Discusses the major issues in science, including the structure of particles within the atom, origins of species, and the birth of the universe

Almost Everyone's Guide to Science: The Universe, Life and Everything

Gribbin, Mary

Gribbin, Dr. John

Science & Math

Yale University Press

The age of the universe has been one of the great scientific mysteries of our time. This engrossing book tells the story of how the mystery was recently solved. Written by a brilliant science writer who was involved, as a research astronomer, in the final breakthrough, the book provides details of the ongoing controversies among scientists as they groped their way to the truth?that the universe is between 13 and 16 billion years old, older by at least one billion years than the star systems it contains. In clear, engaging language, Gribbin takes us through the history of cosmological discoveries, focusing in particular on the seventy years since the Big Bang model of the origin of the universe. He explains how conflicting views of the age of the universe and stars converged in the 1990s because scientists (including Gribbin) were able to use data from the Hubble Space Telescope that measured distances across the universe.

The Birth of Time: How Astronomers Measured the Age of the Universe

Astronomy & Space Science

We are made of stardust?and so is all life as we know it. All the chemical elements on earth except hydrogen?including the ones in our bodies?have been processed inside stars, scattered across the universe in great stellar explosions, and recycled to become new stars, planets, and parts of us. In this engrossing book, John and Mary Gribbin relate the developments in twentieth-century astronomy that have led to this shattering realization. They begin their account in the 1920s, when astronomers discovered that the oldest stars are chiefly composed of the primordial elements hydrogen and helium, produced in the birth of the universe in a Big Bang. They then describe the seminal work of the 1950s and 1960s, which unlocked the secret of how elements are ?cooked” by nuclear fusion inside stars. The heart of the story is their discussion of supernovae, only recently understood as great stellar explosions in which the resulting ash is spread far and wide through the cosmos, forming new generations of stars, planets, and people. Focusing on the relationship between the universe and the Earth, the authors eloquently explain how the physical structure of the universe has produced conditions ideal for life.

Stardust: Supernovae and Life -- The Cosmic Connection

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gribbin, Dr. John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gribbin, Dr. John

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gribbin, Dr. John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Almost Everyone's Guide to Science: The Universe, Life and Everything

The Birth of Time: How Astronomers Measured the Age of the Universe

Stardust: Supernovae and Life -- The Cosmic Connection