The Mysterious Universe [New Revised Edition] by Sir James Hopwood Jeans (PDF)

Description

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.

User’s Reviews

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

⭐”The Mysterious Universe” is based on lectures dating back to 1930. That was a time when true geniuses roamed the halls of academia, and James Jeans was one of them. Some of the statements made by Jeans seem rather quaint in light of 21st century science. Here are some examples: 1) Helium is comprised of four protons and four electrons (the neutron had not yet been discovered). 2) The stars are trillions (not billions) of years old, and presently weigh but a small fraction of their original mass. 3) The cores of stars generate heat by annihilating atoms of hydrogen and converting their mass directly into energy (nuclear fusion was not yet well understood). 4) Cosmic rays consist of photons created from the annihilation of hydrogen atoms (cosmic rays are in fact high-energy particles of matter, mainly protons).Despite such knowledge gaps, which certainly weren’t Jeans’ fault (having been born too early) he was a true intellectual giant in the field of science. He was one of the main proponents of idealism, which proposes that space, time, matter and energy are mathematical abstractions and that reality is the product of a mathematical universal mind. There are similar proposals of a universe is based on information, such as John Archibald Wheeler’s “it from bit” proposal. Jeans’ concluding remark was that the universe seems to be a great thought rather than a machine.I consider “The Mysterious Universe” a must read. The only criticism I have of the Kindle version of this book is that some of the figures that are referenced in the text seem to be missing. Otherwise I would have given it five stars.

⭐This book was referenced in another book I read, and so I was happy to discover it. A good look at scientific ideas from the early twentieth century. Accessible to the non-scientific lay reader.

⭐This book gives an excellent exposition of current scientific thought while also accepting the spiritual dimension of reality. It gives me hope for the scientific community.

⭐I hoped for an interesting insight in the mysterious universe. Instead I had a great many confusing complex facts that only someone who already knew the universe could understand. Probably was light reading for Hawking but well beyond us mere mortals

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