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From 12 April to 14 April 1988, 120 of Gerard and Antoinette de Vaucouleurs's friends and colleagues gathered at the Institut d' Astrophysique in Paris to cel ebrate Gerard's 70th birthday and his remarkable career in Astronomy. The gathering also honored the memory of Antoinette (who died 29 August 1987 after a long illness) and her own no less remarkable career. This volume collects the 24 invited review papers and the 60 contributed poster papers presented at the meeting. Gerard de Vaucouleurs Gerard de Vaucouleurs was born on 25 April 1918 in Paris, where he spent his boyhood. He became an active amateur astronomer in the early 1930's, making extensive observations of Mars, Jupiter, and ...
Gérard and Antoinette de Vaucouleurs are among the most prominent and respected astronomers of this century. This volume was put together by a number of his friends and colleagues to mark the occasion of Gérard de Vaucouleurs' 70th birthday and consequent retirement from his chair at the University of Texas, Austin. It is dedicated to the memory of Antoinette de Vaucouleurs.
In order to outline possible future directions in galaxy research, this book wants to be a short stopover, a moment of self-reflection of the past century of achievements in this area. Since the pioneering years of galaxy research in the early 20th century, the research on galaxies has seen a relentless advance directly connected to the parallel exponential growth of new technologies. Through a series of interviews with distinguished astronomers the editors provide a snapshot of the achievements obtained in understanding galaxies. While many initial questions about their nature have been addressed, many are still open and require new efforts to achieve a solution. The discussions may reveal paradigms worthwhile revisiting. With the help of some of those scientists who have contributed to it, the editors sketch the history of this scientific journey and ask them for inspirations for future directions of galaxy research.
If extraterrestrial intelligence exists, then positive detection would be the greatest scientific discovery of all time. By what criteria should we judge whether we are alone in the cosmos, and how should we set about detecting extraterrestrials? Jean Heidmann answers these questions in this engaging discussion of extraterrestrial intelligence. Through a clear explanation of the many issues involved, including new and updated information, the entire subject of extraterrestrial intelligence is explained: the expansion of searches in space, the habitable zones in our universe, and what might happen if actual contact takes place.
This work provides the current theory and observations behind the cosmological phenomenon of dark energy. The approach is comprehensive with rigorous mathematical theory and relevant astronomical observations discussed in context. The book treats the background and history starting with the new-found importance of Einstein’s cosmological constant (proposed long ago) in dark energy formulation, as well as the frontiers of dark energy. The authors do not presuppose advanced knowledge of astronomy, and basic mathematical concepts used in modern cosmology are presented in a simple, but rigorous way. All this makes the book useful for both astronomers and physicists, and also for university students of physical sciences.
Simply to say that this is a collection of essays in honor of the late Wolfgang Yourgrau (1908-1979) is to explain, at least for-the obviously many-"insiders," the unusually wide-ranging title of the present volume. In a Foreword to the Proceedings of the First International Colloquium (focusing on logic, physical reality, and history), held at the University of Denver in May of 1966 under their leadership, Wolfgang Y ourgrau and Allen Breck wrote, in an oblique reference to C. P. Snow: "Indeed there are not two or three or four cultures: there is only one culture; our generation has lost its awareness of this . . . . Historians, logicians, physicists-all are banded in one common enterprise,...
It was a general feeling among those who attended the NATO / ARW meeting on the Galaxy Distances and Deviations from Universal Expansion, that during the week in Hawaii a milestone had been passed in work on the distance scale. While not until the last minute did most of the participants know who else would be attending, no one was displeased with the showing. As it turned out, scarcely a single active worker in the field of the distance scale missed the event. Few knew all of the outstanding work that was to be revealed, and/or the long-term programs that were to be encapsulated in the first few days. Areas of general agreement were pinpointed with candid speed, and most of the discussion m...
How a team of researchers, led by the author, discovered our home galaxy's location in the universe. You are here: on Earth, which is part of the solar system, which is in the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is within the extragalactic supercluster Laniakea. And how can we pinpoint our location so precisely? For twenty years, astrophysicist Hélène Courtois surfed the cosmos with international teams of researchers, working to map our local universe. In this book, Courtois describes this quest and the discovery of our home supercluster. Courtois explains that Laniakea (which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian) is the largest galaxy structure known to which we belong; it is huge, almost to...