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This book explains in clear, non-mathematical language the measurements and the interpretation of the resulting data that have led to the current understanding of the origin, evolution and properties of our expanding Big Bang universe. Theoretical concepts are emphasized, but no other book for the layman explains how model universes are generated, and how they function as the templates against which ours is compared and analyzed. Background material is provided in the first four chapters; the current picture and how it was attained are discussed in the next four chapters; and some unsolved problems and conjectured solutions are explored in the final chapter.
Preface.- Introduction: the Splendid Science.- Measuring Distances: On the Earth, In the Solar System, To the Nearby Stars.- Light, Radiation and Quanta.- Stars: Attributes, Energetics, Endstages.- The Expanding Universe.- Homogeneous, Isotropic Universes.- The Parameters of the Universe.- The Early Universe.- Conjectures.- Appendix A: Powers of Ten.- Appendix B: Primordial Nucleosynthesis.- Appendix C: The Elementary Particle Zoo.- Chapter Notes.- Bibliography.- Glossary.- List of Symbols.- Author's Note and Acknowledgements.-Index.
Until his retirement Professor Levin was a faculty member at Brown University, teaching a wide variety of graduate and undergraduate courses in physics and mathematics. Since retiring in 2001 he has taught adult education courses on cosmology and the universe (2002, 2003, and 2005), and on quantum ideas and phenomena (2004 and 2006). His publications include An Introduction to Quantum Theory (Cambridge, 2001/2002), co-editor with D. A. Micha, two volumes in the series, Finite Systems and Multiparticle Dynamics (Plenum): Vol. 1 Long Range Casimir Forces (1993); Vol. 2 Coulomb Interactions in Nuclear and Atomic Few-body Systems (1996).
Aus den Rezensionen: "... ein logischer und didaktischer Kunstgriff ... Frank Levin ! stellt ! die Grundlagen der Vermessung des Universums klar und systematisch vor, was den Wert des Bandes ausmacht. Levin ! legt ! grossen Wert auf die Vermittlung von Zahlen und astronomischen Grossenordnungen, Ausweis seiner guten physikalischen Didaktik aus dreissig Jahren akademischer Lehre. ! Der Band ist sehr gut mit Anhangen zur kosmischen Elementsynthese ... ausgestattet. ! Allen Liebhabern der Kosmologie ! sei der Band zur aufmerksamen Lekture empfohlen." (Volker Muller, in: Sterne und Weltraum, 2008, Issue 5, S. 122)
