The Expanding Universe

by Arthur Eddington

Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only

Written
1933
Language
English
Length
Short · 130 ppunder 120 pages
Difficulty
Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader

We recommendThe Expanding UniverseCambridge University Press, 1987The Cambridge Science Classics reprint of Eddington's text, with a short foreword on how the picture has changed.

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Based on a lecture given in 1932, Eddington's book explains for a general reader the discovery that the distant galaxies are receding from us at speeds proportional to their distance, and interprets it through Einstein's general relativity and the models of Lemaître and de Sitter. He describes the measurements of Hubble and Slipher, the cosmological constant, the age and size of the universe implied, and the spectroscopic evidence, and speculates on the connection between cosmic expansion and the constants of atomic physics.

No reading guide yet

The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Expanding Universe are verified against each program's published list.

What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.

Browse the 48 works that do have a guide →

Expanding Universe, expanding universe, Hubble, Lemaître, general relativity, cosmological constant, galaxies, red shift, cosmology, Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, A. S. Eddington