Einstein's Shadow: The Inside Story of Astronomers' Decades-Long Quest to Take the First Picture of a Black Hole

Einstein's Shadow follows a team of elite scientists on their historic mission to take the first picture of a black hole, putting Einstein's theory of relativity to its ultimate test and helping to answer our deepest questions about space, time, the origins of the universe, and the nature of reality.

Photographing a black hole sounds impossible, a contradiction in terms. But Shep Doeleman and a global coalition of scientists are on the cusp of doing just that.

With exclusive access to the team, journalist Seth Fletcher spent five years following Shep and an extraordinary cast of characters as they assembled the Event Horizon Telescope, a virtual radio observatory the size of the Earth. He witnessed their struggles, setbacks, and breakthroughs, and along the way, he explored the latest thinking on the most profound questions about black holes. Do they represent a limit to our ability to understand reality? Or will they reveal the clues that lead to the long-sought Theory of Everything?

Fletcher transforms astrophysics into something exciting, accessible, and immediate, taking us on an incredible adventure to better understand the complexity of our galaxy, the boundaries of human perception and knowledge, and how the messy human endeavor of science really works.

Weaving a compelling narrative account of human ingenuity with excursions into cutting-edge science, Einstein's Shadow is a tale of great minds on a mission to change the way we understand our universe-and our place in it.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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Einstein's Shadow: The Inside Story of Astronomers' Decades-Long Quest to Take the First Picture of a Black Hole

Einstein's Shadow follows a team of elite scientists on their historic mission to take the first picture of a black hole, putting Einstein's theory of relativity to its ultimate test and helping to answer our deepest questions about space, time, the origins of the universe, and the nature of reality.

Photographing a black hole sounds impossible, a contradiction in terms. But Shep Doeleman and a global coalition of scientists are on the cusp of doing just that.

With exclusive access to the team, journalist Seth Fletcher spent five years following Shep and an extraordinary cast of characters as they assembled the Event Horizon Telescope, a virtual radio observatory the size of the Earth. He witnessed their struggles, setbacks, and breakthroughs, and along the way, he explored the latest thinking on the most profound questions about black holes. Do they represent a limit to our ability to understand reality? Or will they reveal the clues that lead to the long-sought Theory of Everything?

Fletcher transforms astrophysics into something exciting, accessible, and immediate, taking us on an incredible adventure to better understand the complexity of our galaxy, the boundaries of human perception and knowledge, and how the messy human endeavor of science really works.

Weaving a compelling narrative account of human ingenuity with excursions into cutting-edge science, Einstein's Shadow is a tale of great minds on a mission to change the way we understand our universe-and our place in it.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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Einstein's Shadow: The Inside Story of Astronomers' Decades-Long Quest to Take the First Picture of a Black Hole

Einstein's Shadow: The Inside Story of Astronomers' Decades-Long Quest to Take the First Picture of a Black Hole

by Seth Fletcher

Narrated by Sean Pratt

Unabridged — 7 hours, 28 minutes

Einstein's Shadow: The Inside Story of Astronomers' Decades-Long Quest to Take the First Picture of a Black Hole

Einstein's Shadow: The Inside Story of Astronomers' Decades-Long Quest to Take the First Picture of a Black Hole

by Seth Fletcher

Narrated by Sean Pratt

Unabridged — 7 hours, 28 minutes

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Overview

Einstein's Shadow follows a team of elite scientists on their historic mission to take the first picture of a black hole, putting Einstein's theory of relativity to its ultimate test and helping to answer our deepest questions about space, time, the origins of the universe, and the nature of reality.

Photographing a black hole sounds impossible, a contradiction in terms. But Shep Doeleman and a global coalition of scientists are on the cusp of doing just that.

With exclusive access to the team, journalist Seth Fletcher spent five years following Shep and an extraordinary cast of characters as they assembled the Event Horizon Telescope, a virtual radio observatory the size of the Earth. He witnessed their struggles, setbacks, and breakthroughs, and along the way, he explored the latest thinking on the most profound questions about black holes. Do they represent a limit to our ability to understand reality? Or will they reveal the clues that lead to the long-sought Theory of Everything?

Fletcher transforms astrophysics into something exciting, accessible, and immediate, taking us on an incredible adventure to better understand the complexity of our galaxy, the boundaries of human perception and knowledge, and how the messy human endeavor of science really works.

Weaving a compelling narrative account of human ingenuity with excursions into cutting-edge science, Einstein's Shadow is a tale of great minds on a mission to change the way we understand our universe-and our place in it.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.


Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Adam Becker

This is all explained expertly and clearly by Fletcher…who carries the reader along on a journey of scientific triumphs and bureaucratic nightmares, of abstruse physics and interpersonal politics, all the while conveying the visceral joy of research. His occasional missteps…are more than made up for by the strength of his writing. He has a knack for deft, accurate explanations that are quick to read and easy to understand, with memorably vivid language. His excellent prose and a powerful story fuel this shining quasar of a book.

From the Publisher

[Fletcher] has knack for deft, accurate explanations that are quick to read and easy to understand, with memorably vivid language. His excellent prose and a powerful story fuel this shining quasar of a book.” — New York Times Book Review

“A compelling behind-the-scenes story of scientists struggling as much with funding and competition as with the challenges of seeing Sagittarius A*. . . . Address[es] the seeming absurdities of [the] subject with authority and wit.” — Nature

“Ambitious and richly detailed . . . a refreshingly fast-paced account of this extraordinary scientific enterprise.” — Science

“In the paradoxical nihilism of black holes, we might discover the biggest, grandest truths about the universe.” — Wired

“With stakes this high and writing this lucid, readers will be drawn into the narrative as easily as matter being drawn toward the event horizon itself... This is scientific storytelling at its best.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Engaging . . . captivating and informative.” — Booklist

“Fletcher manages to humanize a complicated scientific project while providing readers with a comprehensive guide to the cosmos.” — Library Journal

“A thoughtful and riveting ethnography of an ambitious project to map the sacred boundary of our local black hole, at the heart of the Milky Way, drawing attention to the psychological drives that inspire us scientists to quest for the exciting discoveries that await...” — Priyamvada Natarajan, Astrophysicist, Yale University, author of Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos

“Mind-bending and suspenseful, Einstein’s Shadow tells a story about the immense black holes that pierce galaxies, and the humans trying to take their picture. Fletcher is there with them every step of the way, capturing the thrill of a wild and beautiful quest.” — Jason Fagone, author of The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies

“Fletcher has crafted an extraordinary narrative, explaining the most mind-bending physics with impressive clarity and vividly bringing to life a mostly unsung band of characters who are turning the crazy-sounding idea of taking a picture of a black hole into a reality.” — Michael D. Lemonick, author of The Perpetual Now and Mirror Earth

New York Times Book Review

[Fletcher] has knack for deft, accurate explanations that are quick to read and easy to understand, with memorably vivid language. His excellent prose and a powerful story fuel this shining quasar of a book.

Nature Lib

A compelling behind-the-scenes story of scientists struggling as much with funding and competition as with the challenges of seeing Sagittarius A*. . . . Address[es] the seeming absurdities of [the] subject with authority and wit.

Booklist

Engaging . . . captivating and informative.

Wired

In the paradoxical nihilism of black holes, we might discover the biggest, grandest truths about the universe.

Science

Ambitious and richly detailed . . . a refreshingly fast-paced account of this extraordinary scientific enterprise.

Michael D. Lemonick

Fletcher has crafted an extraordinary narrative, explaining the most mind-bending physics with impressive clarity and vividly bringing to life a mostly unsung band of characters who are turning the crazy-sounding idea of taking a picture of a black hole into a reality.

Jason Fagone

Mind-bending and suspenseful, Einstein’s Shadow tells a story about the immense black holes that pierce galaxies, and the humans trying to take their picture. Fletcher is there with them every step of the way, capturing the thrill of a wild and beautiful quest.

Priyamvada Natarajan

A thoughtful and riveting ethnography of an ambitious project to map the sacred boundary of our local black hole, at the heart of the Milky Way, drawing attention to the psychological drives that inspire us scientists to quest for the exciting discoveries that await...

Nature

A compelling behind-the-scenes story of scientists struggling as much with funding and competition as with the challenges of seeing Sagittarius A*. . . . Address[es] the seeming absurdities of [the] subject with authority and wit.

Booklist

Engaging . . . captivating and informative.

Wired

In the paradoxical nihilism of black holes, we might discover the biggest, grandest truths about the universe.

Science

Ambitious and richly detailed . . . a refreshingly fast-paced account of this extraordinary scientific enterprise.

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2018-08-13

A veteran science journalist builds a fascinating narrative based on his exclusive access to a group of astronomers bent on photographing a black hole, a near-impossible feat of Nobel Prize proportions.

For more than five years, Scientific American features editor Fletcher (Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy, 2011, etc.) followed astronomer Shep Doeleman and his team of intrepid scientists as they assembled the largest array of radio telescopes in the world, the Event Horizon Telescope, in the hope of imaging a black hole. The author excels at bringing to life not just the researchers and experimentalists, whose quirks and passions add much to the story, but the cutting-edge science driving their epic quest. Despite their ubiquity in popular culture, black holes have never been directly observed. A mountain of theoretical evidence posits that they exist in abundance in the universe. Most intriguing is that scientists are almost positive that a supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* lies in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Getting a picture of Sagittarius A* is Doeleman's white whale. Not only would it be the first direct evidence of a black hole; it also may reveal long-sought-after secrets of the universe—maybe even hint at a so-called "Theory of Everything." With stakes this high and writing this lucid, readers will be drawn into the narrative as easily as matter being drawn toward the event horizon itself. The hypotheses, experiments, team-building, and bureaucratic wrangling that Fletcher so beautifully describes perfectly encapsulate modern science, and it's a rare treat to have an insider's look at an ongoing endeavor this monumental. The author also includes a helpful guide to acronyms and abbreviations and a cast of characters.

Supermassive black holes, a virtual telescope the size of the Earth, trailblazing astronomers who test the boundaries of modern science—this is scientific storytelling at its best.


Product Details

BN ID: 2940170414116
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 10/09/2018
Edition description: Unabridged
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