New Releases by John Gribbin

Galaxies are the building blocks of the Universe: standing like islands in space, each is made up of many hundreds of millions of stars in which the chemical elements are made, around which planets form, and where on at least one of those planets intelligent life has emerged. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is just one of several hundred million other galaxies that we can now observe through our telescopes. Yet it was only in the 1920s that we realised that there is more to the Universe than the Milky Way, and that there were in fact other ''islands'' out there. In many ways, modern astronomy began with this discovery, and the story of galaxies is therefore the story of modern astronomy. Since then, many exciting discoveries have been made about our own galaxy and about those beyond: how a supermassive black hole lurks at the centre of every galaxy, for example, how enormous forces are released when galaxies collide, how distant galaxies provide a window on the early Universe, and what the formation of young galaxies can tell us about the mysteries of Cold Dark Matter. In this Very Short Introduction, renowned science writer John Gribbin describes the extraordinary things that astronomers are learning about galaxies, and explains how this can shed light on the origins and structure of the Universe. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Carl Linnaeus - Joseph Banks - Francis Masson - Carl Peter Thunberg - David Douglas - William Lobb - Thomas Lobb - Robert Fortune - Marianne North - Richard Spruce - Joseph Dalton Hooker.

How did the universe begin? Where do galaxies come from? Where do the material particles we are made of come from? Today we have only provisional answers to such questions, but this will improve dramatically over the next ten years, predicts astronomer Gribbin. He focuses on what we think we know about ten issues and explains how cutting-edge research may yield solutions in the very near future. He explores ideas concerning the creation of the universe, the possibility of other forms of life, and the fate of the expanding cosmos. He examines "theories of everything," including grand unified theories and string theory, and he discusses the Big Bang theory, the origin of structure and patterns of matter in the galaxies, dark mass and dark energy, the future of Earth and the Sun, and the possibility that the universe might expand forever.--From publisher description.

In this sweeping survey, acclaimed science writers Paul Davies and John Gribbin provide a complete overview of advances in the study of physics that have revolutionized modern science. From the weird world of quarks and the theory of relativity to the latest ideas about the birth of the cosmos, the authors find evidence for a massive paradigm shift. Developments in the studies of black holes, cosmic strings, solitons, and chaos theory challenge commonsense concepts of space, time, and matter, and demand a radically altered and more fully unified view of the universe.

Provides an overview of the hundred-year saga of particle physics, explaining details from the basics to the research that has produced new models of the universe, among them the radical theories of "superstrings" - the hypothesis that particles are loops of vibrating "string" - and "supersymmetry."

From the bestselling author of Science: A History comes the enthralling story of a revolution that shook the world. Seventeenth-century England was racked by civil war, plague and fire; a world ruled by superstition and ignorance. A series of meetings of ''natural philosophers'' in Oxford and London saw the beginning of a new method of thinking based on proof and experiment. John Gribbin''s gripping, colourful account of this unparalleled time of discovery explores the impact of the Royal Society, culminating with Isaac Newton''s revolutionary description of the universe and Edmund Halley''s prediction of the return of a comet in 1759. This compelling book shows the triumph not as the work of one isolated genius, but of a Fellowship.

Over the past two decades, no field of scientific inquiry has had a more striking impact across a wide array of disciplines–from biology to physics, computing to meteorology–than that known as chaos and complexity, the study of complex systems. Now astrophysicist John Gribbin draws on his expertise to explore, in prose that communicates not only the wonder but the substance of cutting-edge science, the principles behind chaos and complexity. He reveals the remarkable ways these two revolutionary theories have been applied over the last twenty years to explain all sorts of phenomena–from weather patterns to mass extinctions. Grounding these paradigm-shifting ideas in their historical context, Gribbin also traces their development from Newton to Darwin to Lorenz, Prigogine, and Lovelock, demonstrating how–far from overturning all that has gone before–chaos and complexity are the triumphant extensions of simple scientific laws. Ultimately, Gribbin illustrates how chaos and complexity permeate the universe on every scale, governing the evolution of life and galaxies alike.

2005 marks the 100th anniversary of Einstein''s three papers which were the basis for the Theory of Relativity, and that are referred to in the science community as the "Annus Mirabilis."

Admiral FitzRoy made his name as a captain on the HMS Beagle. It was for his second voyage on the ship (1831-36) that he decided to ask Charles Darwin to accompany him, and it was during this time that Darwin began to develop the ideas that would lead him to his theory of evolution by natural selection. But FitzRoy was not just ''Darwin''s captain'': he was an MP, he was the second Governor of New Zealand from 1843-45 when he made himself unpopular with the settlers by upholding Maori rights, and in 1854 he set up the Meteorological Office which made the lives of all sailors who came after him so much safer. John and Mary Gribbin''s portrait of this multi-talented man whose impact on modern life is still felt will fascinate all who read it.

This title begins with Galileo and takes the reader through to the scientific developments of string theory. It is an accessible narrative history, focusing on the way in which science has progressed by building on what went before, and also on the very close relationship between the progress of science and improved technology.

Presents a guide to quantum physics including the history of quantum theory, its basic principles, and future applications.

The Gribbins relate the developments in 20th-century astronomy that have led to the shattering realization that all life is made of stardust scattered across the universe in great stellar explosions from supernovae. The authors eloquently explain how the physical structure of the universe has produced conditions ideal for life. 22 illustrations.

In the ultimate guide to the ultimate mystery--the quantum world--an award-winning scientist and a master of popular science writing explains recent breakthroughs and the wondrous possibilities that lie in the future. Illustrations throughout.

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

Bestselling science writer John Gribbin explores--and explains--black holes, supernovas, the big bang, and the mysterious case of the missing neutrinos, in this wonderfully lucid . . . primer to the dizzying intermarriage of cosmology, astronomy, and particle physics. (Publishers Weekly).

Recent breakthroughs in measuring the age of the universe with the Hubble Space Telescope are the subject of this book, written by a science writer who was a research astronomer involved in the discoveries. Illustrations.

En este libro encontraras: ADN, Agua, Agujeros de gusano, Ctomo, Efecto Jupiter, Evento KT, Experimento Young, Genes saltarines, Gaia, Seleccion natural, Vida unicelular, Virus, ...

Although Richard Feynman was a great scientist, and his collection of essays, "Surely You''re Joking, Mr. Feynman" was a national bestseller, few people could relate the name of the work for which he is acknowledged. Arguably the greatest physicist of his generation, Feynman''s contributions are well illustrated in this unique biography, written in a friendly and accessible style.

Fire on Earth reveals that comets have been a continuing problem throughout geological time. It examines the controversial claims that there are ''periodic extinctions'' of life on earth linked to a recurring cycle of cometary impacts

The authors present both a vivid portrait of Einstein the man and the most accesible explanation of his scientific thought ever published. They provide startling revelations, including material on Einstein''s troubles with the FBI, his illegitimate child, his two marriages, and evidence that he may have suffered from schizophrenia.

Time travel has been a common feature in popular science fiction, but with today''s understanding of black holes, it could possibly be a reality. Many astrophysicists believe black holes can function as tunnels leading to other times and other places and that they contain the key to the Big Bang.

Gribbin presents the recent dramatic improvements in experimental techniques that have enabled physicists to formulate and test new theories about the nature of light. He describes these theories not in terms of hard-to-imagine entities like spinning subnuclear particles, but in terms of the fate of two small cats separated at a tender age and carried to opposite sides of the universe.

"Once the stuff of science-fiction novels, black holes, and their even stranger cosmological counterparts, white holes and worm holes, are now the subject of serious scientific inquiry. Physicists who formerly shunned these astrophysical eccentricities have begun to theorize about them and search for the physical proof of their existence with the zeal of converts. Their unavoidable conclusion of this research is that these "rips in the fabric of spacetime" are not only real, they might actually provide a passage to other universes and travel through time." "Unveiling the Edge of Time tells the fascinating story of the theories and discoveries that have led scientists to these astonishing conclusions. Here, acclaimed science writer John Gribbin tells of the scientists and the ideas behind this revolution in cosmology - from the first notions of an object so large its gravity would trap even light, to the most recent developments in the search for "naked singularities" - the center of a black hole where all known laws of physics break down. Gribbin recounts for us such dramatic stories as how Carl Sagan''s science-fiction search for a plausible method of hyperspace travel led a fellow physicist to make some of the most startling recent advances in relativity theory. Taking readers into new universes and across time itself, Gribbin provides remarkable descriptions of what it would be like for astronauts taking trips through each of these spacetime "holes" - what they would see and feel as they are drawn across "event horizons" and where they would arrive after passing through a singularity." "With a scientist''s knowledge of the facts and a writer''s gift for description, John Gribbin conveys these extraordinary ideas with both excitement and clarity. The result is an intellectual adventure that will take readers to the farthest reaches of today''s science."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The author of In Search of Schrodinger''s Cat chronicles the excitement currently surrounding the discoveries about the sun which have been made at an accelerated pace in the last ten years. 25 line drawings.

Reports on the threats to the ozone layer as confirmed in the findings of the National Airborne Ozone Expedition (NOZE) in Antarctica in 1986. Discusses past and present experiments and studies on the ozone layer, including ways and means to present further damage.

Chapters cover such topics as the theories of Darwin, Mendel, and Barbara McClintock, quantum chemistry, and the molecules of life.