Overview
- Enthralling life story of one of the most remarkable astrophysicists of the second half of the twentieth century who explained pulsars as rotating neutron stars
- With intriguing anecdotes revealing Gold’s scientific curiosity and deep understanding of physics
- Carefully edited by the author of the biography of Sir Fred Hoyle
- With a Foreword by Freeman Dyson
- Published under the auspices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Illustrated with photographs, many never previously published
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library (ASSL, volume 381)
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Thomas Gold (1920-2004) had a curious mind that liked to solve problems. He was one of the most remarkable astrophysicists in the second half of the twentieth century, and he attracted controversy throughout his career. Based on a full-length autobiography left behind by Thomas Gold, this book was edited by the astrophysicist and historian of science, Simon Mitton (University of Cambridge).
The book is a retrospective on Gold’s remarkable life. He fled from Vienna in 1933, eventually settling in England and completing an engineering degree at Trinity College in Cambridge. During the war, he worked on naval radar research alongside Fred Hoyle and Hermann Bondi – which, in an unlikely chain of events, eventually led to his working with them on steady-state cosmology. In 1968, shortly after their discovery, he provided the explanation of pulsars as rotating neutron stars.
In his final position at Cornell, he and his colleagues persuaded the US Defense Department to fund theconversion of the giant radio telescope at Arecibo in Puerto Rico into a superb instrument for radio astronomy. Gold’s interests covered physiology, astronomy, cosmology, geophysics, and engineering.
Written in an intriguing style and with an equally intriguing foreword by Freeman Dyson, this book constitutes an important historical document, made accessible to all those interested in the history of science.
Reviews
“Gold discusses cosmology in three relatively brief sections of Taking the Back Off the Watch: A Personal Memoir. … Taking the Back Off the Watch is likely to prove a useful source for historians of science of the post-World War II period.” (Robert W. Smith, ISIS, Vol. 106 (2), June, 2015)
Authors, Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Taking the Back off the Watch
Book Subtitle: A Personal Memoir
Authors: Thomas Gold
Editors: Simon Mitton
Series Title: Astrophysics and Space Science Library
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27588-3
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-27587-6Published: 24 May 2012
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-43246-0Published: 11 June 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-27588-3Published: 23 May 2012
Series ISSN: 0067-0057
Series E-ISSN: 2214-7985
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 234
Additional Information: Jointly published with the Royal Astronomical Society
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology, History of Science, Mineral Resources