Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science - Softcover

"A collection of provocative (and coordinated) essays that takes the readers through several centuries of scientific enlightenment . . . the writing is so smooth and enjoyable, you may forget that there's a scholarly heart within." -- Dennis di Cicco - Sky and Telescope

We live in a visual age-an age of images; iconic, instant, and influential. In this remarkable book, John D. Barrow traces their history in order to tell the story of modern science. Some images, such as Robert Hooke's first microscopic views of the natural world or the stunning images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, were made possible by our new technical capabilities. Others, such as the first graph, were breathtakingly simple but perennially useful. Many of these images have shattered our preconceptions about the limits and nature of existence, and together they reveal something of the beauty and truth of the universe, and why, so often, a picture is better than a thousand words.