Overview

How does the scientific enterprise really work to illuminate the origins of life and the universe itself?The quest to understand our universe, how it may have originated and evolved, and especially the conditions that allow it to support the existence of life forms, has been a central theme in religion for millennia and in science for centuries. In the past half-century, in particular, enormous progress in particle and nuclear physics and cosmology has clarified the essential role of imperfections - deviations from perfect symmetry or homogeneity or predictability - in establishing conditions that allow for structure in the universe that can support the development of life. Many of these deviations are tiny and seem mysteriously fine-tuned to allow for life. The goal of this book is to review the recent and ongoing scientific research exploring these imperfections, in a broad-ranging, non-mathematical approach with an emphasis on the intricate tapestry of elegant experiments that bear on the conditions for habitability in our universe. This book makes clear what we know and how we know it, as distinct from what we speculate and how we might test it. At the same time, it attempts to convey a sense of wonderment at the tuning of these imperfections and of the rapid rate at which the boundary between knowledge and speculation is currently shifting.

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9780198814825

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Reviews

This is a very carefully structured and well written book about the physical constraints that allow life to exist in the universe. It gives a much more detailed discussion of the relevant physics than comparable books, because the author is an experimentalist. However it does not lose sight of the big picture, and is entertainingly written and well illustrated. It is a good read. * George Ellis, University of Cape Town * Vigdor takes us on a breathtaking excursion around the perimeters of our physics knowledge, opening vistas for the connections between what lies beyond and our type of life. He wittily describes the landscape and, in more depth than most other authors, how we know what we know. And he wonders, is there an artist behind such an imperfect masterpiece? * Ubirajara van Kolck, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique * Detailed chapters. He covers the most recent research... Highly recommended. * C.G. Wood, CHOICE *

This is a very carefully structured and well written book about the physical constraints that allow life to exist in the universe. It gives a much more detailed discussion of the relevant physics than comparable books, because the author is an experimentalist. However it does not lose sight of the big picture, and is entertainingly written and well illustrated. It is a good read. * George Ellis, University of Cape Town * Vigdor takes us on a breathtaking excursion around the perimeters of our physics knowledge, opening vistas for the connections between what lies beyond and our type of life. He wittily describes the landscape and, in more depth than most other authors, how we know what we know. And he wonders, is there an artist behind such an imperfect masterpiece? * Ubirajara van Kolck, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique *

Author Information

Steven Vigdor is a well-known experimental physicist with more than 45 years of experience in cutting-edge research in nuclear and particle physics. Currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics at Indiana University, he was formerly the Chair of that department and the Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear and Particle Physics at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). In the latter role, he oversaw in 2007-2012 operations of the largest U.S. facility for nuclear physics research -- the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider -- as well as all of BNL's research in nuclear and high-energy physics, and most of its efforts in accelerator science research. Since returning to Indiana in 2013, he has started a small business to develop state-of-the-art instrumentation for next-generation proton radiotherapy treatments of cancer, in parallel with the writing of this book.

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