About this item
The riveting and mesmerizing story behind a watershed period in human history, the discovery of the startling size and true nature of our universe. On New Years Day in 1925, a young Edwin Hubble released his finding that our Universe was far bigger, eventually measured as a thousand trillion times larger than previously believed. Hubble's proclamation sent shock waves through the scientific community. Six years later, in a series of meetings at Mount Wilson Observatory, Hubble and others convinced Albert Einstein that the Universe was not static but in fact expanding. Here Marcia Bartusiak reveals the key players, battles of will, clever insights, incredible technology, ground-breaking research, and wrong turns made by the early investigators of the heavens as they raced to uncover what many consider one of most significant discoveries in scientific history.
About the Author
Combining her training as a journalist with a master's degree in physics, Marcia Bartusiak has been covering the fields of astronomy and physics for more than three decades. She is currently a professor of the practice in the Graduate Program in Science Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has published in a variety of publications, including Science, Smithsonian, Discover, Technology Review, National Geographic, and Astronomy. She is the author of "Thursday's Universe," a guide to the frontiers of astrophysics; "Through a Universe Darkly," a history of astronomers' quest to discover the universe's composition; and "Einstein's Unfinished Symphony," a chronicle of the international attempt to detect cosmic gravity waves. All three were named notable books by the New York Times. She went on to write "Archives of the Universe," an anthology and commentary on the historic discovery papers in astronomy, and "The Day We Found the Universe," on the birth of modern cosmology, which won the Davis Prize from the History of Science Society. Her latest book is "Black Hole." Bartusiak is a two-time winner of the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award and in 2006 garnered the AIP's prestigious Gemant Award for her "significant contributions to the cultural, artistic, or humanistic dimension of physics." In 2008 Bartusiak was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, cited for "exceptionally clear communication of the rich history, the intricate nature, and the modern practice of astronomy to the public at large." Bartusiak lives with her husband, mathematician Steve Lowe, and their dog Hubble, a bearded collie, in a suburb of Boston.
