The Life of Stars

After spending several years in the USA, at Caltech and Cornell, Giora Shaviv was instrumental in bringing astrophysical teaching and research to Israel ( with posts at Tel Aviv University and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology). He also conceived, designed and organized the launch of the Technion student and faculty research satellite. A leading theoretical astrophysicist, Shaviv has published numerous articles on stellar physics, galaxies and astrophysical fluids in professional journals. Among his many contributions to stellar physics is a paper that Physical Review Letters selected as one of their best 20 of the past 50 years. He founded the Asher Space Research Institute at the Technion with president Singer and also served as President of the Israeli Physical Society.

The Controversy about the Age of the Earth.- What Stellar Classification Tells Us.- The Dawn of a New Era.- Towards a Complete Theory of Stellar Structure.- From Chemistry to Dying Stars.- The Solution to the Stellar Energy Problem.- How the Low Mass Stars Perish.- The Life and Death of Massive Stars.- The Sun.

lt;p>From the reviews:

"The story of stellar structure is interwoven with the development of quantum mechanics and the determination that nuclear fusion reactions produce the energy emitted by stars. The author provides excellent coverage of those two developments. He also effectively notes that stellar theorists often had access, in principle, to information that would have allowed them to take giant leaps toward a solution." (Robert Deupree, Physics Today, November, 2010)

"For historians of science, Shaviv has done a considerable service by searching out many obscure or forgotten papers amongst the important and well-known ones, and he does give references to almost everything. He adds quite extensive footnotes as well." (Robert Connon Smith, The Observatory, Vol. 131 (1220), February, 2011)

"I thoroughly enjoyed this book. ... it especially enjoyable for me were the tiny snippets or anecdotes which appear quite liberally throughout the book, sometimes in the main text but more usually as a footnote. ... The author, Giora Shaviv, is a leading theoretical astrophysicist. ... The writing style is easy and the book is exceedingly well referenced." (Roger Pickard, Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Vol. 120 (5), 2010)