{"product_id":"first-dawn-isbn-9780262047210","title":"First Dawn","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the very first moments of the universe to the birth of the first star, our solar system, and our planet: a physicist traces the known and the unknown.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince the beginning of the twentieth century, the horizon of our knowledge about the universe has expanded to encompass the infinitesimally small—and the infinitely vast. In \u003ci\u003eFirst Dawn\u003c\/i\u003e, physicist Roberto Battiston takes readers on a journey through space and time, to the boundaries of our knowledge and beyond. From the violence of the Big Bang and the birth of the first star, hundreds of millions of years later, to the emergence of our solar system, the dawn of life on Earth, and the possibility of life on other planets, Battiston maps what we know about the universe and how we came to know it—cautioning us, however, that what we know is a minuscule fraction of what there is to know.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eBattiston outlines discoveries by some of the greatest theoretical physicists of the twentieth century, including Einstein, Bohr, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Fermi, and Hubble; discusses the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter; and considers what it means for the universe to have emerged out of nothing. The ignition of the first star illuminated a universe that had been expanding, unobserved and unobservable, in the dark. Drawing on his own research, Battiston discusses the birth of the Sun, the formation of planets, the origins of life, interstellar migrations, extrasolar planets, black holes, gravitational waves, and much more. But, he warns, for some questions—the dimensions of the universe, for example, or the existence of other universes—we are destined to remain in the realm of speculation.\u003cbr\u003e Foreword by Marcia Bartusiak IX\u003cbr\u003ePreface XIII\u003cbr\u003e1 Lights Beyond the Horizon 1\u003cbr\u003e2 Traveling Companions 5\u003cbr\u003e3 The Laws of the Cosmos 9\u003cbr\u003e4 Knowing that we Don't Know 17\u003cbr\u003e5 Elephants in the Room 23\u003cbr\u003e6 Fiat Lux? 29\u003cbr\u003e7 Space 33\u003cbr\u003e8 Ten Infernal Minutes 39\u003cbr\u003e9 And There Was Not Light 49\u003cbr\u003e10 The First Dawn of the Cosmos 53\u003cbr\u003e11 A Special Star 57\u003cbr\u003e12 The Dawn of the Solar System 61\u003cbr\u003e13 The Earth and Its Climate 67\u003cbr\u003e14 The Dawn of Life 71\u003cbr\u003e15 Interstellar Migrations 77\u003cbr\u003e16 Other Suns, Other Worlds 83\u003cbr\u003e17 Where Are They? 89\u003cbr\u003e18 The Dark Side of the Cosmos 93\u003cbr\u003e19 The Organization of the Universe 99\u003cbr\u003e20 Black Holes 103\u003cbr\u003e21 Toward a New Astronomy 111\u003cbr\u003e22 Toward the Infinitely Large 119\u003cbr\u003e23 Toward the Infinitely Small 123\u003cbr\u003e24 Big Science 129\u003cbr\u003e25 The Universe as a Laboratory 135\u003cbr\u003e26 A Special Particle 139\u003cbr\u003e27 Antimatter 143\u003cbr\u003e28 Hunting for Antimatter in Space 149\u003cbr\u003e29 New Territories, New Dawns 155\u003cbr\u003e30 The Dawn of Astronautics 167\u003cbr\u003e31 The Dawn of the Next Star 171\u003cbr\u003e32 Even More Satellites, Even Smaller 175\u003cbr\u003e33 The Dawn of the Future 181\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments 189\u003cbr\u003eIndex 191\"Battiston’s book presents a useful synthesis across multiple scientific disciplines to arrive at a definition and general outline of cosmology, which is both timely and of great interest.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e– Library Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[An] elegant book on the history of knowledge about the cosmos” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e– Nature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Like the proverbial torch that lights up the darkness, \u003ci\u003eFirst Dawn\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates the hidden complexities of our universe and reveals the unexpected and profound connections between the infinitesimally small and infinitely vast. Masterfully explained and exhilarating to read.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Linda Schweizer, astronomer and author of \u003ci\u003eCosmic Odyssey: How Intrepid Astronomers at Palomar Observatory Changed Our View of the Universe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“In this masterful essay, Roberto Battiston carries us on a powerful journey to understand the cosmos. He offers a chronology of exciting discoveries and concepts, from Hubble’s discovery of the nature of galaxies and Einstein’s space-time, to the detection of gravitational waves and black holes. Battiston paints an illuminating picture of humanity’s trek to understand the meaning of it all.”  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—David J. Eicher, Editor-in-Chief, Astronomy Magazine​\u003c\/b\u003eRoberto Battiston is a physicist who specializes in the field of experimental fundamental and elementary particles physics, both at particle accelerators and in space. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eA Dialogue between an Artist and a Scientist\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eQuantum Mechanics for Dummies\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMaking Space\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Mathematics of the Virus\u003c\/i\u003e.The scientific adventure that is changing the way we see our world","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305525399781,"sku":"NP9780262047210","price":32.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262047210.jpg?v=1769561323","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/first-dawn-isbn-9780262047210","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}