The Enchantment of Urania

25 Centuries of Exploraton of the Sky

Massimo Capaccioli University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Key Features

• Scientfc stories told in a captvatng wa , connected to each other b the thread o the general histor in order to give a contnuous resco o the evoluton o science in the conte t o the evoluton o the human civili aton

Descripton

Today we know much about the sky: how stars are born, how they live and die, and how the universe as a whole evolves. We have learned o the e istence o another t pe o ma er, indi erent to light and et decisive or the ormaton o gala ies, and we have a hint o a dark energ that since the last 4.5 billion ears has taken over the control o the cosmos. We postulated and then discovered and even photographed black holes and listened to the aint rustle o the space tme ripple produced when these monsters devour each other. We reached these astonishing results (recogni ed b a bunch o obel Pri es and flling ever da the media with wonders or the e es and the mind) b the marriage o ph sics and astronom that unifed the Earth with the sk and then b the leap orward o science and technolog in the wenteth Centur . his rich heritage has ancient roots. t was built b accumulatng discoveries with errors, observatons with antasies, m ths, and supersttons with ashes o genius, over a span o millennia, since Homo sapiens, turning his e es to the immutable and per ect sk , began to ask uestons.

he book is a narraton o the answers to these uestons that had evolved over tme a progressive path, inserted in the general histor , with some second thoughts and man obstacles. his is a saga o men and machines where greatness sometmes mi es with miser and passion o en borders on sacrifce and even mart rdom. Wh should we know it ecause our current knowledge is the result o these e orts and o the preconceptons that accompanied them.

he challenge has been to present this comple and intricate sub ect without resortng to an ormulas, so that it can be accessible to a wide audience o curious people, including high school and universit students and in general all those who normall keep themselves in ormed o scientfc things. rich bibliograph has also been added in the appendi or those wishing to learn more on one or more topics.

Author

Massimo Capaccioli has served as pro essor o astronom at the Universites o Padua and then o aples ederico , where he is currentl emeritus. He has investgated the d namics and evoluton o stellar s stems and the observatonal cosmolog and published over 550 scientfc artcles in internatonal ournals (citatons 3,740, H inde 58 source S ul 202 ). s a long tme director o the Capodimonte stronomical bservator in aples, he has conceived and managed, in s nerg with the European Southern bservator (ES ), the constructon o the L Surve elescope ( S ), one o the largest re ectors ull dedicated to astronomical surve s. He has chaired the talian stronomical Societ (S t) or a decade and or a three ear turn the atonal Societ o Sciences, Le ers, and rts in aples. ournalist and passionate publicist, he has collaborated with various talian newspapers and with the natonal public broadcastng compan o tal ( ). He has authored both universit te tbooks and popular books (mostl in talian), including rminio obile and the easurement o the Sk (Springer 20 2, with S Galano), ille o e. Stories rom the other world ( editerranean 20 8), ed oon. he Soviet con uest o space (Carocci 20 9), and he Enchantment o Urania 25 centuries o e ploratons o the sk (Carocci 2020), nce upon the tme in the sk . 30 short astronomical stories (Carocci 202 ). he list o his honors includes the ttle o Commander o the talian epublic or scientfc merits (2005), the honorar pro essorship granted b the Universit o oscow Lomonosov in 20 0, the honorar doctorate b the Universites o ubna ( ussia, 20 5), Kharkiv (Ukraine, 20 7), and P atgorsk ( ussia, 20 9), and the medals Struve (20 0 ussian cadem o Sciences), acchini (20 3 S t), Kara in (20 9 Kara in Universit , Kharkiv, Ukraine), and Gamov (20 9 Universit o dessa, Ukraine). He is a member o some academies in tal , o the cademia Europaea and o the atonal cadem o Ukraine.

February 2023

£85 | HARDCOVER 978-981-124-777-4

£40 | S C E 978-981-124-927-3

Imprint: World Scientfc Publishing Compan

Extent: 550pp

Type: Popular ook

Main Subject: Ph sics

Sub-Subjects: stronom , stroph sics nd Cosmolog ( ncluding Geoph sics) Histor Science

Keywords: Stars Sun Earth Gala ies

Universe lack Holes ark Energ ark a er ncient stronom Greek stronom Histor o stronom Cosmolog Cosmogon stronomical nstruments

Readership: his is accessible to a wide audience o curious people, including high school and universit students and in general all those who normall keep themselves in ormed o scientfc things

Contents

• Pre ace

• ntroducton

• With the aked E e

• n ntrovert, a eactonar , and a isionar

• he Glass E e

• he Heroic ur

• he Celestal Laborator Cassini, Hu gens and radle

• irror o esires

• e ond the Pillar o Hercules

• he C clops

• Stop ime

• he Harmon o Light

• he eter and the easure

• ew World S mphon

• he undamental uilding locks

• he Eighth Wonder

• he Sun and the ther Stars

• stroph sics at the ime o the Cold War

• bserving with Closed E es

• he Last Hal Centur ad maiora

• cknowledgements

• ibliograph and otes

Mesoscopic Nuclear Physics

From Nucleus to Quantum Chaos to Quantum Signal Transmission

Vladimir Zelevinsky Michigan State University, USA

Alexander Volya Florida State University, USA

Key Features

• here are no competng books (onl ournal artcles)

• he treatment combines nuclear ph sics, statstcal thermod namics, mathematcs o random matrices, and simple engineering schemes o possible applicatons

• he authors have signifcant e perience in practcal universit teaching and publishing te tbooks

Descripton

This book summarizes the recent development of nuclear science as an important part of mesoscopic physics, the intermediate world between the macroscopic and microscopic. his ast developing area with man practcal applicatons includes comple atoms, molecules (including biological), nuclei, small scale solid state s stems, and uture uantum computers. he comple it o the problem appears due to the richness o problems, rom the necessit to stud individual uantum levels, to the undamental eatures o statstcs and thermod namics.

February 2023

£55 | HARDCOVER 978-981-126-314-9

Imprint: World Scientfc Publishing Compan

Extent: 60pp

Type: onograph ( reat s e tbook)

Main Subject: Ph sics

Sub-Subjects: uclear Ph sics

Keywords: uclei sotopes Pairing Chaotc Ensembles Parit iolaton Superradiance

Readership: he book could be use ul or the reader interested in the current evoluton o science, on all levels rom a student to a practtoner working in di erent areas o ph sics and engineering

• ntroducton

• ucleus as a esoscopic b ect

• an od uclear Comple it

• Statstcal Ensembles

• Shell odel as a estng Ground or uantum Chaos

• ucleus as an pen S stem

• uantum Signal ransmission

• e erences