The Infinite Cosmos

How big is the universe? Is it infinite? How did it begin and how might it end? Joseph Silk guides the reader through the frontiers of current research in cosmology, weaving together the latest theories and observations, and combining science with literary quotations and philosophical reflections on the vastness and wonder of our Universe.

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In The Infinite Cosmos Joseph Silk takes the reader on a tour of the universe, past, present, and future, showing how the very latest observations and theories are unlocking clues about its origin and structure: X-ray, radio, and high-energy views of space are revealing fossil radiation left over from the big bang and providing us with unprecedented views of the most distant reaches of the universe. Theories from the frontiers of current research seek to explain its structure from the first moments to the present day, and we are beginning to understand its extraordinary nature and possible fate.

This is a story involving the visible and the invisible; subatomic particles and unusual forces; long ages of darkness and spectacular and violent events. It tells of supernovae, dark matter, dark energy, curved spacetime, colliding galaxies, and supermassive black holes. Weaving the ideas of poets and writers as well as scientists into the story, from Kant and Keats to Einstein and Lemaître, Silk explains our present state of knowledge, and how much more there is to understand about our infinite cosmos.