno Allan Penzias discovered in 1964 the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). The award purse was also shared with a third scientist, Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, for unrelated work.

While working on a new type of antenna at Bell Labs in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, they found a source of noise in the atmosphere that they could not explain. After removing all potential sources of noise, including pigeon droppings on the antenna, the noise was finally identified as CMB, which served as important corroboration of the Big Bang theory.

Robert Woodrow Wilson was born on January 10, 1936, in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Lamar High School in River Oaks, in Houston, and studied as an undergraduate at Rice University, also in Houston, where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa society. His graduate work was done at California Institute of Technology.

Wilson and Penzias also won the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1977.

Wilson remained at Bell Laboratories until 1994, when he was named a senior scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remains today.

Wilson has been a resident of Holmdel Township, New Jersey.
Wikipedia

Reviews

[Mark Fallon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great overview of how we've explored the night skies over the last 4,000 years. The last chapters need to be updated, as the book is over 20 years old and the last 2 decades have revealed even more amazing truths about the universe.

[Fi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was actually pretty interesting and easy to comprehend. I read it as research for a paper I was writing, and it did supplement my writing and open my eyes to some things I didn't know before. I might read it again!

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the best book for explaining binary pulsars that I've read. I actually kind of understand them now, and I never could before. Because I just read the book and returned it to the library, I don't have it on hand to keep my memory fresh, but I now know if I want to look things up, I have a good place to go.

[Cassandra Kay Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one of your typical short history lessons in Astronomy. Running through the History of Astronomy for the bulk of it and a final chapter on cosmology.

[Deven Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

truly enjoyed the portion I was smart enough to understand