Pekka Teerikorpi

Regarding his discoveries, Sir Isaac Newton famously said, "If I have seen further it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life describes, complete with fascinating biographical details of the thinkers involved, a history of the universe as interpreted by the expanding body of knowledge of humankind. From subatomic particles to the protein chains that form life, and expanding in scale to the entire universe, this book covers the science that explains how we came to be. This book contains a great breadth of knowledge, from astronomy and physics to chemistry and biology. The second edition brings this story up to date, chronicling scientific achievements in recent years in such fields of research as cosmology, the large-scale architecture of the universe, black holes, exoplanets, and the search for extraterrestrial life. With over 250 figures, this is a non-technical, easy-to-read textbook at an introductory college level that is ideal for anyone interested in science as well as its history.

Regarding his discoveries, Sir Isaac Newton famously said, "If I have seen further it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life describes, complete with fascinating biographical details of the thinkers involved, a history of the universe as interpreted by the expanding body of knowledge of humankind. From subatomic particles to the protein chains that form life, and expanding in scale to the entire universe, this book covers the science that explains how we came to be. This book contains a great breadth of knowledge, from astronomy and physics to chemistry and biology. The second edition brings this story up to date, chronicling scientific achievements in recent years in such fields of research as cosmology, the large-scale architecture of the universe, black holes, exoplanets, and the search for extraterrestrial life. With over 250 figures, this is a non-technical, easy-to-read textbook at an introductory college level that is ideal for anyone interested in science as well as its history.

Sir Isaac Newton famously said, regarding his discoveries, "If I have seen further it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life describes, complete with fascinating biographical details of the thinkers involved, the ascent to the metaphorical shoulders accomplished by the greatest minds in history. For the first time, a single book can take the reader on a journey through the history of the universe as interpreted by the expanding body of knowledge of humankind. From subatomic particles to the protein chains that form life, and expanding in scale to the entire universe, this book covers the science that explains how we came to be. The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life contains a great breadth of knowledge, from astronomy to physics, from chemistry to biology. It includes over 350 figures that enhance the comprehension of concepts both basic and advanced, and is a non-technical, easy-to-read text at an introductory college level that is ideal for anyone interested in science as well as its history.

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.

”Maailmasta on aina kysytty asioita, joiden ihmettelystä mieli ei tahdo tulla kylläiseksi. 1900-luvun alussakin kysyttiin: Onko maailma äärellinen vai ääretön? Onko maailma ollut aina? Mitä kaikkea kaikkeus sisältää?” Pekka Teerikorpi esittelee modernin kosmologian syntyä ja sen kehittymistä viime vuosisadalla. Sata vuotta sitten maailmassa ja tieteessä tapahtui suuria mullistuksia. Ensimmäisen maailmansodan aikana Einstein, de Sitter ja Slipher julkaisivat uraauurtavia kosmologisia tuloksia ja muiden muassa Hubble, Friedmann ja Lundmark aloittivat uraansa. Näiden tutkijoiden keskeiset julkaisut olivat irrallisia palasia kuvaan, joka ei vielä hahmottunut. Pian kuitenkin havainnot ja teoria alkoivat lähestyä samaa kohdetta, galaksien kansoittamaa avaruutta. Sen jälkeen kehitys on ollut valtaisaa, mutta kokonaiskuvassa on edelleen isoja pimeitä alueita. Kosmologian normaalitila on sellainen, että siinä avautuu yhä uusia arvoituksia. Pekka Teerikorpi on kosmologian ja galaksien tutkija, joka on toiminut Tuorlan observatoriossa tutkijan ja professorin tehtävissä sekä akatemiatutkijana. Lukuisien tieteellisten artikkelien ja muiden kirjoitusten lisäksi Teerikorven kynänjälkeä on useissa yleistajuisissa teoksissa.

This book guides readers (astronomers, physicists, and university students) through central questions of Practical Cosmology, a term used by the late Allan Sandage to denote the modern scientific endeavor to find the cosmological model best describing the universe of galaxies, its geometry, size, age, and matter composition. The authors draw on their personal experience in astrophysics and cosmology to explain key concepts of cosmology, both observational and theoretical, and to highlight several items which give cosmology its special character. These highlighted items are: Ideosyncratic features of the “cosmic laboratory”, Malmquist bias in the determination of cosmic distances, Theory of gravitation as a cornerstone of cosmological models, Crucial tests for checking the reality of space expansion, Methods of analyzing the structures of the universe as mapped by galaxies, Usefulness of fractals as a model to describe the large-scale structure and new cosmological physics inherent in the Friedmann world model.

This book guides readers (astronomers, physicists, and university students) through central questions of Practical Cosmology, a term used by the late Allan Sandage to denote the modern scientific endeavor to find the cosmological model best describing the universe of galaxies, its geometry, size, age, and matter composition. The authors draw on their personal experience in astrophysics and cosmology to explain key concepts of cosmology, both observational and theoretical, and to highlight several items which give cosmology its special character. These highlighted items are: Ideosyncratic features of the “cosmic laboratory”, Malmquist bias in the determination of cosmic distances, Theory of gravitation as a cornerstone of cosmological models, Crucial tests for checking the reality of space expansion, Methods of analyzing the structures of the universe as mapped by galaxies, Usefulness of fractals as a model to describe the large-scale structure and new cosmological physics inherent in the Friedmann world model.

This is the first book to present the fascinating new results on the largest fractal structures in the universe. It guides the reader, in a simple way, to the frontiers of astronomy, explaining how fractals appear in cosmic physics, from our solar system to the megafractals in deep space. It also offers a personal view of the history of the idea of self-similarity and of cosmological principles, from Plato's ideal architecture of the heavens to Mandelbrot's fractals in the modern physical cosmos. In addition, this invaluable book presents the great fractal debate in astronomy (after Luciano Pietronero's first fractal analysis of the galaxy universe), which illustrates how new concepts and deeper observations reveal unexpected aspects of Nature.