{"product_id":"cosmology-and-controversy-helge-kragh-9780691005461","title":"Cosmology and Controversy: The Historical Development of Two Theories of the Universe","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor over three millennia, most people could understand the universe only in terms of myth, religion, and philosophy. Between 1920 and 1970, cosmology transformed into a branch of physics. With this remarkably rapid change came a theory that would finally lend empirical support to many long-held beliefs about the origins and development of the entire universe: the theory of the big bang. In this book, Helge Kragh presents the development of scientific cosmology for the first time as a historical event, one that embroiled many famous scientists in a controversy over the very notion of an evolving universe with a beginning in time. In rich detail he examines how the big-bang theory drew inspiration from and eventually triumphed over rival views, mainly the steady-state theory and its concept of a stationary universe of infinite age. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In the 1920s, Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lema tre showed that Einstein's general relativity equations possessed solutions for a universe expanding in time. Kragh follows the story from here, showing how the big-bang theory evolved, from Edwin Hubble's observation that most galaxies are receding from us, to the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Sir Fred Hoyle proposed instead the steady-state theory, a model of dynamic equilibrium involving the continuous creation of matter throughout the universe. Although today it is generally accepted that the universe started some ten billion years ago in a big bang, many readers may not fully realize that this standard view owed much of its formation to the steady-state theory. By exploring the similarities and tensions between the theories, Kragh provides the reader with indispensable background for understanding much of today's commentary about our universe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Helge Kragh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 069100546X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691005461\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/14\/1999\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 488\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.58lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.09w x 1.08d","brand":"Helge Kragh","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44059472953599,"sku":"9780691005461","price":63.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_8e277b36-ee99-43f8-bc8b-3dac11b25a39.jpg?v=1685058438","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/cosmology-and-controversy-helge-kragh-9780691005461","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}