The idea that the speed of light is a constant - at 186,000 miles per second - is one of the few scientific facts that almost everyone knows. That constant - c- also appears in the most famous of all scientific equations: e=mc2- Yet over the last few years,a small group of highly reputable young physicists have suggested that the central dogma of modern physics may not be an absolute truth - light may have moved faster in the earlier life of the universe,it may still be moving at different speeds elsewhere today. In telling the story of this heresy,and its gradual journey towards acceptance,Joao Magueijo writes as one of the three central figures in the story,introducing the reader to modern cosmology,to the implications of VSL (variable speed of light) and to the world of physicists. The initial rejection of Magueijo's ideas is beginning to give way to a reluctant acceptance that the young men may have a point - only the next few years will tell the final fate of this'dangerous'idea.
Publisher: CornerstoneISBN: 9780099428084Number of pages: 288Weight: 203 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 17 mm
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Magueijo tells the story...with passion and considerable verve,familiarising his readers with some of the hippiest ideas in modern science.For its lucidity and persuasiveness,Joao Magueijo's book on cosmological thinking stands comparison with Simon Singh's Fermat's Last Theorem- a hip,raucous,hot-blooded,bilious and altogether bewitching expose of real science from the inside.A highly readable account of the problems besetting modern cosmology and how they appear to be resolved by (his theory). Better still,he gives an honest and revealing insight into what it's like to carry out scientific researchLike many of the best popular science books,this is not so much a definitive statement as a thrilling report from the front. There hasn't been a writer about science this bolshy since the young James Watson- Fascinating
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