Parallax The Race to Measure the Cosmos EPUB

Title Page
Introduction
Epigraph
Part 1
1 – Reinventing the Cosmos
2 – The circle Game
3 – What If the Sun Be Center to the World?
4 – Crossed Eyes and Wobbling Stars
BROADENING THE BASELINE (I): RANGE FINDERS
BROADENING THE BASELINE (II): SURVEYING
BROADENING THE BASELINE (III): SOLAR-SYSTEM PARALLAXES
BROADENING THE BASELINE (IV): STELLAR PARALLAX
Part 2
5 – The Heavens Erupt
6 – The Turbulent Lens
7 – The Wrangler of Pisa
8 – The Archimedean Engine
9 – A Coal Cellar with a View
10 – Double Vision
Part 3
11 – Dismal Swamp
12 – The Twice-Built Telescope
13 – Quest for Precision
14 – So Many Grasshoppers
15 – The Star in the Lyre
16 – The Subtle Weave
Epilogue – A Drink from the Well
Praise for Parallax
Acknowledgments
Notes and Further Reading
Index
Parallax The Race to Measure the Cosmos EPUB Ebook

Alan Hirshfeld is Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an Associate of the Harvard College Observatory. He received his undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Princeton University in 1973 and his Ph.D. in astronomy from Yale in 1978. His widely praised book, “Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos,” published in 2002 by Henry Holt & Co., chronicles the human stories involved in the centuries-long quest to measure the first distance to a star. His second book, “The Electric Life of Michael Faraday,” published in 2006 by Walker & Co., describes the life and work of the 19th century scientist who developed the electric motor, electric generator, and many fundamental ideas about electricity, magnetism, and light. “Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes,” published by Walker & Co. in 2009, was released in paperback in September 2010. Prof. Hirshfeld’s “Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual,” a collection of mathematical exercises for college astronomy courses, was published by Jones & Bartlett Learning in 2009. His most recent book, “Starlight Detectives: How Astronomers, Inventors, and Eccentrics Discovered the Modern Universe,” was a finalist for the Boston Author’s Club’s 2016 Julia Ward Howe writing award. Prof. Hirshfeld has lectured nationwide about scientific history and discovery and is Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect of the American Astronomical Society’s Historical Astronomy Division. He is a regular science-book reviewer for the Wall Street Journal.