Astronomy is perhaps the oldest science. The ancients saw cosmic meanings in the stars, and they organized their lives around lunar and solar cycles (i.e. the month and year). They also observed the solstices, the equinoxes, and of course the four seasons. Over many centuries the precession of the equinoxes corrupted Julius Caesars ancient calendar (the Julian calendar); in 1586 it was replaced with the Gregorian calendar, which features the system of leap years we know today. Aristotles earthcentered (geocentric) system of crystalline spheres dominated astronomy for 2000 years. Aristarchus in 270 B.C. was ahead of his time in suggesting that the sun is at the center of the universe, and that the earth spins like a top. Eratosthenes (ca. 200 B.C.) calculated the size of the earth; Hipparchus (2nd century B.C.) calculated the distance to the moon and established a system of latitudes and longitudes. Ptolemy (1st century A.D.) published the great compilation of astronomical knowledge (the Almagest), and he offered the epicycle theory to explain new observations not explained by the geocentric theory of the universe. In 1543, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus overturned the geocentric theory by publishing a book on his heliocentric (suncentered) theory. Johannes Kepler soon joined the great astronomer Tycho Brahe, systematizing Tychos observations with calculations proving that orbits are elliptical. Kepler also established his three great laws of celestial motion. Galileo improved the telescope and discovered many new astronomical features; his work publicly discredited the geocentric doctrine, leading to the famous recantation forced upon him by the church. Galileos celestial and terrestrial discoveries laid the foundation for the great advances and discoveries of Isaac Newton.
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our ques...
A fascinating exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mindAll our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits ...
Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman, examines the legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa, which was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. T...
What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? Theres no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and bestselling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Bu...
Narrator: Neil deGrasse Tyson Published: 05/02/2017
Now a major motion picture from HBO® starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells&mdas...
A thrilling and accessible tour of the cosmos
Our true origins are not just human, or even terrestrial, but in fact cosmic. Drawing on scientific breakthroughs and the current cross-pollination among geology, biology, astrophysics, and cosmology, O...
FROM ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT MINDS OF OUR TIME COMES A BOOK THAT CLARIFIES HIS MOST IMPORTANT IDEAS Stephen Hawking’s worldwide bestseller A Brief History of Time remains a landmark volume in scientific writing. But for readers who ha...
New York Times BestsellerA Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestsellerR...
Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space. Featurin...
