Synopses & Reviews
The captivating, all-but-forgotten story of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and the search for a planet that never existed.
For more than fifty years, the world’s top scientists searched for the
“missing” planet Vulcan, whose existence was mandated by Isaac Newton’s
theories of gravity. Countless hours were spent on the hunt for the
elusive orb, and some of the era’s most skilled astronomers even claimed
to have found it.
There was just one problem: It was never there.
In The Hunt for Vulcan,
Thomas Levenson follows the visionary scientists who inhabit the story
of the phantom planet, starting with Isaac Newton, who in 1687 provided
an explanation for all matter in motion throughout the universe, leading
to Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier, who almost two centuries later built
on Newton’s theories and discovered Neptune, becoming the most famous
scientist in the world. Le Verrier attempted to surpass that triumph by
predicting the existence of yet another planet in our solar system,
Vulcan.
It took Albert Einstein to discern that the mystery of
the missing planet was a problem not of measurements or math but of
Newton’s theory of gravity itself. Einstein’s general theory of
relativity proved that Vulcan did not and could not exist, and that the
search for it had merely been a quirk of operating under the wrong set
of assumptions about the universe. Levenson tells the previously untold
tale of how the “discovery” of Vulcan in the nineteenth century set the
stage for Einstein’s monumental breakthrough, the greatest individual
intellectual achievement of the twentieth century.
A dramatic human story of an epic quest, The Hunt for Vulcan
offers insight into how science really advances (as opposed to the way
we’re taught about it in school) and how the best work of the greatest
scientists reveals an artist’s sensibility. Opening a new window onto
our world, Levenson illuminates some of our most iconic ideas as he
recounts one of the strangest episodes in the history of science.
Review
“The Hunt for Vulcan is science writing at its best. This book is not just learned, passionate, and witty — it is profoundly wise.” Junot Díaz
Review
“Levenson’s brilliance as a writer is in setting the evolution of
scientific ideas into their appropriate historical contexts, allowing us
to see their wider implications.” Lisa Randall, professor of physics, Harvard University, and author of Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs
Review
“The forgotten story of Vulcan could no longer remain untold. Levenson
tells us where it came from, how it vanished, and why its spirit lurks
today. Along the way, we learn more than a bit of just how science
works — when it succeeds as well as when it fails.” Neil deGrasse Tyson
Review
“The Hunt for Vulcan is equal to the best science writing I’ve
read anywhere, by any author. Beautifully composed, rich in historical
context, deeply researched, it is, above all, great storytelling.
Levenson gives a true picture of the scientific enterprise, with all its
good and bad guesses, wishful thinking, passion, human ego, and desire
to know and understand this strange and magnificent cosmos we find
ourselves in.” Alan Lightman, author of The Accidental Universe
Review
“This delightful and enlightening drama tells the story of the hunt for a
planet that did not exist and how Einstein resolved the mystery with
the most beautiful theory in the history of science. The Hunt for Vulcan is an inspiring tale about the quest for discovery and the challenges and joys of understanding our universe.” Walter Isaacson
About the Author
Thomas Levenson is a professor at MIT and head of its science writing program. He is the author of several books, including Einstein in Berlin and Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist. He has also made ten feature-length documentaries (including a two-hour Nova program on Einstein) for which he has won numerous awards.
Thomas Levenson on PowellsBooks.Blog
In the middle of November 1915, Albert Einstein was hard at work. He would later say he never labored more intensely than he did that autumn. Since the beginning of October, he'd been wrestling with what would become his greatest discovery, what we now call the General Theory of Relativity...
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