The Mysterious Universe [New Revised Edition]

by Sir James Hopwood Jeans

Overview

The Mysterious Universe is a science book by the British astrophysicist Sir James Jeans. It is an expanded version of the Rede Lecture delivered at the University of Cambridge in 1930, and begins with a full-page citation of the famous passage in Plato's Republic, Book VII, laying out the allegory of the cave. It makes frequent reference to the quantum theory of radiation, begun by Max Planck in 1900, to Einstein's general relativity, and to the new theories of quantum mechanics of Heisenberg and Schrödinger, of whose philosophical perplexities the author seemed well aware.
This New Revised Edition was first published in 1932.
A popular book to this day, and a valuable addition to any reader's science book collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787207929
Publisher:	Muriwai Books
Publication date:	07/31/2017
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	99
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Sir James Hopwood Jeans OM FRS (11 September 1877 - 16 September 1946) was an English physicist, astronomer and mathematician.
Born in Ormskirk, Lancashire, the son of William Tulloch Jeans, a parliamentary correspondent and author, Jeans was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, Wilson's Grammar School, Camberwell and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Jeans was elected Fellow of Trinity College in October 1901, and taught at Cambridge, but went to Princeton University in 1904 as a professor of applied mathematics. He returned to Cambridge in 1910. He made important contributions in many areas of physics, including quantum theory, the theory of radiation and stellar evolution. Together with Arthur Eddington, he is a founder of British cosmology.
His scientific reputation is grounded in the monographs The Dynamical Theory of Gases (1904), Theoretical Mechanics (1906), and Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (1908). After retiring in 1929, he wrote a number of books for the lay public, including The Stars in Their Courses (1931), The Universe Around Us, Through Space and Time (1934), The New Background of Science (1933), and The Mysterious Universe. These books made Jeans fairly well known as an expositor of the revolutionary scientific discoveries of his day, especially in relativity and physical cosmology.
Jeans was knighted in 1928. He was also the recipient of numerous other awards and honours, including Smith's Prize of Cambridge University (1901); Fellow of the Royal Society in May (1906); Adams Prize of Cambridge University (1917); Royal Medal of the Royal Society (1919); Hopkins Prize of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (1921-1924); Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1922); Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute (1931); and Member of the Order of Merit (1939).
He died in Dorking, Surrey in 1946, aged 69.

Born in Ormskirk, Lancashire, the son of William Tulloch Jeans, a parliamentary correspondent and author, Jeans was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, Wilson’s Grammar School, Camberwell and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Jeans was elected Fellow of Trinity College in October 1901, and taught at Cambridge, but went to Princeton University in 1904 as a professor of applied mathematics. He returned to Cambridge in 1910. He made important contributions in many areas of physics, including quantum theory, the theory of radiation and stellar evolution. Together with Arthur Eddington, he is a founder of British cosmology.
His scientific reputation is grounded in the monographs The Dynamical Theory of Gases (1904), Theoretical Mechanics (1906), and Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (1908). After retiring in 1929, he wrote a number of books for the lay public, including The Stars in Their Courses (1931), The Universe Around Us, Through Space and Time (1934), The New Background of Science (1933), and The Mysterious Universe. These books made Jeans fairly well known as an expositor of the revolutionary scientific discoveries of his day, especially in relativity and physical cosmology.
Jeans was knighted in 1928. He was also the recipient of numerous other awards and honours, including Smith’s Prize of Cambridge University (1901); Fellow of the Royal Society in May (1906); Adams Prize of Cambridge University (1917); Royal Medal of the Royal Society (1919); Hopkins Prize of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (1921-1924); Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1922); Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute (1931); and Member of the Order of Merit (1939).
He died in Dorking, Surrey in 1946, aged 69.