The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos by Michael Rowan-Robinson (PDF)

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How old is the universe? How far away are the galaxies and how fast are they travelling away from us? What is dark matter and why do astronomers think it pervades the universe? How heavy is the vacuum? How do galaxies form?Michael Rowan-Robinson answers these and many more questions in a highly original and intriguing way. He encapsulates our current knowledge (both what we do and don’t know) of the origin and the nature of the universe into nine numbers. These cosmic numbers appear to be independent characteristics of our universe and include its age, the Hubble constant (a measure of its rate of expression), and the density of matter in the universe. Only one of the nine numbers is known with real precision,and four of them only poorly known. The complex ideas that underpin modern cosmology such as the origin of the elements and quantum theory are explained clearly and accessibly, and more speculative ideas like inflation and superstrings are also covered, but with a refreshing scepticism. While mostof what we know has been learnt during the 20th century, Rowan-Robinson provides a historical perspective, paying homage to the achievements of the Greeks, Renaissance astronomers, and the age of Newton. He ends the book with a look to the future, predicting that with the further space missions we will accurately know the nine numbers described in this book by the year 2015, but concludes that the origin of the Big Bang itself will still be a mystery by the end of the twenty-first century, andperhaps even in the year 3000.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐There’s a beguiling simplicity to this attractive primer on cosmology. Professor Rowan-Robinson uses mostly plain English in describing what is currently known, and he keeps it short. But make no mistake about it: this is a complex and technical book on a difficult subject. It requires study. I have read it twice, and could profit from additional readings, but, as I like to say, life is short, and I’ll have to be satisfied with what I have thus far garnered.One of my pet peeves about books on cosmology is the constant rehashing of ancient conceptions of how and why the universe came into being, along with mistaken ideas from the early days of astronomy, anything, it sometimes seems, to pad out the requisite three hundred pages or so. Consequently I was pleased not to encounter any tales of turtles holding up the world or any retracing of the Ptolemaic model before the author gets to the current state of affairs (although he does give some brief history as he goes along).The nine numbers serve as an organizing device through which a picture of modern cosmology is revealed, or as the author puts it in the Prologue, “a peg on which to hang different aspects of our knowledge.” Incidentally, the Prologue, “Que sais-je,” is particularly well written and candid and valuable for what it reveals about what Rowan-Robinson’s knowledge. The first number is the amount of baryonic matter in the universe, as revealed in Chapter 1 entitled, “We exist.” Chapter 2 is “We are not in a special place,” revealed by the considerable extent to which the universe is isotropic and homogeneous. The third number is the Hubble constant, the fourth, the age of the universe, the fifth, the temperature of the background radiation, etc. I’ll leave it to the reader to discover the other numbers. What I want to focus on are Professor Rowan-Robinson’s speculations on extraterrestrial life from Chapter 1.He begins by expressing his “difficulty…with the idea that advanced technological civilizations like ourselves are common in our Galaxy” (p. 16). I think he has expressed it exactly right here with the words “like ourselves,” which I want to emphasize. However on the next page he goes on to present the familiar argument (from Fermi) that a civilization much in advance of ours would have found us by now. He cautions that he doesn’t accept the view that “they keep themselves hidden so as not to interfere with our development.” Hence the tired conclusion that THEY probably do NOT exist.The main problem with this argument is that it projects human psychology and desire onto beings of an advanced civilization. They might very well have their reasons for leaving us alone. Additionally, it’s not clear that the problem of interstellar travel is as easily solved as some might think, and I’m thinking here of the emotional and psychological difficulties as well as the technical ones. Rowan-Robinson writes that he doesn’t accept “any really fundamental limits on colonizing the Galaxy” (p. 17). Even if he is right, would such beings have the desire to colonize? I suspect that their psychology might differ, perhaps startlingly, from our own, and that they may prefer to stay at home.Rowan-Robinson also considers the case of an advanced civilization, unable to colonize other planets, facing the death of its star. He believes they “would surely put some effort into demonstrating that they had existed. There would be the astronomical equivalent of the pyramids, some kind of beacon signaling forever” ( p. 17). To me, such a vain glorious enterprise is more characteristic of human psychology than anything else, especially that of our pre-technological civilizations. I would add that in advancing it, Rowan-Robinson is guilty of anthropomorphizing the aliens! Surely, one would think, after a billion years or so of development, there would be some advance on this sort of psychology. Perhaps Professor Rowan-Robinson would appreciate being reminded of the lesson of Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias,” that “king of kings” whose “shattered visage lies” amid the drifting sands. Rowan-Robinson concludes the book with a prediction for the year 2100 (repeated from page 64) that the Planck era (10 to the minus 43 seconds after the Big Bang) will remain “shrouded in mystery.” He adds, “It would not surprise me if this were still a mystery in the year 3000.” There are some helpful diagrams and tables, some black and white photos, a brief glossary, and a name, and a subject index.

⭐Although written in 1999 this book was a clarifying reading. I am not going to say that I understood everything, but despite of that, I was able to grasp the author excitement about what we currently know about the universe and what to expect in the future, whether we conquer the knowledge of these numbers or not — and the author is optimistic. It is difficult to swallow the bing bang, especially on what happened during the planck time and the succesive exponential expansion of the universe, but that is what physics theorist say was the likely beginning of the Universe, supported by the very well known temperature of the microwave background. One interesting number is the density of the universe because is one of the numbers that cannot be explained only by radio “visible” matter, so that is where dark matter (and dark energy) makes its appereance.This is an interesting subject indeed, mainly because there are so many facts to learn, and perhaps correct on our actual knowledge, but we are advancing, new projects are in phase of construction, like the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and bigger accelerators will be ready soon. We just have to wait for their results.

⭐Nine Numbers is similar to the later work by Martin Rees (“Just Six Numbers”) in its approach to a popular work on cosmology. Rowan-Robinson looks at nine cosmological numbers that are so crucial to our understanding that if altered but little would make our existence impossible.While the work is dated (1999), those aspects are primarily cosmetic (exact value of constants, exact age of the universe, etc.) The key concepts are mostly applicable today, to the best of my knowledge. Those concepts that are radically different in 2006 are still so cutting edge that we can’t be confident about them anyway. While we can only hope that the author updates Nine Numbers, it would be a shame to reject this fine book because it doesn’t cover Dark Energy, the latest kinks in String Theory or the Holographic Universe.Rowan-Robinson is unique among cosmology writers in that he does not eschew a bit of technical dirty-work. Readers should be comfortable with graphs, charts, trends, logarithms, and orders of magnitude. At the same time, the work is not so technical that most readers couldn’t grasp it.Especially refreshing is the author’s excellent writing — very fluid, yet direct and unflambuoyant. Nine Numbers is an unassuming work that offers a rich trove of insight. If you are looking for another cosmology book to read at a bargain price, consider this one.

⭐Although written in 1999 this book was a clarifying reading. I am not going to say that I understood everything, but despite of that, I was able to grasp the author excitement about what we currently know about the universe and what to expect in the future, whether we conquer the knowledge of these numbers or not — and the author is optimistic. It is difficult to swallow the bing bang, especially on what happened during the planck time and the succesive exponential expansion of the universe, but that is what physics theorist say was the likely beginning of the Universe, supported by the very well known temperature of the microwave background. One interesting number is the density of the universe because is one of the numbers that cannot be explained only by radio “visible” matter, so that is where dark matter (and dark energy) makes its appereance.This is an interesting subject indeed, mainly because there are so many facts to learn, and perhaps correct on our actual knowledge, but we are advancing, new projects are in phase of construction, like the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and a bigger accelerator will be ready soon. We just have to wait to their results.

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