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Why?
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 280

Why?

Astrophysicist and author Mario Livio investigates perhaps the most human of all our characteristics—curiosity—in this “lively, expert, and definitely not dumbed-down account” (Kirkus Reviews) as he explores our innate desire to know why. Experiments demonstrate that people are more distracted when they overhear a phone conversation—where they can know only one side of the dialogue—than when they overhear two people talking and know both sides. Why does half a conversation make us more curious than a whole conversation? “Have you ever wondered why we wonder why? Mario Livio has, and he takes you on a fascinating quest to understand the origin and mechanisms of our curiosity. I ...

The Golden Ratio
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 305

The Golden Ratio

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2008-11-12
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  • Publisher: Crown

Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: phi, or 1.6180339887...This curious mathematical relationship, widely known as "The Golden Ratio," was discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago because of its crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing variety of places, from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and rose petals to the shape of the galaxy. Psychologi...

Galileo
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 304

Galileo

An “intriguing and accessible” (Publishers Weekly) interpretation of the life of Galileo Galilei, one of history’s greatest and most fascinating scientists, that sheds new light on his discoveries and how he was challenged by science deniers. “We really need this story now, because we’re living through the next chapter of science denial” (Bill McKibben). Galileo’s story may be more relevant today than ever before. At present, we face enormous crises—such as minimizing the dangers of climate change—because the science behind these threats is erroneously questioned or ignored. Galileo encountered this problem 400 years ago. His discoveries, based on careful observations and i...

Cataclysmic Variables
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 529

Cataclysmic Variables

Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) are well furnished laboratories in which one can investigate a number of important physical processes. These processes include: thermonuclear reactions, nebular physics, winds, mass accretion phenomena on compact objects, magnetohydrodynamics, plasmas, thermal and non thermal radiative processes, relativistic phenomena, dust forma tion, etc . . In the recent year the most exciting development in our opinion was that the small, cold and invisible secondary components of CV s were found to be the prime motors for the evolution of close binary systems, disclosing new scenarios for research. All branches of astronomy and as trophysics often take advantage of the new i...

Cosmic Evolution
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 372

Cosmic Evolution

This is the proceedings of an international conference on the evolution of matter in the Universe, with emphasis on the following topics: big bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic ray nucleosynthesis, stellar nucleosynthesis, galactic chemical and dynamical evolution, and evolution with redshift and cosmic chemical evolution in general.

Is God a Mathematician?
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 320

Is God a Mathematician?

Bestselling author and astrophysicist Mario Livio examines the lives and theories of history’s greatest mathematicians to ask how—if mathematics is an abstract construction of the human mind—it can so perfectly explain the physical world. Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner once wondered about “the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” in the formulation of the laws of nature. Is God a Mathematician? investigates why mathematics is as powerful as it is. From ancient times to the present, scientists and philosophers have marveled at how such a seemingly abstract discipline could so perfectly explain the natural world. More than that—mathematics has often made predictions, for exampl...

Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 347

Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects

Colloquium No. 72 of the International Astronomical Union covered many observations and theoretical developments in the field of cataclysmic variables and related objects. Much time was devoted to discussions and we made an effort to include as much of the discussions material as possible in the proceedings. The Local Organizing Committee would like to thank; The International Astronomical Union for travel grants The Israel Academy of Sciences for financial support The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology for financial support and assistance Bank Leumi Le-Israel for a generous support We also thank the Dean of the Faculty of Physics, our colleagues and students for their assistance. MARIO...

The Symbiotic Phenomenon
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 356

The Symbiotic Phenomenon

Symbiotic stars were identified spectroscopically as M giants with a very strong He II 4686 emission line. After five decades of study by many astronomers, the first internatioinal meetings devoted to symbiotics were held at the University of Colorado (Boulder) and at the Haute Provence Observatory during the Summer of 1981. These conferences emphasized exciting new results obtained by modern satellite (EINSTEIN, IUE) and ground-based observatories. Although the vast majority of the participants were already fairly sure that symbiotics are almost certainly interacting binary systems, and not extremely peculiar single stars, it was not clear exactly which types of physical processes were need...

The Universe at Large
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 460

The Universe at Large

Eleven of the world's greatest living astronomers and cosmologists present their personal views of key problems in contemporary astronomy and cosmology.

Planetary Nebulae
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 543

Planetary Nebulae

Planetary nebulae present a fascinating range of shapes and morphologies. They are ideal laboratories for the study of different astrophysical processes: atomic physics, radiative transfer, stellar winds, shocks, wind-wind interaction, and the interaction between stellar winds and the interstellar medium. In addition, planetary nebulae provide information about the late stages of stellar evolution. In the last five years studies of planetary nebulae have progressed very rapidly and new phenomena and insights have been gained. This is partly due to new observations (e.g. from the Hubble Space Telescope, the ISO satellite and new infrared and millimeter spectrographs) and partly to the advance...