Table of Contents
Preface xi
Chapter 1 On Science and Reality 1
1.1 Thinking a Century Ago 4
1.2 On Social, Empirical, and Circular Constructions 29
1.3 Philosophies of Science 35
1.4 The Working Assumptions of Physics 42
Chapter 2 The Social Nature of Physics 47
2.1 Multiples 47
2.2 Constructions 50
2.3 The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge 56
Chapter 3 The General Theory of Relativity 59
3.1 The Discovery 59
3.2 The Social Construction 65
3.3 The Early Tests 67
3.3.1 The Orbit of Mercury 67
3.3.2 Gravitational Redshift 69
3.3.3 Gravitational Deflection of Light 75
3.4 The Empirical Establishment 79
3.5 The Lessons 84
Chapter 4 Einstein's Cosmological Principle 86
4.1 Einstein's Homogeneous Static Universe 86
4.2 Evidence of Homogeneity 92
4.3 The Fractal Universe 97
4.4 Lessons 100
Chapter 5 The Hot Big Bang 103
5.1 Gamow's Hot Big Bang Cosmology 104
5.2 The Steady-State Cosmology 111
5.3 Fossils from the Big Bang: Helium 112
5.4 Fossils from the Big Bang: Radiation 119
5.4.1 Unexpected Excitation of Interstellar Cyanogen 119
5.4.2 Dicke's Quest 122
5.4.3 Unexpected Radiation in Bell Microwave Receivers 126
Chapter 6 The ACDM Theory 133
6.1 Initial Conditions 133
6.2 The Curvature of Space Sections 135
6.3 The Cosmological Constant 137
6.4 Inflation and Coincidences 144
6.5 Baryonic and Subluminal Matter 149
6.6 Dark Matter 154
6.7 The CDM Theory 159
6.8 The ACDM Theory 162
6.9 Confusion 164
6.10 Resolution 169
6.10.1 The Redshift-Magnitude Relation 169
6.10.2 Patterns in Distributions of Matter and Radiation 171
6.10.3 Quantitative Tests 175
Chapter 7 Lessons from a Scientific Advance 183
7.1 Discovery of the ACDM Theory Seems Inevitable 184
7.2 Constructions and the Science Wars 193
7.3 Multiples in the Discovery of ACDM 195
7.4 Questions 199
7.5 The Future 206
7.6 On Reality 207
References 217
Index 235