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The End of Discovery Russell Stannard

The End of Discovery By Russell Stannard

The End of Discovery by Russell Stannard


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Condition - Very Good
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Summary

Fundamental science will one day come to an end, argues Russell Stannard. Ultimately there will be experiments too vast to finance, areas of knowledge the human brain cannot comprehend, evidence that forever eludes us. His book explores the likely boundaries of our quest to understand the nature of time, matter, consciousness, and the universe.

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The End of Discovery Summary

The End of Discovery: Are We Approaching the Boundaries of the Knowable? by Russell Stannard

It is generally thought that science, by its very nature, must always progress. But this is not so. One day, fundamental science will come to an end. Not when we have discovered everything, but when we have discovered whatever is open to us to understand - which is not the same thing. Limitations as to what the human brain can comprehend, together with practical considerations to do with the need for ever more elaborate and expensive equipment, are likely to ensure that our knowledge will remain for ever incomplete. A further indication that the world will ultimately retain some of its mystery is suggested by evidence that in certain directions, scientific enquiry might already have come up against the boundaries of the knowable. Author and broadcaster Russell Stannard, himself a high-energy physicist and former Head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Open University, introduces the general reader to the deepest questions facing us today - questions to do with consciousness, free will, the nature of space, time, and matter, the existence of extraterrestrial life, and why there should be a world at all. In doing so, he speculates as to whether some of these questions will never be answered.

The End of Discovery Reviews

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

About Russell Stannard

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.

Table of Contents

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

Additional information

CIN0199585245VG
9780199585243
0199585245
The End of Discovery: Are We Approaching the Boundaries of the Knowable? by Russell Stannard
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Oxford University Press
2010-09-23
240
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - The End of Discovery