Einstein's Unfinished Symphony

The Story of a Gamble, Two Black Holes, and a New Age of Astronomy

Marcia Bartusiak

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780300228120
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Astronomy & Astrophysics

This updated edition of the New York Times Notable Book recounts the long hunt for Einstein's predicted gravitational waves—and celebrates their discovery. In February 2016, astronomers announced that they had verified the last remaining prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity—vibrations in space-time, called gravitational waves. Humanity can now tune in to a cosmic orchestra. We have heard the chirp of two black holes dancing toward a violent union. We will hear the cymbal crashes from exploding stars, the periodic drumbeats from swiftly rotating pulsars, and maybe even the echoes from the Big Bang itself. More than a decade earlier, Marcia Bartusiak chronicled the gamble taken by astronomers who were determined to prove Einstein right. In their quest to detect gravitational waves, they built the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, the most accurate measuring devices ever created. In this updated edition, Bartusiak brings the story to a thrilling close with the triumphant discovery of gravitational waves made with the LIGO. "An important, multifaceted scientific story…part theoretical physics, part astronomy, part experimental physics, part engineering."—James Ryerson, New York Times Book Review

INDEX

Note: Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

Abell 2218, (i), (ii)

acceleration, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

active isolation system, (i), (ii)

Adelberger, Eric, (i)

Allegro, (i), (ii)

American Physical Society meetings, (i), (ii)

Anderson, Philip, (i)

Apollo (i), (ii)

Apollo (i), (ii)

Archytas, (i)

Arecibo Observatory, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi)

Aristotle, (i), (ii), (iii)

Armstrong, John, (i)

atomic clocks, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

Baade, Walter, (i)

Ballmer, Stefan, (i), (ii)

bar antennas (bar detectors), (i); announcement of gravity-wave detection and official report, (i); attempts to verify Weber’s results, (i); center of Milky Way as origin of gravity waves, (i), (ii), (iii); and gamma-ray bursts, (i); importance of Weber’s work, (i); vs. interferometers, (i); lack of corroboration and Weber’s rebuttal, (i); at Max Planck Institute, (i); media coverage, (i); and quantum mechanics, (i); supercooled, second generation of, (i); and Supernova 1987A, (i); theorists’ skepticism regarding Weber’s findings, (i); Weber and Forward’s construction of, (i), (ii)

Bardon, Marcel, (i)

Barish, Barry, (i), (ii), (iii)

Barsotti, Lisa, (i), (ii)

BATSE (Burst and Transient Source Experiment), (i)

Beckedorff, David, (i)

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn, (i), (ii), (iii)

Bell Laboratories, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

Bender, Peter, (i), (ii), (iii)

Berkeley, George, (i)

Betzwieser, Joseph, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v)

Big Bang, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii)

Big Dog event, (i), (ii)

Billing, Heinz, (i)

Billingsley, GariLynn...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments to the 2017 Edition
• Acknowledgments to the 2000 Edition
• Chapter Opening
• Prelude
• Space in G Flat
• The Maestro Enters
• Starlight Waltz
• Pas de Deux
• Bars and Measures
• Dissonant Chords
• A Little Light Music
• The Chirp
• Variations on a Theme
• The Music of the Spheres
• The Unending Symphony
• Coda
• Timeline
• Bibliography
• Index