In Search of the Edge of Time

Ancient history: let Newton be!; on ye shoulders of giants; three laws and a theory of gravity; the test of time; across the solar system; black hole pioneers; waves and particles; towards 20th-century science. Warping space and time: from Euclid to Descartes; beyond Euclid; geometry comes of age; the geometry of relativity; Einstein's gravitational insight; the relativity of geometry; Schwarzschild's singular solution. Dense stars: dwarfish companions; degenerate stars; the white dwarf limit; the ultimate density of matter; inside the neutron star; beyond the neutron star; puzzling pulsars; Zwicky was right; neutron stars revealed. Black holes abound: red shifts and relativity; radio galaxies; quasars; cosmic powerhouses; X-ray stars; celestial powerhouses; the prime candidate; a profusion of possibilities. Darkness at the edge of time: new maps of space and time; black holes in a spin; singularities rule; defeating the cosmic censor; black holes are cool; exploding horizons; centrifugal confusion; a one-way time machine. Hyperspace connections: the Einstein connection; charging through hyperspace; bridging the universes; the blue-shift block; parting the blue sheet; journey into hyperspace; wormhole engineering; making antigravity; the string-driven spaceship; a practical proposition? Two ways to build a time machine: paradoxes and possibilities; time loops and other twists; tachyonic time travellers; Goedel's universe; Tipler's time machine; wormholes and time travel; paradoctoring the paradoxes. Cosmic connections: blowing bubbles; Einstein's vanishing constant; an oscillating universe?; the black hole bounce.