A discussion of the synthesis of quantum physics with cosmology - the book begins with the discoveries of William Herschel and continues through the post-Einsteinian speculations of our current day. The breadth of his presentation is impressive with plenty to consider regarding the universe from beginning to imagined end. ( )

Perfect Symmetry takes us to the frontier of scientific thinking, to the state of the universe before the big bang (a time before the first one-billionth of a second) and before that to the creation of the universe out of absolutely nothing. Dr. Heinz Pagels, Executive Director of the New York Academy of Sciences, writes with unmatchable elegance about the complex questions raised by the new physics. Perfect Symmetry presages a time in the near future when physicists will attain total understanding of the origin and nature of the universe and its evolution thus achieving a new outlook on the creation of existience. Pagels emphasizes the new astronomical discoveries gained throught the use of radio telescopes and earth-orbiting satellites. Up-to-the-minute details on the newest scientific findings give the reader a picture of what the unverse really looks like-the stars or black holes; the structure and evolution of galaxies; and quasars and their distribution in space in the form of custers and superclusters. The theme of this beautifully written book is the exciting new intellectual synthesis of quantum physics-the study of the microcosm-with cosmology-the study of the macrocosm. Without using mathematical language, Pagels illumines the most revolutionalry ideas in modern physics. There is a full presentation of the quantum-field theory and the recent view that matter is made up of quarks, leptons and gluons. This understanding of quantum particles and broken symmetries gives us a glimpse of the big bang the beginning of the universe. Today physicists have carried these indeas even further, and Pagels explores their speculations on the state of the universe before the big bang. These physicists are thinking about the existence of an 'inflationary epoch' during which the unverse expanded immensely, an epoch of cosmic evolution, which may provide the answer to the origin of the galaxies; and they are examining (and devising models to describe) the creation of the universe-a world without space, time or matter. Pagels holds the view that someday soon physicists will understand the origin of our universe and its subsequent evoluton as well as we understand stars today. Heinz Pagels is that rarest of scientist/writers one who can make comprehensible to the layman the most complex of ideas, synthesize disciplines to create more than an overview, and bridge the gap to make science read like art. Heinz R. Pagels is Executive Director of the New York Academy of Scineces and Adjunct Professor at the Rockefeller University. He is the author of The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature. Dr. Pagels lives in Manhattan with his wife, the historian Elaine Pagels, and their son, Mark. Contents Foreword One Herschel's garden 1 Herschel's garden 2 The birth and life of stars 3 The death of stars: astronecroscopy 4 The discovery of galaxies 5 Radio galaxies and quasars 6 Why is the universe lumpy? Two the early universe 1 The early universe 2 Fields, quanta and symmetry 3 The standard model 4 Thermodynamics and cosmology 5 The big bang Three Wild Ideas 1 Unified-field theories 2 Magnetic monopoles 3 Unifying gravity 4 Before the big bang: the inflationary universe 5 Before inflation: The origin of the universe

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