Título: BLACK HOLE BLUES (AND OTHER SONGS FROM OUTER SPACE)
Autor: LEVIN, JANNA
Año: 2016
Género: DIVULGACIÓN CIENTÍFICA
Formato: EPUB
From one of our most eminent theoretical astrophysicists and an award-winning writer, a fascinating, firsthand history of the scientific pursuit to detect gravitational waves: the holy grail of modern cosmology, the soundtrack of the universe.
In 1916, Einstein became the first to predict the existence of gravitational waves: sounds without a material medium generated by the unfathomably energy-producing collision of black holes.
One century later, we are recording the first sounds from space, evidence of the waves' existence caused by the collision of two black holes. An authoritative account of the headline-making discovery by theoretical astrophysicist and award-winning writer Janna Levin, «Black hole blues and other songs from outer space» recounts the fascinating story of the obsessions, aspirations, and trials of the scientists who embarked on an arduous fifty-year endeavor to capture these elusive waves.
Now Janna Levin, herself an astrophysicist, recounts the story of the search over the last fifty years for these elusive waves -a quest that has culminated in the creation of the most expensive project ever funded by the National Science Foundation ($1 billion-plus). She makes clear how the waves are created in the cosmic collision of black holes, and why the waves can never be detected by telescope. And, most revealingly, she delves into the lives and fates of the four scientists currently engaged in -and obsessed with- discerning this soundtrack of the universe's history. Levin's account of the surprises, disappointments, achievements, and risks of this unfolding story provides us with a uniquely compelling and intimate portrait of the people and processes of modern science.
Five decades after the experiment was dreamed up, the team races to intercept a wisp of sound with two colossal machines, hoping to succeed in time for the centenary of Einstein's most radical idea. With unprecendented access to the surprises, disappointments, achievements, and risks in this remarkable story, Janna Levin's absorbing account offers a portrait of modern science that is unlike anything we've seen before.
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