How the Universe Got its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space.JANNA LEVIN Janna J. Levin (born 1967) is a theoretical cosmologist. She holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology granted in 1993 and a Bachelor of Arts in Astronomy and Physics from Barnard College granted in 1988. [1]. This collection of unsent letters to the author's mother reflect 2 years in the life and mind of a theoretical physicist. Levin eagerly shares what it's like to be a scientist working on the cutting edge, while explaining the mind-bending ideas that drive her field. With a particular interest in the interface between topology (the study of shapes) and cosmology cosmology, area of science that aims at a comprehensive theory of the structure and evolution of the entire physical universe. Modern Cosmological Theories , she explains how the topology and geometry of the universe are now coming into focus--a strange map of space full of black holes, chaotic flows, time warps, and invisible strings. She argues on behalf of the controversial idea that this map is edgeless but finite--that the universe is huge but not unending. In the process of advancing this idea, she succinctly details the tenets of chaos theory chaos theory, in mathematics, physics, and other fields, a set of ideas that attempts to reveal structure in aperiodic, unpredictable dynamic systems such as cloud formation or the fluctuation of biological populations. , general relativity general relativity n. The geometric theory of gravitation developed by Albert Einstein, incorporating and extending the theory of special relativity to accelerated frames of reference and introducing the principle that gravitational and inertial forces , and other theories that define the cosmos. Princeton U Pr, 2002, 208 p., b&w photos/illus., hardcover, $22.95. |
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