Life Science Library: Time by Samuel A Goudsmit and Robert Claiborne (Color Illustrated Hardcover)

Description

What is time? Any child knows the answer, and yet even the most advanced theoretical physicist is hard put for a fully satisfactory definition. He cannot say for certain when time started, when will it end or even if really exists in a philosophical sense. Yet the measurement of time is the basis of all science, for the scientist can study only what changes with time. Astronomers char the history of the universe in “big time” the passage of billions of years. Physicists and engineers subdivide “little time” into billionth of a second. Biologists have discovered that animals and plants measure time, too – that even the lowliest single-celled organism depends on biological clocks to keep themselves synchronized internally and externally. This book explores all of these facets of the meaning of time.

Each chapter is followed by a supplementary picture essay which may be read independently. For instance, Chapter 4, which explores the history of man’s search for more accurate clocks, is followed by an essay which explains how several of the earliest clocks worked.