Unfortunately, new astronomical findings failed toįit this design. Of celestial movements, Eudoxus envisioned the stars and planets as fastened to a series of invisible concentric spheres, with a motionless earth poised prominently in the center. Anxious to craft a model that could make accurate predictions
at Plato's Academy, where the geometer Eudoxus surmised that the firmament was more than an inverted bowl through which the fires of the gods flickered. The inauguration of humanity's passage into cosmological adulthood began in the fourthĬentury B.C.
Ferris, who teaches science writingĪt the University of California, Berkeley, is a master analogist who conveys his insights on the history of cosmology with a lyrical flair. In most popular cosmology books, which lately have tended to highlight speculations of the present without reference to the many yesterdays of astronomy. With this work, 12 years in the making, he provides a perspective missing Ferris established a reputation as one of astronomy's poets laureate. With his earlier books ''The Red Limit'' and ''Galaxies,'' Mr. Us from the shores of the Mediterranean, where the second-century astronomer Claudius Ptolemy fashioned his creaky celestial spheres, to modern-day research institutes where theorists contemplate this and other universes bubbling out It is an exhilarating, wide-ranging journey that takes The human species to the vastness of our cosmos and shows us how each time the model of the universe was altered, tremors rumbled through such realms as theology and politics. ''Coming of Age,'' aptly titled, chronicles this awakening of Over the centuries, the Egyptians' low-ceilinged sky expanded outward more than 10 billion light years, a size that the ancients would have found incomprehensible. Lusting to perfect this capability, astronomers of antiquity were driven to try to discern the true nature of the Recognize that there was power in knowing the stars, which allowed them to predict when to plant and when to harvest. ''Coming of Age in the Milky Way,'' ''as proximate as a mother bending to kiss a sleeping child.'' And by carefully keeping track of lunar cycles and stellar motions, clever observers came to ''The gigantic Egyptian constellations hovered close over humankind,'' Timothy Ferris writes in $19.95.įor ancient farmers planting their first crops in the rich deposits of the Euphrates and Nile rivers, the heavens were almost touchable. Section 7, Column 2 Book Review Deskīy MARCIA BARTUSIAK Marcia Bartusiak, the author of ''Thursday's Universe,'' is a freelance writer on astrophysics and astronomy.ĬOMING OF AGE IN THE MILKY WAY By Timothy Ferris. July 17, 1988, Sunday, Late City Final Edition
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