By Helge S Kragh, Oxford University Press. Hardback ISBN 9780199209163 £35 ($100).
This is a historical account of how natural philosophers and scientists have endeavoured to understand the universe at large, first in a mythical and later in a scientific context. Starting with the creation stories of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, the book covers all of the major events in theoretical and observational cosmology, from Aristotle’s cosmos through the Copernican revolution to the discovery of the accelerating universe in the late 1990s. It presents cosmology as a subject including scientific as well as non-scientific dimensions, and tells the story of how it developed into a true science of the heavens. It also offers an integrated account with emphasis on the modern Einsteinian and post-Einsteinian period. This book is suitable for students and professionals in astronomy, physics and history of science.
