Wrinkles in Time - by George Smoot & Keay Davidson (Paperback)

About the Book

An engrossing tale of two decades of adventure in exotic and dangerous climes, where Smoot and his colleagues used radiotelescopes in search of the biggest and oldest objects anywhere--the "seeds" that spawned our universe following the Big Bang. Photos and illustrations.

Book Synopsis

In April 1992, a discovery was made that changed the way we view the world. Dr. George Smoot, distinguished cosmologist and adventurer, whose quest for cosmic knowledge had taken him from the Brazilian rain forest to the South Pole unveiled his momentous discovery, bringing to light the very nature of the universe. For anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered, for anyone who has ever longed to pull aside the fabric of the universe for a glimpse of what lies behind it. Wrinkles in Time is the story of Smoot's search to uncover the cosmic seeds of the universe. Wrinkles in Time is the Double Helix of cosmology, an intimate look at the inner world of men and women who ask. "Why are we here?" It tells the story of George Smoot's dogged pursuit of the cosmic wrinkles in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, on mountaintops, in experiments borne aloft aboard high-altitude balloons, U-2 spy planes, and finally a space satellite. Wrinkles in Time presents the hard science behind the structured violence of the big bang theory through breathtakingly clear, lucid images and meaningful comparisons. Scientists and nonscientists alike can follow with rapt attention the story of how, in a fiery creation, wrinkles formed in space ultimately to become stars, galaxies, and even greater delicate structures. Anyone can appreciate the implications of a universe whose end is written in its beginnings - whose course developed according to a kind of cosmic DNA, which guided the universe from simplicity and symmetry to ever-greater complexity and structure. As controversial as it may seem today, Wrinkles in Time reveals truths that, in an earlier century, would have doomed its proclaimers to thefiery stake. For four thousand years some people have accepted the Genesis account of cosmic origin; for most of this century, scientists debated two rival scientific explanations known as the steady state and big bang theories. And now, Wrinkles in Time tells what really happened

From the Back Cover

Astrophysicist George Smoot spent decades pursuing the origin of the cosmos, "the holy grail of science," a relentless hunt that led him from the rain forests of Brazil to the frozen wastes of Antarctica. In his search he struggled against time, the elements, and the forces of ignorance and bureaucratic insanity. Finally, after years of research, Smoot and his dedicated team of Berkeley researchers succeeded in proving the unprovable--uncovering, inarguably and for all time, the secrets of the creation of the universe. Wrinkles in Time describes this startling discovery that would usher in a new scientific age--and win Smoot the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Review Quotes

"One of the most exhilarating and absorbing books ever written about science. . . . An adventure story of a rare kind, a classic." -- New Scientist

"Remarkable. . . . A rare glimpse of important science in the making and a rollicking adventure yarn all rolled into one. Wrinkles in Time breaths life and romance into science." -- New York Times Book Review

"One of the best, most understandable primers on the history and current state of cosmology available." -- Seattle Times

"Fast paced, lucid. . . . High adventure. . . . A splendid history of the universe." -- Los Angeles Times

"Impressive. . . . Long-awaited. . . . The reader needs bring nothing to the book but curiosity." -- Washington Post Book World

"George Smoot's Wrinkles in Time has got to be one of the best books I've ever read. Smoot, who got the Nobel Prize in physics in 2006, is the Indiana Jones of physics: a physicist who flies all over the world to do science." -- Amir D. Aczel, Toronto Globe and Mail