Observers of the Cosmos Unveiled
Posted on: Wednesday, 11 August 2004, 06:00 CDT
THE MEN WHO MEASURED THE UNIVERSE By John and Mary Gribbin Icon Books RM33.50, pp125
`All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike - and yet it is the most precious thing we have.' - Albert Einstein
"SPACE, The Final Frontier" - as Captain James T. Kirk of the legendary USS Enterprise once called it - has always been full of mystery.
Even today, hundreds of satellites and observatories all over the world continue to work at feverish pace, their electronic eyes fixed upon the heavens, watching the stars, observing and learning about the cosmos.
For exploration of space, since the time of the ancient Egyptians to Galileo Galilei, has changed little in the terms of methodology - it is still based on astronomy.
This book, part of an Icon Science series dedicated to various historical scientific discoveries, brings alive the astronomers of the 20th century who struggled to solve the question of how big the universe is.
The book centres around the group of astronomers based in Mount Wilson, near Pasadena in the United States. Among them were Edwin Hubble (after whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named), George Ellery Hale, Milton Humason and Allan Sandage.
A comprehensive biography of these figures is given and a good attempt at humanising the scientists made. We learn from the narrative, for example, that Humason was a former mule driver and hotel waiter who rose through the ranks to become not only a brilliant astronomer but also one of the people behind Hubble's Law, the formula which quantifies the measurement of the universe.
The book ties together the major astronomic and astrophysic theories of the time, including the Big Bang Theory put forward by Georges Lemaitre, fitting in with Hubble's work which culminated in Hubble's Law.
By and large, the book is a pleasant read except for a few parts when astrophysics theories are described at great length. Those without a working knowledge of this subject may be easily daunted by the sudden depth of material.
Everyone remembers Armstrong's famous "One small leap for man, one giant leap for mankind," but what few people realise is how astronomers and astrophysicists continue to chart, map and calculate the length and breadth of the cosmos so that others may, physically, walk in space.
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