Astrophysics
for People In a Hurry – Neil deGrasse Tyson (2017)
The science of Physics, and
specifically Astrophysics, has always fascinated me. I have found that the best way to step
outside my own reality tunnel, and to gain what Mr. Tyson labels the “Cosmic
Perspective,” is to read and study about the amazing achievements and
discoveries that humans from ancient times have made regarding the cosmos we
live in. Our current world-society, with
its incessant data-feeds and distractions, impedes people from reflecting on
the Universe at large, and the amazingly complex and utterly massive nature of
it. We are all obsessed with our
day-to-day grind, our jobs, our families, the news, politics, financial
worries, etc. It is because of this glut
of activities and concerns that take up much of the modern human’s life that
Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote this great little book.
One of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s
greatest traits is his ability to be a science explainer. Very few scientists have this ability, and
because of this, many non-scientists feel that either science is too complex to
be understood by them or that scientists are purposefully being obtuse and
intricate so as to not share their knowledge with “normal” people. That is a real shame, because the basics of
all the sciences affect us every single day, and without this knowledge it is
too easy to be fooled by charlatans and con-artists seeking to impress you with
pseudo-science and psychobabble, which all sound very plausible as long as you
do not think critically about them. Some
hard-line nerds may put down Mr. Tyson because his focus is on education and
dissemination, just as they used to insult Carl Sagan, that last great
astronomer-teacher. Screw them. The world needs people who can clearly, and
patiently, explain the vast knowledge we have accumulated to those who are
interested, but do not have the rigorous and expensive education needed to
grasp the mathematical underpinnings of science. I would rather our best and brightest minds
become celebrities than the vapid illiterates that society worships
.
In the first chapters Neil deGrasse
Tyson explores the development of astrophysics and humanity’s evolving
understanding of the heavens above, deliberately highlighting how new
discoveries and technologies forced us to change our perspective, from being
self-absorbed and obsessed with our human primacy among the cosmos, to finding
out that our planet Earth is not the center of the Universe, to discovering out
that our Solar System is just one of countless billions in our Milky Way
galaxy, to learning that our immense galaxy is just one among billions that
populate the Universe, to understanding that we cannot even see much of the
Universe due to its expansion. It is a breathtaking
journey that is all the more amazing because it happened in a blink of cosmic
time, the teeny tiny sliver of time that Homo Sapiens Sapiens has been studying
the heavens. Compared to the age of our
Earth (around 4.5 billion years) humans have not been around very long at all.
Compared to the age of our Universe (around 14.5 billion years) we have barely
begun to exist! It blows my mind to think
that we humans have only been able to study the heavens as they are for the
past several hundred years.
Each chapter is divided into the
different ways that astrophysics are able to study the cosmos. Some deal with the visible light available. Others talk about the discovery of the
remnants of the big bang, mapped through microwaves. One chapter details the development of radio
frequency telescopes, capable of exploring parts of the Universe that are
invisible in any other manner. From
gamma detectors to cosmic rays, to the particle/antiparticle pairs that are
popping in and out of existence throughout all of “empty” space, every major
movement and field of study in astrophysics is presented, and the latest data
and ideas about these findings are shared with the reader. This is all in the service of what Mr. Tyson
discusses in the last chapter, which is the beauty and joy of the Cosmic
Perspective. Understanding that we truly
are one with the cosmos, that we are made of the same material that the
Universe is made of, that our world is one of billions, that all life on Earth,
and maybe all life in the Universe, is united by the common threads of our
existence, and that it is our ability to understand the Universe itself that
sets us apart, all are vital for each and every human being to understand. The divisions that humans create to
aggrandize one group and demean and subjugate another are illusions. They are outright lies. We are all humans, all conscious, all alive,
all looking for our place in the Universe and our place among our human
society. I hope many people read this
book and take the Cosmic Perspective to heart.
(This book is available for purchase here: AMAZON )
No comments:
Post a Comment
Any Thoughts?