San Antonio College Library

An examination of the events, people and discoveries made in the field of cosmology and toward understanding of the nature of the universe.

"This book relates the history of asteroid discoveries and christenings, from those of the early pioneering giants of Hersehel and Piazzi to modern-day amateurs. Moving from history and anecdotal information to science, the book's structure is provided by the names of the asteroids, including one named after the author. Free from a need to conform to scientific naming conventions, the names evidence hero-worship, sycophancy, avarice, vanity, whimsy,...

Tells the story of cosmology, including its history, the theories and the evidence, the new discoveries, the outstanding questions and controversies.

Designed for middle and high school students, A to Z of Scientists in Space and Astronomy is an ideal reference to notable male and female scientists in the field of space and astronomy, from antiquity to the present. Containing more than 150 entries and approximately 50 black-and-white photographs, this exciting volume in the Notable Scientists series emphasizes these scientists' contributions to the field as well as their effects on those who have...

"Sir Fred Hoyle, who died in 2001, was the first astronomer to popularise his subject through the media of radio and television which, in the 1950s, made him a major public figure. He played an important part in transforming the fortunes of British astronomy in the years after the Second World War and was also one of the leading theoretical astronomers of his day, who many thought would have been awarded a Nobel Prize had he not so obviously relished...

Seeing in the Dark is a poetic love letter to the skies and a stirring report on the revolution now sweeping amateur astronomy in which backyard stargazers link globally by the Internet are exploring deep space and making discoveries worthy of the professionals. Timothy Ferris invites us all to become stargazers, recounting his lifelong experiences as an enthralled stargazer, and capturing the exquisite experience when ancient starlight strikes the...

Because of Galileo's courageous campaign to change the methods of doing science, physicist Albert Einstein called him "the father of modern physics--indeed, of modern science altogether." A devout Catholic who wanted the church to maintain its authority and wisdom, Galileo worked tirelessly to persuade the church authorities to stop insisting that the sun revolved around a stationary earth, when there was evidence to prove otherwise. Galileo's persistence...

Presented for the first time in popular form is the fascinating true story of the search for the phantom planet Vulcan. As with legends of "the lost continent of Atlantis," scientists and dreamers alike have sought to prove that Vulcan is more than just a myth. Historians of astronomy Richard Baum and William Sheehan have combed the continents, digging through dusty letters and journals, to unravel this mysterious and captivating tale. The planet...