Black Hole Blues - And Other Songs from Outer Space

Zusatztext 77529572 Informationen zum Autor JANNA LEVIN  is a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is also director of sciences at Pioneer Works! a center for arts and sciences in Brooklyn! and has contributed to an understanding of black holes! the cosmology of extra dimensions! and gravitational waves in the shape of spacetime. Her previous books include How the Universe Got Its Spots and a novel! A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines! which won the PEN/Bingham Prize. She was recently named a Guggenheim fellow. Klappentext The authoritative story of the headline-making discovery of gravitational waves-by an eminent theoretical astrophysicist and award-winning writer. From the author of How the Universe Got Its Spots and A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines! the epic story of the scientific campaign to record the soundtrack of our universe. Black holes are dark. That is their essence. When black holes collide! they will do so unilluminated. Yet the black hole collision is an event more powerful than any since the origin of the universe. The profusion of energy will emanate as waves in the shape of spacetime: gravitational waves. No telescope will ever record the event; instead! the only evidence would be the sound of spacetime ringing. In 1916! Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves! his top priority after he proposed his theory of curved spacetime. One century later! we are recording the first sounds from space! the soundtrack to accompany astronomy's silent movie. In Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space! Janna Levin recounts the fascinating story of the obsessions! the aspirations! and the trials of the scientists who embarked on an arduous! fifty-year endeavor to capture these elusive waves. An experimental ambition that began as an amusing thought experiment! a mad idea! became the object of fixation for the original architects-Rai Weiss! Kip Thorne! and Ron Drever. Striving to make the ambition a reality! the original three gradually accumulated an international team of hundreds. As this book was written! two massive instruments of remarkably delicate sensitivity were brought to advanced capability. As the book draws to a close! five decades after the experimental ambition began! the team races to intercept a wisp of a sound with two colossal machines! hoping to succeed in time for the centenary of Einstein's most radical idea. Janna Levin's absorbing account of the surprises! disappointments! achievements! and risks in this unfolding story offers a portrait of modern science that is unlike anything we've seen before. Zusammenfassung The authoritative story of the headline-making discovery of gravitational waves—by an eminent theoretical astrophysicist and award-winning writer. From the author of How the Universe Got Its Spots and A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines! the epic story of the scientific campaign to record the soundtrack of our universe.   Black holes are dark. That is their essence. When black holes collide! they will do so unilluminated. Yet the black hole collision is an event more powerful than any since the origin of the universe. The profusion of energy will emanate as waves in the shape of spacetime: gravitational waves. No telescope will ever record the event; instead! the only evidence would be the sound of spacetime ringing. In 1916! Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves! his top priority after he proposed his theory of curved spacetime. One century later! we are recording the first sounds from space! the soundtrack to accompany astronomy’s silent movie. In Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space! Janna Levin recounts the fascinating story of the obsessions! the aspirations! and the trials of the scientists who embarked on an arduous! fi...

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"Taking on the simultaneous roles of expert scientist, journalist, historian and storyteller of uncommon enchantment, Levin delivers pure signal from cover to cover....Levin profiles the key figures in this revolution with Dostoyevskian insight....She harmonizes science and life with remarkable virtuosity....But as redemptive as the story of countless trials and unlikely triumph may be, what makes the book most rewarding is Levin's exquisite prose, which bears the mark of a first-rate writer: an acute critical mind haloed with generosity of spirit." -Maria Popova, The New York Times Book Review (front page review)

"The astonishing story of how science was able to measure such a tiny effect, at a cost of a few hundred million dollars (which seems modest given the achievement), is told by Janna Levin in her superb "Black Hole Blues." Ms. Levin is able to tell the tale so soon, and so well, because she has had privileged access to the experiment conducted with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, known as LIGO....Ms Levin's easy style...makes readers feel as if they are sitting in on her interviews or watching over her shoulder as she describes two black holes colliding. This is a splendid book that I recommend to anyone with an interest in how science works and in the power of human imagination and ability." -John Gribbin, The Wall Street Journal

"Levin is herself a theoretical physicist (as well as an accomplished novelist), but in Black Hole Blues she is more of a journalist, and a good one at that....Levin's writing is casual and sometimes poetic, and the fortunate existence of an interesting and curious cast of characters makes her book a unique and convincing account of the discovery of gravitational waves. She liberally inserts her own impressions and emotions into the text, and the reader can't help sharing her surprises, her concerns, and her sympathies....She doesn't ignore the science, which is interspersed throughout the book in short passages-not too much to overwhelm, but not too little to leave the reader puzzled....This short volume will serve as a unique literary resource for those who wish to understand the history of one of the most ambitious science projects of the twentieth century." -The New York Review of Books

"Levin's authoritative account of the brilliant physicists and engineers who envisioned such a remarkable experiment places readers right in the middle of the action, tracing LIGO's evolution from an inspired idea in the 1970s to the most expensive project in the history of the National Science Foundation. She perfectly captures the fast-paced, forward-thinking, bureaucracy-averse atmosphere of a large-scale scientific experiment, but she also lays bare the decades of interpersonal strife that, at times, threatened to undermine the experiment's success. The author's portrait of these pioneers is especially engaging for her ability to contextualize humanness not just within the scope of the physical experiment, but in the face of such dizzying stakes-surely a Nobel is on the line and has been since the beginning. Levin herself is also wondrously present in this narrative, nimbly guiding readers through scientific jargon and reminding us of the enormous profundity of modern physics. 'A vestige of the noise of the [black hole] crash,' she writes, 'has been on its way to us since early multicelled organisms fossilized in supercontinents on a still dynamic Earth.' A superb alignment of author and subject: Levin is among the best contemporary science writers, and LIGO is arguably the most compelling experiment on the planet." -Kirkus starred review

"Lively, poignant, engaging....a story worth telling." -Science Magazine

"[Levin] explains in clear terms the scientific heart of this achievement and the deep and personal fascination that pursuing it has held for several generations of scientists. She also captures the cost of getting to this point, both financial-this is big

Product details

• Authors: Janna Levin
• Publisher: Knopf
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.08.2016
• EAN: 9780307958198
• ISBN: 978-0-307-95819-8
• No. of pages: 241
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 218 mm x 26 mm
• Series: ALFRED A. KNOPF
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > Astronomy