Told with humor, enthusiasm, and rare clarity, this entertaining book reveals how a former high school drop-out revolutionized our understanding of space and time. From E=mc2 and everyday time travel to black holes and the big bang, Einstein Relatively Simple takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on a mind-boggling journey through the depths of Einstein's universe. Along the way, we track Einstein through the perils and triumphs of his life follow his thinking, his logic, and his insights and chronicle the audacity, imagination, and sheer genius of the man recognized as the greatest scientist of the modern era.
In Part I on special relativity we learn how time slows and space shrinks with motion, and how mass and energy are equivalent. Part II on general relativity reveals a cosmos where black holes trap light and stop time, where wormholes form gravitational time machines, where space itself is continually expanding, and where some 13.7 billion years ago our universe was born in the ultimate cosmic event the Big Bang.
EINSTEIN RELATIVELY SIMPLE Our Universe Revealed in Everyday Language
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EINSTEIN RELATIVELY SIMPLE Our Universe Revealed in Everyday Language
Ira Mark Egdall
World Scientific NEW JERSEY
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LONDON
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Published by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. 5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224 USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Egdall, Ira Mark, author. Einstein relatively simple : our universe revealed in everyday language / Ira Mark Egdall. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-9814525589 (hard : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-9814525596 (pbk) 1. Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955--Influence. 2. Relativity (Physics) I. Title. QC16.E5E25 2013 530.11--dc23 2013033953
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2014 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
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In-house Editor: Rhaimie Wahap
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To the memory of my father, who taught me to appreciate the wonders of science. To the memory of my mother, who taught me to see beauty in the world.
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