Exploring the cosmos

By Louis Berman and Louis Berman

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316091847
• ISBN13: 9780316091848
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Little, Brown
• Length: 543 Pages
• Weight: 3.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Fundamental and systematic knowledge for space research

With the 1973's knowledge and technology, Louis Berman authored a concise masterpiece textbook on astronomy. The author's passion for his craft is apparent in every glimpse of the book. In its preface, the author clearly delineates the purpose and scope of his work. That is followed by a black and white a sketch depicting the ultimate goal of astronomy as a reach for the origin of life, which man has struggled with since the beginning of history. The book's table of contents attests to the clarity of purpose and vast scope of knowledge covered in the book. Each chapter is followed by review questions and selected readings list. The book chapters progress along the evolution of modern astronomy, from the era of limited direct observation and scant technical resources, to the age of international competition to conquer the outer space. To modern readers, the chunky electronic equipments and vacuum tubes, depicted in the book, embody the surreal perseverance of scientists in refining crude equipments that led to the advanced technology of the present. The story of marriage between geometry and algebra, in the period 1609-1619, is described in chapter 2. It shows how Kepler developed the algebraic laws of planetary motion by compiling the accumulated data on the geometrical orbits of planets. Those laws allowed predicting the trajectories of planets as function of time, but lacked discerning the planetary masses or the causes for assuming its designated orbits. The book then describes how Isaac Newton generalized the laws of mechanics on stellar objects in the form of gravitational forces that obey the inverse square of distance between masses. Those laws permitted measuring the masses of planets and the interplanetary forces, which determine its orbit among a system of stellar bodies. Both Newton and Einstein had reckoned that matter drives the forces of nature. Newton attributed gravitational forces to mass, while Einstein attributed nuclear energy to mass. Having laid the conceptual foundation on the traffic laws of the outer space, the book delves into the tools that were developed and implemented to look, see, and transmit gathered data from the immense space to our tiny planet. The advances made in the space science were integrated efforts made in many disciplines. With the classical mechanics paving the way to the understanding of astronomy, wave mechanics offered plausible explanation on how the matter of universe behaves the way it does. Further more, wave mechanics not only permitted interpretation of the gathered information from outer space but also lent new means of visualizing the space at different levels of radiation. Even though the book was published in 1973, it remains a basic text book on the fundamentals of the science of astronomy. The book gains its longevity from its systematic description of the planets and stars, their geometrical configuration, and their physical and developmental characteristics. That renders