Human Universe (33 page)

A tiny handprint gives a tantalising glimpse into an ancient way of living in the Altamira caves in northwestern Spain. El Castillo contains some of the oldest cave-art in the world.

HOW THE LEOPARD GOT ITS SPOTS

^fn1
This analogy was published by J. D. Murray in
Notices of the AMS
, June/July 2012: ‘Why are there no 3-headed monsters? Mathematical modelling in biology’.

A DAY WITHOUT YESTERDAY?

^fn1
Andrei Linde, ‘Inflationary Cosmology after Planck 2013’, arXiv:1402.0526v2 [hep-th]

The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

A

adenosine triphosphate (ATP) 107, 108, 109, 110, 183

Africa: evolution and 2, 105, 111, 125, 130–1, 138, 139, 143, 149, 150, 151, 153; farming/trade routes and 151, 153
see also
under individual nation
name

agriculture, development of 151, 152–5, 160, 239

Al Khazneh, Petra 153, 154

al-Haytham, Ibn 10

aliens
see
extraterrestrial life Allen Array 66

Alpha Centauri 84

Alpha Draconis 134

Alpher, Ralph 55

Anders, Bill 16, 17, 18–19, 25, 32, 54

Andromeda 32–4, 49, 59

APM 08279+5255 93

Apollo flights 145, 229–38; Apollo 1 133; Apollo 7 16, 18; Apollo 8 16, 18–19, 25, 132–3, 146, 147; Apollo 9 18; Apollo 11 146, 149; Apollo 13 145–9; Apollo 16 229, 230; Apollo 17 233

archaeon 109, 110

Archean period 102, 103

Archicebus achilles
125

archosaurs 105

Arecibo radio telescope, Puerto Rico 47, 84

Aristarchus 9–10

Aristotle 7, 20, 29, 37, 39, 43, 54

Armstrong, Neil 122, 201, 231, 232

Arnold, Ken 60

art, early human 210, 213–14

asteroids 102, 115, 116, 117, 215–16, 218–20, 223, 224, 227

astrology 132

Atchley, Dana 68, 69

ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System) 216, 218

atomic bombs 113

atomic clocks 133

atomic nucleus 46, 84, 86, 114, 175, 191

Audrey, Stephan 90

Australopithecus 4, 126, 129, 131, 138, 139, 140, 141

axial precession 133–4, 136, 137

B

bacteria 59, 107, 108, 109–10

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan 121, 123

Baird auditorium, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History 30

Barringer Crater 217

Beidha, Jordan 152, 153

Bellerophon (51 Pegasi b) 89

Bessel, Friedrich 22, 23

Betelgeuse 97

Bethe, Hans 55

Big Bang 5–6, 29, 39, 54, 55–6, 93, 168, 169, 170–1, 198, 200, 202, 204, 205, 206, 207

Big Ear telescope, Ohio University 73, 74

binary star system 20, 45–6

Bird, John 132

Borman, Frank 16, 17, 18–19, 54

Brahe, Tycho 9, 12, 20

Bronowski, Jacob 232

Bruno, Giordano 5–6, 25, 54, 56, 82

Burke, James 58, 145

Burns, Heinrich 224

Bush, George 231

C

Callisto 38

Calvin, Melvin 68, 69

Cambrian Explosion 98, 105, 106, 108, 109, 111, 112, 118, 192

Camelopardalis 76

carbon 96, 102, 174, 197

carbon dioxide 95, 103, 107, 146

Catholic Church 37–8

Cavendish, Henry 10

cell nucleus 113, 114

Cepheid variables 27, 33, 49, 132

CERN, Geneva 69, 160, 177, 180, 231–2, 236

Cernan, Gene 232, 233

Chaffee, Roger 133

Chandrasekhar limit 46

Chelyabinsk, Russia 215, 216, 217

Chicago Pile 1 61

Chicxulub impact, the 217

China 79, 80, 125, 152, 161, 232, 236, 239

chlorophyll 107

chloroplasts 108, 110

Cigoli (Lodovico Cardi) 37, 38

Clarke, Arthur C. 57, 58

classical theory 179

climate change 114–15, 131, 134, 135, 138–44, 214, 240

clouds, patterns in 187

Cocconi, Giuseppe: ‘Searching for Interstellar Communications’ 64, 68, 69, 74

Cold War 16, 114

Columbus, Christopher 132

complexity, emergence of 98–9, 101, 102, 105, 106, 109–10, 110, 111, 114, 143, 172, 184, 185–96, 222–3, 227, 242

‘constants of nature’ 46, 195–6, 197, 198–9, 205

Conway’s Game of Life 223

Copernicus, Nicolaus 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 20, 29, 32, 38, 39, 54, 82

Cornell University 35, 60, 64

Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) 55, 178, 200, 201–2, 203, 206

cosmological constant 52

coupling constant 179, 182

cranial capacity 140, 141

craniofacial development 143

creation of universe 5, 49–56, 167–207

cricket 182–3

Crippen, Bob 120

crystallography 190

Cuban missile crisis 70, 113

Cuneiform 160–1

Curtis, Heber 31–2, 33, 49

Curtis, Ian 173

cyanobacteria 108

Cygnus constellation 91, 98

D

da Vinci, Leonardo 231

dark energy 169, 182, 196, 197–9, 205

dark matter 169, 177–8, 198

Darwin, Charles 31, 110, 113, 192

Delta Cephei 27

Deneb 98, 134

DESY laboratory, Hamburg 160

Disraeli, Benjamin 31

DNA 79, 104, 109–10, 125, 138, 139, 142, 151, 175, 190

Doppler effect 87, 89

down quarks 175, 177, 242

Draco, constellation of 91

Drake Equation, The 70, 71, 72, 73, 82, 91, 100, 101, 103, 104, 111, 113–14

Drake, Frank 64, 66, 68, 72, 82, 116

dreamers 234–41

dualism 187

deuterium 235, 237

Duke, Charlie 229, 230–1, 232

Dunbar’s number 151

Dunn, Alan 61

dwarf stars 20, 33, 46–7, 76, 84, 90, 96, 97, 99–100, 221

E

Earth 4; Archean Eon 102, 103; birth of life on 104, 192; collision with another planet 143; Earthrise photo 19, 32; formation of 103; from Earth to the Sun 8; Hadean Eon 103, 111; life on, brief history of 104–12; orbit 7, 15, 18, 20, 43, 44, 45, 48, 105, 132–5, 136, 137, 143, 148, 168, 224; position in solar system 1–56; spin axis 102, 132–5, 137; Triassic period 105; Upper Paleolithic period 210; why is there life on? 93–101

East African Rift Valley 2, 4, 105, 111, 120, 125–6, 131, 138–44, 149, 150, 151, 164, 166

Eddington, Arthur 53

Ediacaran biota 105

Effelsberg telescope, Germany 47

Egypt, ancient 134, 153, 155, 160, 161–2, 163

Ehman, Jerry R. 73, 74, 76

Einstein, Albert 9, 29, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 49, 51–6, 168–9, 176, 179, 202, 222, 235
see also under individual
theory name

El Castillo, Spain 210, 213, 214

electromagnetism 45, 97, 175, 180, 181, 197, 235

electrons 46, 65, 78, 107, 108, 175, 177, 178, 180, 181, 191, 235, 242

elementary particles, Standard Model and 181

Eliot, T. S. 1, 19

endosymbiosis 108, 109, 110

energy use 235–6

Enola Gay
113

Epicurus 9

Epsilon Eridani 64, 66

equinoxes 8, 133, 137, 226–8

Erta Ale volcano, Ethiopia 138

eternal universe 2, 5, 6, 52, 207

Ethiopia 125, 130, 138, 139, 143, 166, 193, 194

Euclid 160, 232

eukaryotes 109, 110, 111–12, 113, 118

Europa 38, 100, 103

European Southern Observatory’s VLT, Chile 47, 90

European Space Agency 231–2

evolution, theory of 31, 52, 53, 86, 104–12, 113, 118, 126, 127, 128, 130–1, 132, 135, 138–44, 193

existentialism 171

exoplanets 84, 88, 89, 90–1, 107

extraterrestrial life, possibility of 57–118

F

farming 152–5

Fermi Paradox 62, 64, 113, 118

Fermi, Enrico 61, 62, 64, 65, 66

Fermilab, Chicago 160

Feynman, Richard 35, 36, 60

Fibonacci numbers 193

fingerprints 81, 185–7

‘First Cause’ argument 169–70

First Chkalovsk Air Force Pilots School, Orenburg 122

Fleming, Williamina 25

flight, birth of human 62, 117, 232

food, oxidization of 106

footprints, early human 131

fossil fuels 235, 236

fossils 105, 125, 130–1, 138, 139, 142, 150, 232, 235

Fowler, Cary 240

Frail, Dale 84, 87

Friedman, William F. 63

Friedmann, Alexander 52–4, 56

fundamental forces/laws of nature 175, 177, 181

G

Gagarin, Yuri 18, 120, 122, 123–4, 156

Gaia space telescope 22

galaxy formation models 178

galaxy rotation speeds 178

Galileo 5, 9, 12, 36–9, 40, 42, 54, 160, 187

Galilean Satellites 38

Gamma Cassiopeia 132–3

Gamma Cephei 134

Gamma Velorum 133

Gamow, George 52, 55

Ganymede 38, 100

gauge bosons 175, 188

gelada baboon (
Theropithecus
gelada
) 125, 126, 127

General Theory of Relativity 9, 29, 43–4, 45–6, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 168–9, 179, 182, 183, 202–3, 222

geometry 12, 20, 22, 44, 134, 160, 195

Gliese 445 76

Gliese 581 86, 90

Gliese 581-C 90

Global Crop Diversity Trust, The 240

gluons 175, 177, 181

golden ratio 193

Goldilocks Zone 86, 91, 98

Gould, Stephen J. 53

gravity 179, 207; dark matter and 205; Earth’s rotation and 133–4, 135, 143; eternal inflation and 205; fundamental forces and 179, 182; General Theory of Relativity 9, 29–30, 39, 43–4, 45, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 168–9, 179, 182, 183, 202–3, 222; gravitational waves 47; Main Sequence and 97, 98; Newton’s Law of Gravity 10, 11, 12, 20, 22, 23, 29, 40, 41, 42, 44–5, 46, 47, 158, 159, 160, 182, 221, 224; orbits of three bodies under, unpredictability of 224, 227; quantum theory of 169, 179, 207; space travel and 75, 76; Standard Model and 179

Gray, Tom 130

Great Debate 31–4, 49

Great Pyramid, Giza 134

Great Silence 115

Greeks, ancient 7, 89, 103, 133, 154

greenhouse gases 95, 236

Grissom, Gus 133

Guassa Plateau 125, 127

Guth, Alan 202

H

habitable zone 66, 67, 85, 86–92, 100–1

Haise, Fred 146, 147, 149

handprints, early cave 210, 213, 214

Harriot, Thomas 190

‘Harvard Computers’ 25

Harvard University 53; College Observatory 25

Hat Creek Radio Observatory 66

helium 96, 97, 98, 177, 197, 234, 235, 237

Hertzsprung-Russell diagram 86, 96, 98, 100

Hertzsprung, Ejnar 27–8, 29, 96

hieroglyphs 160–1

Higgs Boson 177, 179, 180, 181, 182

Higgs Field 178–9, 197, 202

Hipparchus 133–4

Hiroshima, nuclear attack on 61, 113, 215, 216

Holocene period 152

hominids, evolution of 125–44

Homo erectus 129, 138, 139, 141, 149

Homo floresiensis 149

Homo habilis 129, 138

Homo heidelbergensis 129, 139, 141

Homo sapiens 62, 105, 118, 126, 129, 139, 141, 149, 210, 213

homogeneity and isotropy, assumption of 52, 56, 203

Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, Canberra, Australia 145

Hooker telescope, Mount Wilson Observatory, California 33

Hopkins, Mike 158, 166

Horizon
: ‘The Pleasure of Finding Things Out’ 35

Horsehead Nebula 25

Hoshide, Akihiko 219

Hoyle, Fred 170

Hubble Space Telescope 27

Hubble, Edwin 26, 32–4, 49, 55

Hubble, John 33

Human Universe
3, 42, 72, 116, 125, 158, 219, 223, 230, 234

humans: evolution of 31, 104–12, 113, 118, 126, 127, 128, 130–1, 132, 135, 138–44, 193; future of 209–42

hunter-gatherers 151, 155

Huxley, Thomas 31

hydrogen 61, 64, 65, 66, 74, 78, 81, 93, 96, 97–8, 107, 145, 177, 191, 197, 234, 235, 237

hydrogen bomb 61, 215

hydrogen line, 21cm 64, 66, 74

I

impact events, asteroid 229

Inflation, Theory of 4, 55–6, 202–7

International Space Station 120, 160, 164, 221; Expedition 38 156–9, 165–6

Ionian Enchantment 159

Iota Ursa Major 133

Isua Supracrustal Belt, Western Greenland 102

ITER 236–7

J

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 219

Johanson, Donald 130

Joy Division 2, 172, 205

Jupiter 3, 14, 15, 38, 59, 75, 76, 86, 87, 89, 96, 100, 123–4

K

K-type dwarf stars 20, 100

Kamanin, Nikolai 122

Kazak Steppe, Kazakhstan 156–9, 165–6

Kennedy Space Centre 76

Kennedy, Bobby 16

Kennedy, John F. 16, 18, 19, 70, 114, 119, 149

Kepler Space Telescope 90–1

Kepler-62 system 84, 85