The Intelligible Universe: An Overview Of The Last Thirteen Billion Years (2Nd Edition),Vol 2

This interesting book reviews WMAP s main results (2003) and discusses in detail how the accurate qualitative results for the age of the universe and the Hubble constant were anticipated in an article published five years before in Acta Cosmologica, Krakow. In the final chapter on Cosmic Numbers , it is shown that, as a result of the coincidence at decoupling time between atom formation and matter/radiation equality, a reasonable cosmic justification for the mass ratio of protons and electrons is obtained. **Contents:** The Intelligible Universe (Shanghai/Madrid 1993): Man and His Universe; The Importance of Precision; Relativistic Cosmology; Cosmology and Transcendence; The Cosmic Background Radiation (El Escorial 1993): The COBE Project, by John C Mather; COBE Observations of the Early Universe, by George F Smoot; The Last Thirteen Billion Years (Krakow, 1998/Madrid, 2002): Unexpected Coincidence Between Decoupling and Atom Formation Times; From the Big Bang to the Present; The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (Singapore/Madrid, 2005): The Report of the WMAP s First Year Observation in the NY Times: 02/12/2003; The Medieval Roots of Contemporary Science (Oviedo, 2007): Why Not in China?; Tomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon; The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creation; and other papers Contents......Page 8 Prologue to 2nd Enlarged Edition......Page 14 Acknowledgements and Credits......Page 16 The Intelligible Universe (Shanghai/Madrid 1993)......Page 18 1.1 Einstein’s Eternal Mystery......Page 20 1.2 From Antiquity to the XVI Century......Page 21 1.3 From Galileo and Newton to Kirchhoff......Page 32 1.4 The XX Century......Page 38 Bibliography......Page 45 2.1 The Last Word in Physics......Page 47 2.2 Precise Astronomical Observations......Page 49 2.3 The New Generation of Telescopes......Page 59 Bibliography......Page 66 3.1 Masses......Page 67 3.2 Distances......Page 74 3.3 Times......Page 81 Bibliography......Page 87 4.1 Relativity, Special and General......Page 89 4.2 The Cosmological Dynamic Equations......Page 91 4.3 The Matter Dominated and the Radiation Dominated Eras......Page 100 4.4 The Cosmic Baryon to Photon Ratio......Page 104 Bibliography......Page 106 5.1 Gravitational, Electromagnetic and Nuclear Forces......Page 108 5.2 Conservation Laws......Page 115 5.3 Elementary Particles......Page 117 5.4 Universal Constants......Page 121 5.5 Understanding the Universe, and Open-Ended Process......Page 125 Bibliography......Page 126 6.1 Towards the Confines of the Universe......Page 128 6.2.1 Approximately isotropic distribution of galaxies in space......Page 132 6.2.2 Universal recession of the galaxies......Page 133 6.2.3 Relative abundance of 4He and other primordial light elements......Page 134 6.2.4 Cosmic background radiation......Page 136 6.3 Implications of Contemporary Cosmology......Page 138 6.4 The Physical Universe and Its Creator......Page 141 6.5 God and the Scientists......Page 143 Bibliography......Page 145 The Cosmic Background Radiation (El Escorial 1993)......Page 148 7. The COBE Project, by John C. Mather......Page 150 8.1 Introduction......Page 186 8.2 COBE Mission......Page 188 8.3 DMR Instrument......Page 191 8.4 DMR Limits on Potential Systematica......Page 193 8.5 DMR Observations......Page 194 8.6 DMR Result Discussion......Page 200 8.7 DIRBE Measurements......Page 205 8.8 FIRAS Instruments Descriptions......Page 208 8.9 FIRAS Measurements......Page 210 8.10. FIRAS Interpretation......Page 214 Bibliography......Page 219 The Last Thirteen Billion Years... (Krakow, 1998/Madrid, 2002)......Page 222 9. Unexpected Coincidence between Decoupling and Atom Formation Times......Page 224 9.1 Introduction......Page 225 9.2 Radiation/Matter Equality Temperature......Page 226 9.3 Atom Formation......Page 230 9.4 Concluding Remarks......Page 232 Bibliography......Page 233 10. An Amazing Story: From the Cave Man to the Apollo Mission......Page 234 Bibliography......Page 244 11. From the Big Bang to the Present......Page 245 Bibliography......Page 257 12.1 The COBE Project......Page 258 12.2 The Hubble Space Telescope......Page 262 12.3 The Spacial Mission Hipparcos......Page 269 Bibliography......Page 276 The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (Singapore/Madrid, 2005)......Page 278 13. The Report of the WMAP’s First Year Observation in the NY Times: 02/12/2003......Page 280 Bibliography......Page 288 The Medieval Roots of Contemporary Science (Oviedo, 2007)......Page 290 14.1 Why Not in China......Page 292 14.2 Early Medieval “Natural Philosophers”......Page 295 Bibliography......Page 298 15.1 Tomas Aquinas and the Ways to God......Page 299 15.2 Roger Bacon and the Experimental Method......Page 302 Bibliography......Page 303 16. From Buridan and Oresme to Copernicus and Newton......Page 304 Bibliography......Page 310 17. The Wisdom of God Manisfested in the Works of Creation......Page 311 17.1 Physicists......Page 312 17.2 Chemists......Page 316 17.3 Mathematicians......Page 317 17.4 Geologists and Geographers......Page 319 17.5 Astronomers......Page 321 Bibliography......Page 323 Cosmic Numbers and Concluding Remarks......Page 324 18. Cosmic Numbers......Page 326 Bibliography......Page 335 19. Concluding Remarks......Page 336 Bibliography......Page 337 Glossary......Page 338 Index......Page 350 Ambitious in scope, to put it mildly, but gentle in approach, this explanation of the efforts to find the age of the universe includes a range of materials, including transcripts of lectures from 2006 Nobel Prize winners in physics John C. Mather and George F. Smoot. Gonzalo (U. Autonoma de Madrid) updates his text to include the most current research as he explains how man has perceived the universe, the importance of precision, the relations of masses/distances/time, relativistic cosmology, the fundamental physical forces in the universe, cosmology and transcendence. The lecture by Mather describes the COBE project in cosmic background radiation, and that of Smoot describes how the project is helping to determine conditions in the early stages of the universe. Other topics include the microwave anisotropy probe, cosmic numbers and the medieval roots of contemporary science. Annotation 2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This interesting book reviews WMAP's main results (2003) and discusses in detail how the accurate qualitative results for the age of the universe and the Hubble constant were anticipated in an article published five years before in Acta Cosmologica, Krakow. In the final chapter on Cosmic Numbers, it is shown that, as a result of the coincidence at decoupling time between atom formation and matter/radiation equality, a reasonable cosmic justification for the mass ratio of protons and electrons is obtained.

This book includes the lectures of John C. Mather and George F. Smoot (2006 Physics Nobel Prize Winners) at El Escorial, 1993.

"This book reviews WMAP's main results (2003) and discusses in detail how the accurate qualitative results for the "age" of the universe and the Hubble constant were anticipated in an article published five years before in Acta Cosmologica, Krakow. In the final chapter on "Cosmic Numbers", it is shown that, as a result of the coincidence at decoupling time between atom formation and matter/radiation equality, a reasonable cosmic justification for the mass ratio of protons and electrons is obtained." "This book includes the lectures of John C. Mather and George F. Smoot (2006 Physics Nobel Prize Winners) at El Escorial, 1993"--Jacket