Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps

by Kees Boeke, Compton Arthur H (Introduction)

Interesting book with diagrams showing size comparison in the universe.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Physics

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

Reviews

[Krollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice little book. it reminds you how insignificant the human is, but also how powerful we are. it's a weird juxtaposition

[Aaron]

Recommend by richard Hofstrader

[Randall Scalise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was the inspiration for the Eames video.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_...

[Sergio Schiavone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it, marvelous.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kees Boeke’s 1957 Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps is a lovely little book that shows the scale of everything in 40 pictures: from the large scale structure of the universe, down to atomic nuclei. Each picture is a factor of 10 scale difference from the last. It’s meticulously done, to show the scale and relative positions of everything precisely. With an introduction by Arthur H. Compton, Nobel prizewinner in physics. Boeke sums up with, “Learning to live together in mutual respect and with the definite aim to further the happiness of all, without privilege for any, is a clear duty for mankind.”

The book is online at
http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/cosm...
(best)

and also at
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Bo...
(not so good: pictures are much smaller)

The book inspired the 1996 IMAX movie, Cosmic Voyage. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115952/


Picture, by power of 10 scale:
1 – 2 human, cat
2 – 3 whale
3 – 4 buildings (the author’s school)
4 – 5 radio waves
5 Bilthoven, Utrecht
6 central Holland
7 north-central western Europe
8 the globe, from over the Netherlands, at noon on winter solstice
10 moon’s orbit
13 – 14 solar system, planets placed as at winter solstice 1951
18 sun & alpha centauri
19 – 20 38 stars within 50 light-years of sun
22 Milky Way
23 – 24 Milky Way and nearest neighbor galaxies
25 – 26 large-scale pattern of the universe
0 – -2 insects
-1 – -7 bacteria
-2 – -5 human cells
-4 – -7 viruses
-4 gold leaf
-4 – -5 visible light
-5 – -8 molecules
-6 ultraviolet light
-7 – -10 atoms
-9 – -10 x-rays
-10 – -13 gamma ray
-12 – -13 atomic nuclei