The Last Three Minutes: Latest Thinking About the Ultimate Fate of the Universe - Couverture souple

Davies, P. C. W.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0297815024 ISBN 13 : 9780297815020

Editeur : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1994

Synopsis

This book confirms the author's gift for explaining advanced scientific ideas in simple language, and for exploring their philosophical implications. The end of the universe is a most suitable subject for this kind of discussion, in that the evidence for it can only be of an indirect and hypothetical nature, and thus open to all sorts of differing interpretations. Davies sets out the arguments for the three possible outcomes: the universe will go on expanding indefinitely; it will slow down and eventually turn round and collapse into a zero space, the reverse of the Big Bang; it will reach a steady state neither expanding nor contracting but staying the same for ever. As a religious man, Davies is equally curious about the implications for humans: is there any sense in which humanity can expect to survive for eternity?

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Ragnarok. Armageddon. Doomsday. Since the dawn of time, man has wondered how the world would end. In The Last Three Minutes, Paul Davies reveals the latest theories. It might end in a whimper, slowly scattering into the infinite void. Then again, it might be yanked back by its own gravity and end in a catastrophic "Big Crunch." There are other, more frightening possibilities. We may be seconds away from doom at this very moment.

Written in clear language that makes the cutting-edge science of quarks, neutrinos, wormholes, and metaverses accessible to the layman, The Last Three Minutes treats readers to a wide range of conjectures about the ultimate fate of the universe. Along the way, it takes the occasional divergent path to discuss some slightly less cataclysmic topics such as galactic colonization, what would happen if the Earth were struck by the comet Swift-Tuttle (a distinct possibility), the effects of falling in a black hole, and how to create a "baby universe." Wonderfully morbid to the core, this is one of the most original science books to come along in years.

Biographie de l'auteur

Paul Davies is a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Mind of God, The Cosmic Blueprint, Superforce, and Are We Alone? He won the 1995 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion for his contributions to religious thought and inquiry.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Date d'édition: 1994
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0297815024
• ISBN 13: 9780297815020
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 176
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible