How Old is the Universe? by David Weintraub; Princeton University Press; Princeton, New Jersey; $29.95; January 2011.
This is a very engaging and readable book that will help you wrap your mind around an agreed to astronomical actuality: The universe is 13.7 billion years old.
But how did scientists arrive at this figure? The author is a professor of astronomy at Vanderbilt University and offers the reader a fact-filled roadmap that needed to unfold in order to answer a core question about our surrounding universe.
Let’s face it. Nobody likes to cough up their true age. Teasing out the answer from the universe is the result of a dozen generations of scientists, Weintraub points out. Four independent methods for deriving an age for the universe have yielded a consistent answer.
The process of determining the age of the universe took meticulous research tactics by visionary star gazers, armed with tools of their trade over the centuries.
In an appealing writing style, Weintraub underscores the plight of astronomers.
“They cannot drag the stars into their laboratories. They cannot make stars hotter or cooler to see how they behave when their temperatures change. They cannot slice open galaxies in order to peer into their cores. Astronomers can only take what the universe offers — light and a few small rocks – and make the most of it.”
The casual observer and the tested skywatcher will find a great read here, one that blends history with today’s foundation of astrophysics and sheds light on how astronomers wrap their own minds about the universe…and the universe of questions that still remain.
By the way, look and learn as Weintraub explains what a baked potato can tell you about the age of the universe.
Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOnOz3GDr4U
For more information on this book, go to:
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9285.html
By Leonard David