Facts and Speculations in Cosmology

Jayant V. Narlikar is Emeritus Professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India. Known for his work on cosmology, Narlikar served as President of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union (1994-97). Other books by Professor Narlikar include An Introduction to Cosmology (now in its third edition, 2002) and Current Issues in Cosmology (with Jean-Claude Pecker, 2006), both with Cambridge University Press. Geoffrey Burbidge is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California, San Diego. He is best known for his work on stellar nucleosynthesis and quasi-stellar objects. Professor Burbidge has been the recipient of several awards, most recently the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society with Margaret Burbidge. He co-authored A Different Approach to Cosmology (with Jayant Narlikar and Fred Hoyle, Cambridge University Press, released in paperback in 2005).

• 1. Ancient cosmologies; 2. The Greek epicycles; 3. Reaching out to the milky way; 4. Our position in the galaxy; 5. The world of galaxies; 6. The expanding universe; 7. Modelling the universe; 8. What is the geometry of the universe like?; 9. A universe without a beginning and without an end; 10. The cosmological debate 1950-1965; 11. The origin of the chemical elements; 12. Cosmic microwave background; 13. The very early universe; 14. Dark matter and dark energy; 15. An alternative cosmology; 16. Unfaced challenges in cosmology; 17. Epilogue.

'… a comprehensive romp through the basics of cosmology from ancient cosmologies via stellar evolution, nuclear synthesis and the observed expanding Universe to details of the standard Big Bang Theory.' The Observatory