Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the Horizons of Space and Time

by Kitty Ferguson

Book Overview

More than 2,000 years ago, Eratosthenes, in Alexandria, used a stick, a hole in the ground, sunllght at summer solstice, and elementary geometry to measure the circumference of the Earth with... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802713513
• ISBN13: 9780802713513
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Walker & Company
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Great physics detective story

This is a great physics detective story, and it blends history and science together to give a picture of how we have measured what was once considered unmeasurable.There are some minor annoyances, such as her repeatedly explaining scientific notation (perhaps a brief appendix could be included in a future edition). Also, she could have explained how the parsec came to be, rather than just using it with no explanation.There are some notes at the end of the book that give the reader suggestions for further reading. To her credit, she includes Halton Arp's concerns about the use of redshift (See Arp's book, Seeing Red).This book builds up a clear picture of how we built up the cosmic distance ladder, and the missteps along the way.

A great read, interesting and perceptive

A very nice history of astronomy and cosmology written from the angle of determining the distance scale of the universe. Ferguson starts with an anecdote from her childhood when her father challenged Ferguson and her brother to measure the height of a windmill without touching it. They came upon the solution of using the shadow of the windmill and some basic mathematics. From there, Ferguson launches into the stories of Eratosthenes, Aristarchus and other ancients, right up to modern day debates over the value of Omega, the cosmological constant, and standard candles. This is a very readable and enjoyable account and is not overly technical.

Wow

This book weaves lucid science and history together into a most fascinating tapestry. You will learn about the search for the size of the universe, but you will also learn about the world around you. You will learn how science works, and how people work. You will learn what we know, and how much more we have to learn. This is a beautifully crafted book and well worth the time of scientists, historians, and normal people too!

Completely entertaining and informative

I was wowed by this book completely. The narrative of the relationship between the Catholic church and the sciences alone made it worthwhile. If you haven't read a book such as this and think you know what really happened with Galileo Galilei... well, you probably don't.

A lucid description of what has been discovered so far.

Kitty Ferguson writes about a deep subject with clarity and enthusiasm. This book describes homo sapiens' attempts to understand the Universe, from the time of Eratosthenes' elegant method of inferring the Earth's diameter in the 3rd century BC; to the end of the second millennium AD, with its Hubble Space Telescope views and the theoretical models of Einstein, Hawking, et al.It is a facinating story that should be required reading.