The Evolving Universe and the Origin of Life: The Search for Our Cosmic Roots

Preface to the Second Edition.- Preface to the First Edition.- Part 1: The Widening World View.- When Science Was Born.- Science in Athens.- Planetary Spheres and the Size of the Universe.- Medieval Cosmology.- The Roots of the Copernican Revolution.- The True Laws of Planetary Motion Revealed.- Galileo Galilei and His Successors.- How Far Away Are the Stars?.- The Scale of the Solar System.- Part 2: Physical Laws of Nature.- Newton.- Celestial Mechanics.- Nature of Light.- Electricity and Magnetism.- Time and Space.- Curved Space and Gravity.- Atoms and Nuclei.- Strange Microworld.- Elementary Particles.- Part 3: The Universe.- Stars: Cosmic Fusion Reactors.- The Riddle of the Milky Way.- Entering the Galaxy Universe.- Large-scale Structure of the Universe.- Finite or Infinite Universe: Cosmological Models.- When it all Began: Big Bang.- The Dark Side of the Universe.- Active Galaxies: Messages Through Radio Waves.- Origin of Galaxies.- Part 4: Life in the Universe.- The Nature of Life.- The Origin of Earth and its Moon.- Emergence and Evolution of Life.- Life and our Solar System.- Extrasolar Planetary Systems and Life in other Solar Systems.- Human's Role in the Universe.- Recommended Reading.- Index.