The Canon (50 page)
Authors: Natalie Angier
NASA. "Discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background"
WMAP Cosmology 101.
November 21, 2005
âââ. "The Electromagnetic Spectrum." November 4, 2005
âââ. "How Did the Solar System Form?"
Science@Nasa.
November 28, 2005. December 19, 2005
âââ. "Nucleosynthesis."
Cosmicopia.
December 21, 2005
âââ. "Solar History Timeline."
Solar-B.
September 6, 2006.
"Observing Across the Spectrum."
Cool Cosmos: Multiwavelength Astronomy.
November 23, 2005
"The Odds Against ET."
Popular Mechanics.
November 1, 2000. October 10, 2005
"Odds of Complex Life: Great Debates."
Astrobiology Magazine.
October 19, 2005
"Origins of the Days of the Week."
Aerospaceweb.
October 28, 2005
Overbye, Dennis. "The Universe Seems So Simple, Until You Have to Explain It."
New York Times.
October 22, 2002
"Physical Environment: Red Giant." December 20, 2005
Pine, Ronald C. "Introduction: Our Cosmological Roots."
Science and the Human Prospect.
University of Hawaii. June 23, 2006
Preuss, Paul. "A Supernova Named Albinoni Is the Oldest and Farthest Ever Found."
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
December 17, 1998. November 10, 2005
"Quasars."
Raindrop Laboratories.
November 4, 2005
"Redshift."
Wikipedia.
November 10, 2005
"The Seven-Day Week and the Meaning of the Names of the Days." October 28, 2005
"The Shape of the Milky Way." November 4, 2005
Shostak, Seth. "The Holy Grail: Small, Rocky Worlds"
SETI Institute.
February 2, 2006. February 10, 2006
Singh, Simon.
Big Bang.
New York: HarperCollins, 2004.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey/SkyServer. "The Expanding Universe."
Astronomy.
November 20, 2005
"Stars."
BBC-H2g2.
November 4, 2005
"Stellar Nucleosynthesis"
Lives and Deaths of Stars.
December 1, 2005
"Sun, the Solar System's Only Star."
Astronomy Today.
September 6, 2006
"The 305 Meter Radio Telescope"
National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center Arecibo Observatory.
November 16, 2005
Tully, Brent. "How Big Is the Universe?"
NOVA Online.
University of Hawaii. June 23, 2006
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. "Solar System Formation"
Windows to the Universe.
December 19, 2005
Webster, Guy. "Howdy, Strangers"
Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
August 19, 2002. June 24, 2006
Weinberg, Steven. "Can Science Explain Everything? Anything?"
New York Review of Books.
May 31, 2001. January 31, 2002
âââ.
Dreams of a Final Theory.
New York: Vintage, 1993.
Whittle, Mark. "A Brief History of Matter"
Prof. Mark Whittle's Home Page.
University of Virginia Department of Astronomy. September 8, 2006
Yarris, Lynn. "Discovery of Most Distant Supernovas"
Discovery of Distant Supernovas.
January 16, 1996. Lawrence Berkeley Lab. November 10, 2005
I know I'm not the only writer who, at some point halfway through a major book project, devotes several days to a single, urgent task: searching for the perfect excuse to give up. A persuasive, shame-retardant excuse that would allow me to return the advance, recycle the spiral notebooks, and reformat the hard drive without also having to abandon my family and move to Niles, Michigan.
As with midpoint panics past, however, I could find no graceful way out. I couldn't bear to disappoint my daughter ("Book? You were writing a book?") and I really couldn't tolerate the idea of having wasted the time of so many smart, generous, overtaxed people.
I therefore would like to thank first and most fervently all the scientists who contributed to this book. I thank them for their in-depth knowledge, their succinct explanations of the most daunting concepts, their blue-sky but always scrupulous musings, their colorful comparisons, and their collegial wisecracks. Even the many researchers whom I interviewed but did not end up quoting by name informed the narrative in letter and spirit alike.
The Canon
obviously would not exist without the legions of scientific minds from which I freely plundered. My gratitude to them knows no bounds.
I owe particular thanks to the scientists who reviewed parts of the manuscript prior to publication: Jackie Barton, Brian Greene, Alan Guth, Jo Handelsman, Kip Hodges, Jonathan Koehler, Gene Robinson, Donald Sadoway, Meg Urry, and David Wake. They set me straight in places where I'd gone factually, logically, conceptually, or aesthetically astray; they suggested crucial additions and sensible subtractions; and they generally spared me the lasting consequences of multiple self-inflicted wounds.
In addition to their expert input, the book was fact-checked line by line as thoroughly as possible. Nevertheless, flubs and fatuities undoubtedly remain, for which I alone should be flogged.
I must also thank the many yeomanly press officers at the universities I visited, for their help in arranging and scheduling interviews, rearranging and rescheduling interviews, soothing professorial tempers when one prolonged interview made me late for the next, and even, during a particularly harried trip, setting my daughter up with a local day camp so that I could work uninterrupted.
Thanks to my editors, Amanda and Jayne, and my agent, Anne, for helping to hammer the book into shape, and being patient, and laughing at my jokes, and making me feel just a little less lost and alone. But because writing requires a clausura, a calm and solitary space, I am indebted to Bruce Martin and the Library of Congress for granting me a writer's office where I found focus and grace.
Thanks to Dennis for his cosmic expertise, and to Nancy for not once asking me "How's the book coming along?"
And then there's Rick. My trying to express my gratitude here is a bit like the citizens of Heorot, once Beowulf had slain their nemesis, Grendel, saying thank you with a gift card for Starbucks. Rick is a fellow writer and lover of science, and he contributed immeasurably to every phase of the project. He interviewed scientists and he helped shape the book's structure and identify its major and minor themes. He gathered string, ropes, lifelines. He sacrificed nights, weekends, and vacation days to the enterprise, but he never sacrificed the rigor of his judgment or the clarity of his mind. Time and again he beat back my demons and Grendels. Good thing I make decent coffee at home.
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amazing results, problem of,
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American Museum of Natural History,
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American scientific eminence,
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Ampère, André Marie,
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anaerobic metabolism,
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Andes Mountains,
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Andromeda galaxy,
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Angier, Silas,
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antimatter,
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Arecibo radio telescope (Puerto Rico),
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astronomy
Atlantic
(magazine),
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atmosphere
nitrogen in,
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atom
atomic hypothesis,
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attosecond,
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"average," meaning of,
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Axel, Richard,
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bacteria
intelligent design and,
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Bahcall, Neta,
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Baltimore, David,
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Barton, Jacqueline,
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Bercovici, David,
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Berra, Yogi,
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Berthellot, Claude,
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bias, as problem in science,
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