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Author Peebles, P. J. E. (Phillip James Edwin), author.

Title The whole truth : a cosmologist's reflections on the search for objective reality / P.J.E. Peebles.

Publication Info. Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2022]

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 New Britain, Main Library - Non Fiction  501 PEE    Check Shelf
 Windsor, Main Library - Adult Department  501 PE    Check Shelf
Description xxi, 241 pages ; 25 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-233) and index.
Contents On science and reality -- The social nature of physics -- The general theory of relativity -- Einstein's cosmological principle -- The hot big bang -- The [Lambda]CDM theory -- Lessons from a scientific advance.
Summary "What lies at the heart of physical inquiry? What are the foundational ideas and working assumptions that inform the enterprise of natural science? What principles guide research? How do scientists decide whether they are building theories in the right direction? Is there a right direction? Do physical theories actually approximate an objective reality, or are they simply useful summaries, mnemonics for experimental results? This book is Nobel Prize winner Jim Peebles's contribution to such big, classic debates in the philosophy of science, drawing on a lifetime of experience as a leading physicist and taking the development of physical cosmology as a "worked example." He begins with a consideration of the history of thought about the nature of the physical sciences since Einstein, culminating in a succinct statement of what he sees as the fundamental working assumptions of physics. Then, through a careful examination of the development of the general theory of relativity, Einstein's cosmological principle, the big bang theory, and our current model of the universe, he makes the argument that physical theories ultimately are useful approximations to an objective reality whose nature science is discovering. An essential reflection on and interrogation of the nature and practice of science by a giant in the field, The Whole Truth will be illuminating reading for cosmologists, physicists, and historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science alike"-- Provided by publisher.
Subject Science -- Philosophy.
Physics.
Cosmology.
Reality.
Physics (DNLM)D010825
physics. (CStmoGRI)aat300054559
cosmology. (CStmoGRI)aat300054294
SCIENCE / Space Science / Cosmology.
SCIENCE / History.
Cosmology. (OCoLC)fst00880600
Physics. (OCoLC)fst01063025
Reality. (OCoLC)fst01091244
Science -- Philosophy. (OCoLC)fst01108336
Other Form: Online version: Peebles, P. J. E. (Phillip James Edwin) Whole truth Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2022] 9780691231365 (DLC) 2021051639
ISBN 9780691231358 hardcover
0691231354 hardcover
9780691231365 electronic book
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