Overview

Beyond the range of optical perception--and of ordinary imaginings--a new and violent universe lay undetected until the advent of space exploration. Supernovae, black holes, quasars and pulsars--these were the secrets of the highenergy world revealed when, for the first time, astronomers attached their instruments to rockets and lofted them beyond the earth's x-ray-absorbing atmosphere. The X-Ray Universe is the story of these explorations and the fantastic new science they brought into being. It is a first-hand account: Riccardo Giacconi is one of the principal pioneers of the field, and Wallace Tucker is a theorist who worked closely with him at many critical periods. The book carries the reader from the early days of the Naval Research Laboratory through the era of V-2 rocketry, Sputnik, and the birth of NASA, to the launching of the Einstein X-Ray Observatory. But this is by no means just a history. Behind the suspenseful, sometimes humorous details of human personality grappling with high technology lies a sophisticated exposition of current cosmology and astrophysics, from the rise and fall of the steady-state theory to the search for the missing mass of the universe.

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9780674594432

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Reviews

It combines an enthralling account of the birth of x-ray astronomy with a lucid description of the latest breakthroughs in this rapidly developing field.The vital story of x-ray astronomy and the transformations it has wrought in our universe is here recounted with unusual sensitivity and clarity by two scientists who know the field from the inside Out. X-ray astronomy gets to the heart of the most energetic processes in the universe. Its history is told here with personal insights from leaders in its development. A high energy hook on a high energy realm of astronomy! Tucker and Giacconi present us with the contemporary view of the x-ray universe and provide an insightful mixture of personalities and politics. The story told here is a heady one of breakthroughs and breakdowns, fascination and frustration. Basic physical insights, clearly and plainly told, lace the observational discoveries together--from black holes to quasars. The X-Ray Universe offers the best synthesis of a revolution in modern astronomy for the interested public.

Author Information

Tucker Wallace: Wallace Tucker is science spokesman for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center. He is coauthor with his wife of numerous books on astronomy.Giacconi Riccardo: Riccardo Giacconi is Director, Space Telescope Science Institute and Professor of Astrophysics, Johns Hopkins University.

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