THE UNIVERSE
A Challenge to the Mind
by Jacques Vanier (University of Montreal, Canada)
Table of Contents (56k)
Preface (102k)
Chapter 1: Introduction (82k)
In this book the author gives a comprehensive picture of the physical laws that appear to regulate the functioning of the Universe from the atomic to the cosmic world. The book offers a description of the main fields of physics — classical physics, relativity, quantum mechanics and particle physics — as they are applied to the atomic world and the cosmos to describe how the whole Universe has evolved to the present state. The description concentrates on the essentials, describing our present knowledge of those physical laws and outlining our limitations in understanding the whole picture. This is done essentially without equations, except for a few important ones.
The text includes a short Annex for mathematically inclined readers who wish to see how the physical principles and laws expressed in words can be visualized in the language of mathematics, but the book can be read without referring to that Annex. Also, The Universe explains in depth those laws and outlines their limitations. The author, however, does this in an accessible language that should be understandable to non-specialists. In particular, he occasionally uses two young characters placed in various situations to explain the physics involved in those situations by means of their observations. The author uses also numerous clear pictures and graphics that make the text more easily comprehensible.
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