Marcelo Gleiser
The Prophet and the Astronomer
A Scientific Journey to the End of Time
An astrophysicist guides us through the celestial apocalypse, from Revelations to the Big Crunch.
From the beginning of time people have looked to the heavens to find order in
the universe, to divine meaning and direction from celestial events. The same
skies that used to instill fear in our ancient prophets today spawn a rich
apocalyptic science for awestruck stargazers.
This remarkable book explores the shared quest of prophets and
astronomers to explain the strange phenomena of our skies—from the
apocalypse foretold in Revelations to modern science's ongoing identification
of multiple cataclysmic threats, including the impact of comets and asteroids
on earthly life; the likelihood of future collisions; the meaning of solar
eclipses and the death of stars; the implications of black holes for time
travel; and the ultimate fate of the universe and of time. 30 illustrations.
Marcelo Gleiser is the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and
professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College and the author of
The Dancing Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang.
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