A01=Fulvio Melia
albert einstein
astronomy
astrophysicists
Author_Fulvio Melia
black hole
Category=PDX
Category=PHR
cosmos
david hilbert
discovery
emmy noether
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
field equations
galaxy
gravitation
gravity
historical context
karl schwarzschild
kerr solution
kip thorne
mathematical code
physics
relativity
roger penrose
science
scientific study
scientists
space and time
stephen hawking
theoretical
theory
understanding
Product details
- ISBN 9780226519517
- Weight: 369g
- Dimensions: 16 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 01 Oct 2009
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity describes the effect of gravitation on the shape of space and the flow of time. But for more than four decades after its publication, the theory remained largely a curiosity for scientists; however accurate it seemed, Einstein's mathematical code - represented by six interlocking equations - was one of the most difficult to crack in all of science. That is, until a twenty-nine-year-old Cambridge graduate solved the great riddle in 1963. Roy Kerr's solution emerged coincidentally with the discovery of black holes that same year and provided fertile testing ground - at long last - for general relativity. Today, scientists routinely cite the Kerr solution, but even among specialists, few know the story of how Kerr cracked Einstein's code. Fulvio Melia here offers an eyewitness account of the events leading up to Kerr's great discovery.
"Cracking the Einstein Code" vividly describes how luminaries such as Karl Schwarzschild, David Hilbert, and Emmy Noether set the stage for the Kerr solution; how Kerr came to make his breakthrough; and, how scientists such as Roger Penrose, Kip Thorne, and Stephen Hawking used the accomplishment to refine and expand modern astronomy and physics. Today, more than 300 million supermassive black holes are suspected of anchoring their host galaxies across the cosmos, and the Kerr solution is what astronomers and astrophysicists use to describe much of their behavior. By unmasking the history behind the search for a real world solution to Einstein's field equations, Melia offers a firsthand account of an important but untold story. Sometimes dramatic, often exhilarating, but always attuned to the human element, "Cracking the Einstein Code" is ultimately a showcase of how important science gets done.
Fulvio Melia is professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Arizona and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, The Galactic Supermassive Black Hole.
