Nothing: A Very Short Introduction

This short, smart book tells you everything you need to know about nothing. What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space--nothing--exist? To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there. Readers will find an enlightening history of the vacuum: how the efforts to make a better vacuum led to the discovery of the electron; the ideas of Newton, Mach, and Einstein on the nature of space and time; the mysterious aether and how Einstein did away with it; and the latest ideas that the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field. The story ranges from the absolute zero of temperature and the seething vacuum of virtual particles and anti-particles that fills space, to the extreme heat and energy of the early universe.

About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.


Author: Frank Close
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 07/26/2009
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 6.80h x 4.30w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9780199225866
ISBN10: 0199225869
BISAC Categories:
- Philosophy | Movements | Existentialism
- Philosophy | Metaphysics
- Science | Physics | General

About the Author

Frank Close, OBE, is Professor of Physics at Oxford University and a Fellow of Exeter College and was formerly vice president of the British Association for Advancement of Science.