Readership: General popular science readers and scientists and philosophers who wish to be brought up-to-date on areas of science outside their particular field
Russell Stannard, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the Open University
Russell Stannard is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the Open University where for 21 years he headed the Department of Physics and Astronomy. A high energy nuclear physicist, he has carried out research at CERN in Geneva and at other laboratories in USA and Europe. Among his awards he has the OBE, he received the Bragg Medal from the Institute of Physics, and has been made Fellow of University College London. In 1986 he was awarded the Templeton Project Trust Award for significant contributions to the field of spirtual values; in particular for contributions to greater understanding of science and religion. His triology of Uncle Albert books introduces children of 10+ to relativity and quantum theory and he wrote Relativity: A Very Short Introduction in 2008.
Review(s) from previous edition"Lucid and provocative, it is a very polite corrective to both superstitions of the layman and the triumphalism of the experts. - New Statesman
"A lucid tour." - Simon Mitton, THES
"Stannard takes readers on a tour of some of the deepest questions facing science." - The Independent
Introduction 1: Brain and consciousness 2: Creation of the cosmos 3: The laws of nature 4: The anthropic principle 5: The size of the cosmos 6: Extraterrestrial life 7: The nature of space 8: Space in relation to time 9: The nature of time 10: High energy physics 11: The quantum world 12: Quantum gravity and string theory 13: Concluding remarks
