In Search of the Big Bang: The Life and Death of the Universe

Description

How did the Universe begin? And how will it end?In this radically revised and updated edition incorporating the latest scientific findings, acclaimed science writer and cosmologist John Gribbin explores the origins of the Universe and considers its ultimate fate.Tracing the early attempts to formulate a theory of the Universe, he surveys the major players involved and the crucial technical developments on the long road towards discovery which led to the first detailed model of the Big Bang in the 1940s. The detection of tiny variations in cosmic microwave energy by the COBE satellite in the 1990s gave further support to the theory. John Gribbin explains how after many billion of years the Universe, which is now expanding, may one day recollapse into a mirror image of the Big Bang. Finally, taking into account his own recent researches, he reveals how an accurate measurement of the age of the Universe has helped to provide conclusive proof of the theory of the Big Bang.`A remarkably readable guide to the mysteries of cosmic creation'—Nature`Witty, entertaining and learned, his book is the work of an expert raconteur'—Economist`The best entree to the highly abstract and mathematical world of modem cosmology'—Professor Michael Rowan-Robinson