Description
Book SynopsisTo commemorate the 300th anniversary of the publication of Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Stephen Hawking and Werner Israel have assembled a series of unique review papers by many of the world's foremost researchers in cosmology, relativity and particle physics. The resulting volume reflects the significant and exciting advances that have been made in these fields since the editor's acclaimed volume published in 1979: General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey. Newton's immense contribution to the physical sciences is assessed, and its relevance to today's physics made clear. The international contributors then chart the major developments in the study of gravitation, from Newtonian gravity to black hole physics. In the fields of galaxy formation, inflationary and quantum cosmology, and superstring unification, the book provides important overviews written by workers involved in many of the advances described. By shaping such a wide-ranging and schol
Trade Review"...the papers in this collection show us that it [the study of gravitation] is exciting, provocative and stimulating..." Physics Today
"..[I] have not found a comparable compilation of valuable information on the current status of general relativity." American Scientist
Table of ContentsPreface; 1. Newton's Principia S. W. Hawking; 2. Newtonianism and today's physics S. Weinberg; 3. Newton, quantum theory and reality R. Penrose; 4. Experiments on gravitation A. H. Cook; 5. Experimental gravitation from Newton's Principia to Einstein's general relativity C. M. Will; 6. The problem of motion in Newtonian and Einsteinian gravity T. Damour; 7. Dark stars: the evolution of an idea W. Israel; 8. Astrophysical black holes R. D. Blandford; 9. Gravitational radiation K. S. Thorne; 10. The emergence of structure in the universe: galaxy formation and dark matter M. J. Rees; 11. Gravitational interactions of cosmic strings A. Vilenkin; 12. Inflationary cosmology S. K. Blau and A. H. Guth; 13. Inflation and quantum cosmology A. Linde; 14. Quantum cosmology S. W. Hawking; 15. Superstring unification J. H. Schwartz; 16. Covariant description of canonical formalism in geometrical theories C. Crnkowic and E. Witten; Index.
