Into the Cosmos
How we learned the size, age and strangeness of the universe, and how we first reached into it.
- space
- astronomy
- science
Some of the stories included
- Henrietta Leavitt's Cosmic YardstickHow a quiet astronomer cataloging stars on photographic plates created a tool that measured the universe and changed astronomy forever.
Black HolesExplore black holes, from their prediction by Karl Schwarzschild on WWI front lines to the first-ever photo of M87*’s event horizon.
GalileoIn 1609, Galileo Galilei's telescope revealed a new cosmos, leading to a clash with the Church that would define an era of science.
Katherine Johnson and the Apollo 11 TrajectoryThe career of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who calculated flight paths for Alan Shepard, checked John Glenn's orbit and worked on Apollo trajectories and backup navigation.
Exoplanets: The Hunt for Seven New WorldsThe story of finding new planets, from the 1995 discovery of 51 Pegasi b to the seven Earth-sized worlds of TRAPPIST-1.
Annie Jump Cannon and the Harvard ComputersAnnie Jump Cannon and the Harvard 'Computers' classified hundreds of thousands of stars, creating a system astronomers still use today.
The Big Bang TheoryHow scientists worked out that the universe began in a hot, dense state, from Hubble's expanding galaxies to the cosmic microwave background and the COBE satellite's 1992 map.
The Space RaceFrom Sputnik to the Moon, two superpowers raced into space. The journey included the first human orbit and ended with a handshake in space.
More like this
ArchimedesDiscover how Archimedes moved ships with pulleys, calculated pi with 96-sided shapes, and defended Syracuse.
The Formation of the Grand CanyonHow the Grand Canyon formed: nearly two billion years of rock, a rising plateau and the Colorado River cutting down through it.
The History of Forensic ScienceHow forensic science learned to identify criminals, from the first reliable arsenic test and Bertillon's body measurements to fingerprinting, blood typing and Alec Jeffreys' discovery of DNA profiling.
The San Andreas Fault: California's Sleeping GiantThe San Andreas Fault, the boundary where two tectonic plates grind past each other beneath California, and why scientists expect another big earthquake.
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