Internationally-acclaimed astrophysicist and feminist Jo Dunkley tells the story of space and our place in it- what is out there, where we fit in, and how we got here.
An internationally renowned academic, Jo Dunkley is Professor of Physics and Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. She was part of the science team for NASA's WMAP space satellite, and now works on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the Simons Observatory, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. She has been the recipient of many awards, including the the Maxwell Medal, the Fowler Prize for Astronomy, the Royal Society's Rosalind Franklin award and the Philip Leverhulme Prize.
Dunkley must be one of the youngest and brainiest female
astrophysics professors on the planet ... As Professor of Physics
and Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University, Dunkley
researches the history of the universe, how space is changing, what
stars are made of and the nature of dark matter. Her book is an
attempt to simplify this enormously complex subject and, written in
a style not unlike Carlo Rovelli's bestselling Seven Brief Laws on
Physics, there are no equations, no maths and relatively little
jargon
*Evening Standard*
This luminous guide to the cosmos encapsulates myriad discoveries.
Astrophysicist Jo Dunkley swoops from Earth to the observable
limits, then explores stellar life cycles, dark matter, cosmic
evolution and the soup-to-nuts history of the Universe. No less a
thrill are her accounts of tenth-century Persian astronomer Abd
al-Rahman al-Sufi, twentieth- and twenty-first-century researchers
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Vera Rubin,
and many more.
*Nature*
Dunkley is a natural communicator and her book is a model of
clarity
*Mail on Sunday*
Jo Dunkley is an internationally acclaimed cosmologist. She is also
a fine expositor, and this book splendidly conveys what we've
learnt about the universe, and the exhilarating progress we can
expect in coming decades.
*Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal of Great Britain*
A clear and comprehensible account of astronomers' current theories
of the solar system and the universe. Authoritative, informative,
and elegantly written.
*Ian Stewart, author of Calculating the Cosmos*
This book is simply superb - beautifully written and very clear. It
incorporates all the major recent results, and indicates what might
come from telescopes now being built.
*Jocelyn Bell Burnell, University of Oxford*
Dunkley takes us on an electrifying journey through our universe,
elegantly weaving together history and the latest scientific
discoveries. On her way, she subtly restores all the forgotten
women scientists to their rightful places in what has been a
male-dominated story until now.
*Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature*
A grand overview of modern cosmology from one of the leaders in the
field. Dunkley guides us through astronomical history, at every
stage explaining the twists and turns and surprises, right up to
the most recent discoveries. Readers will have a real appreciation
of the most exciting developments in astrophysics of the last
millennium, the last century, and the last year.
*Michael Strauss, Princeton University*
Jo Dunkley is an amiable guide to the universe, but there's no
dawdling in this fast-paced tour. This slender volume whisks you
from our own blue marble out to the edge of the universe and the
beginning of time. Dunkley is especially good at explaining how the
whispers from the Big Bang itself tell us about dark matter and
dark energy and hint at its explosive origin in cosmic
inflation.
*Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard University*
A clear and comprehensible account of astronomers' current theories
of the solar system and the universe. Authoritative, informative,
and elegantly written. The simple analogies are especially
engaging.
*Ian Stewart, author of Calculating the Cosmos*
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