Runner-up, 2024 Columbia University Press Distinguished Book Award
Atoms are unfathomably tiny. It takes fifteen million trillion of them to make up a single poppy seedgive or take a few billion. And theres hardly anything to them: atoms are more than 99.9999999999 percent empty space. Yet scientists have learned to count these slivers of near nothingness with precision and to peer into their internal states. In looking so closely, we have learned that atoms, because of their inimitable signatures and imperturbable internal clocks, are little archives holding the secrets of the past.
David J. Helfand reconstructs the history of the universeback to its first microsecond 13.8 billion years agowith the help of atoms. He shows how, by using detectors and reactors, microscopes and telescopes, we can decode the tales these infinitesimal particles tell, answering questions such as: Is a medieval illustrated prayer book real or forged? How did maize cultivation spread from the highlands of central Mexico to New England? What was Earths climate like before humans emerged? Where can we find clues to identify the culprit in the demise of the dinosaurs? When did our planet and solar system form? Can we trace the births of atoms in the cores of massive stars or even glimpse the origins of the universe itself?
A lively and inviting introduction to the building blocks of everything we know, The Universal Timekeepers demonstrates the power of science to unveil the mysteries of unreachably remote times and places.
David J. Helfand reconstructs the history of the universeback to its first microsecond 13.8 billion years agowith the help of atoms.
Recenzijos
David Helfand is a distinguished scientist, specially acclaimed in the community for his skills as an expositor. These talents along with his intellectual range are manifest in this highly original and culture-spanning book which gathers and recounts diverse ways whereby scientific analysis can enrich historical understanding. Few people could have written The Universal Timekeepers so well. It is fascinating, wide-ranging, and accessible; everyone should read it. -- Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal David Helfand has composed a magical, epic dance of atoms that connects us all to each other, and to key events of the past, present, and future of Earth and the cosmos itself. The choreographers are the laws of the universe. The performers are the atoms themselves. The Universal Timekeepers offers a cosmic perspective like no other. -- Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History The Universal Timekeepers is a wonderful exploration that reveals how wispy atomic nuclei provide a powerful means for reconstructing history. Using engaging examples from art forgeries to the Shroud of Turin to the Big Bang itself, Helfand expertly ushers readers through the subtle science that vibrantly brings the past to life. -- Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe and Until the End of Time Helfand will enthuse and educate readers about the marvelous applications of atomic and nuclear physics to learn about human and natural history. I had a blast reading this book. -- Jordy de Vries, University of Amsterdam A work of outstanding and meticulous scholarship. An extraordinarily informative and thoroughly 'reader friendly' study. * Midwest Book Review * Gives us a tour of the atom not as a destroyer, but as a detective that can help us unravel mysteries as wide-ranging as art forgeries, the provenance of ancient temples and the death of the dinosaurs. * Amherst College Magazine *
Daugiau informacijos
Runner-up for Columbia University Press Distinguished Book Award 2024.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Calling the Witnesses to History
2. Conceptualizing the Atom: From Philosophy to Science
3. The Atom: A Utilitarian View
4. The Elements: Our Complete Set of Blocks
5. Isotopes: Elemental Flavors
6. Radioactivity: The Imperturbable Clock
7. Stolen and Forged: Forensic Art History
8. The Carbon Clock: Pinning Down Dates
9. History Without Words: Lime and Lead and Poop
10. You Are What You Eat
11. Paleoclimate: Taking the Earths Temperature Long Ago
12. The Death of the Dinosaurs: An Atomic View
13. Evolution: From Meteorites to Cyanobacteria
14. Whats Up in the Air? Earths Evolving Atmosphere
15. Our Suns Birthday: The Solar System in Formation
16. Stardust Creation: Building the Building Blocks
17. In the Beginning
Epilogue: A Quarks Tale
Glossary
Notes
Index
David J. Helfand, former chair of the Astronomy Department at Columbia University, has served on Columbias faculty for nearly five decades. He was also president and vice chancellor of Quest University Canada. Helfand is the chair of the American Institute of Physics and a past president of the American Astronomical Society. His commentary has appeared in Nature, Physics Today, the Globe and Mail, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, among other publications, and he is the author of A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age: Scientific Habits of Mind (Columbia, 2016).
