Black Holes
Black Holes
$37.00
USDDr. Jean-Pierre Luminet makes the subject of black holes accessible to any interested reader, who will need no mathematical background. The reader of this book will feel that the developments in modern astrophysics are as fascinating to discover and digest as the most fantastic science fiction novels. While answering such questions, the author takes us on a fabulous journey through space and time. We travel into the realms of supernovae, X-ray stars and quasars--a journey to the very edge of the universe and to the limits of contemporary physics.
- Are black holes really the bottomless celestial pits into which all matter is sucked and crushed?
- Are they an observable reality or just a hypothetical product of the theory of relativity?
- This book uncovers one of the most fascinating discoveries of modern astronomy
- Discover one of the most daring intellectual feats of modern times
Reviews & endorsements
"This is an outstanding work of scientific exposition that can be recommended as a manifestation of the dictum that common sense often leads to surprises and the modest goal of science is simply to make such surprises just a little less frequent." John D. Barrow, Nature
Product details
August 1992Paperback
9780521409063
336 pages
216 × 138 × 17 mm
0.475kg
71 b/w illus. 3 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- Foreword to the French edition
- Foreword to the English edition
- Acknowledgements
- Part I. Gravitation and Light:
- 1. First fruits
- 2. Relativity
- 3. Curved space-time
- Part II. Exquisite Corpses:
- 4. Chronicle of the twilight years
- 5. Ashes and diamonds
- 6. Supernovae
- 7. Pulsars
- 8. Gravitation triumphant
- Part III. Light Assassinated:
- 9. The far horizon
- 10. Illuminations
- 11. A descent into the maelstrom
- 12. Map games
- 13. The black hole machine
- 14. The quantum black hole
- Part IV. Light Regained:
- 15. Primordial black holes
- 16. The zoo of X-ray stars
- 17. Giant black holes
- 18. Gravitational light
- 19. The black hole Universe
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Name index
- Subject index.
