Some 400 years after the first known patent application for a telescope by Hans Lipperhey, The Astronomy Revolution: 400 Years of Exploring the Cosmos surveys the effects of this instrument and explores the questions that have arisen out of scientific research in astronomy and cosmology. Inspired by the international New Vision 400 conference held in Beijing in October 2008, this interdisciplinary volume brings together expanded and updated contributions from 26 esteemed conference speakers and invited others. Looking beyond questions of science to the role of moral responsibility in human civilizations, the book offers the unique vantage points of contributions from both Eastern and Western cultures.
Extensively illustrated in full color, this book consists of six parts. Aimed at young scientists, the first part presents perspectives on creativity and technology in scientific discovery. In the second part, contributors examine how the telescope has impacted our knowledge of the Universefrom the formation of galaxies to the death of stars. The third part of the book outlines some of the challenges we face in understanding dark matter, dark energy, black holes, and cosmic rays, and the fourth part discusses new technologies that will be useful in attacking new and unresolved questions. The fifth part of the book examines the intellectual impact that the telescope has had on society in China and in the West.
The book concludes with an investigation of "big questions": What is the origin of the laws of physics as we know them? Are these laws the same everywhere? How do these scientific laws relate to the moral laws of society? Does what we know depend on cultural ways of asking the questions? Is there life elsewhere? And what about the questions that science cannot answer? Celebrating the historical significance of the telescope, this unique book seeks to inspire all those involved or interested i
| Preface |
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xi | |
| Acknowledgments |
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xiii | |
| Contributors |
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xv | |
| Introduction: The New Vision 400 Project |
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xvii | |
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PART I Creativity and Technology in Astronomical Discovery |
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Chapter 1 From the Language of Heaven to the Rationale of Matter |
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3 | (10) |
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Chapter 2 The Impact of Modern Telescope Development on Astronomy |
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13 | (16) |
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Chapter 3 Searching for Other Earths and Life in the Universe |
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29 | (14) |
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PART II Impact of Telescopes on Our Knowledge of the Universe |
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Chapter 4 The Formation and Evolution of Galaxies |
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43 | (18) |
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Chapter 5 Structure Formation in the Universe: From the Dark Side to First Light |
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61 | (20) |
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Chapter 6 An Overview of Supernovae, the Explosive Deaths of Stars |
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81 | (22) |
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Chapter 7 The Dark Secrets of Gaseous Nebulae: Highlights from Deep Spectroscopy |
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103 | (22) |
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PART III Some Near-Term Challenges in Astronomy |
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Chapter 8 Can We Detect Dark Matter? |
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125 | (16) |
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Chapter 9 Can We Understand Dark Energy? |
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141 | (22) |
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Chapter 10 Astrophysical Black Holes in the Physical Universe |
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163 | (24) |
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Chapter 11 Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays |
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187 | (22) |
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PART IV Technologies for Future Questions |
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Chapter 12 New Technologies for Radio Astronomy |
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209 | (18) |
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Chapter 13 Advanced Optical Techniques in Astronomy |
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227 | (10) |
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Chapter 14 Scientific Opportunities for 30-Meter-Class Optical Telescopes |
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237 | (20) |
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PART V Intellectual Impact of the Telescope on Society |
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Chapter 15 The Impact of Astronomy on Chinese Society in the Days before Telescopes |
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257 | (14) |
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Chapter 16 The Impact of the Telescope in the West, 1608-1802 |
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271 | (10) |
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Chapter 17 The Impact of the Telescope on Astronomy and Society in China |
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281 | (12) |
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PART VI "Big Questions" Raised by New Knowledge |
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Chapter 18 Exoplanet Atmospheres and the Search for Biosignatures |
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293 | (16) |
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Chapter 19 What New Telescopes Can Tell Us about "Other Worlds" |
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309 | (22) |
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Chapter 20 Multiverse Cosmology |
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331 | (14) |
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Chapter 21 Universe or Multiverse? |
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345 | (16) |
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Chapter 22 Cosmos and Humanity in Traditional Chinese Thought |
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361 | (14) |
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Chapter 23 Laws of Nature, Moral Order, and the Intelligibility of the Cosmos |
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375 | (12) |
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Chapter 24 Why Are the Laws of Nature as They Are? What Underlies Their Existence? |
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387 | (20) |
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| Appendix: The New Vision 400 Conference |
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407 | (6) |
| Index |
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413 | |
To see video presentations from the New Vision 400 conference celebrating the 400th anniversary of the invention of the telescope, see the New Vision 400 web site.
Donald G. York, Chief Editor, is Horace B. Horton Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at The University of Chicago. He was the founding director of the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, and of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, one of the most ambitious collaborative projects ever undertaken by astronomers. He is also the founder and co-director of the Chicago Public Schools/University of Chicago Internet Project, a neighborhood schools technology initiative.
Owen Gingerich, Co-Editor, is Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard University and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics). He is co-author of two successive standard models for the solar atmosphere and is a leading authority on the 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler and the 16th-century cosmologist Nicolaus Copernicus. A world traveler, he has successfully observed 14 total solar eclipses.
Shuang-Nan Zhang, Co-Editor, is Professor and Director of Key Laboratory of and Center for Particle Astrophysics in the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as Research Professor of Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is also the chief scientist of the Space Science Division of the National Astronomical Observatories of China and heads the X-ray Imaging Laboratory, which is leading several space x-ray astronomy missions in China, as well as the space astronomy program onboard China's Spacelab and Space Station.
