The twentieth century witnessed the birth of revolutionary ideas in the phys- ical sciences. These ideas began to shake the traditional view of the universe dating back to the days of Newton, even to the days of Galileo. Albert Ein- stein is usually identified as the creator of the relativity theory, a theory that is used to model the...

This dictionary is one of a series designed for use in schools. It is intended for students of chemistry, but we hope that it will also be helpful to other science students and to anyone interested in science. Facts On File also publishes dictionaries in a variety of disciplines, including biology, physics, mathematics, forensic science,...

Biology is based on the fundamental laws of nature embodied in chemistry and physics, but the origin and evolution of life on earth were historical events. This makes biology more like astronomy than like chemistry and physics. Neither the organization of the universe nor life as we know it had to evolve as it did. Chance played a central...

Planetary Science is an exciting, fast-moving, interdisciplinary field with courses taught in a wide range of departments, including astronomy, physics, chemistry, earth sciences and biology. Planets and Planetary Systems is a well-written, concise introductory textbook on the science of planets within our own and other solar...

"Fixed-Point Algorithms for Inverse Problems in Science and Engineering" presents some of the most recent work from top-notch researchers studying projection and other first-order fixed-point algorithms in several areas of mathematics and the applied sciences. The material presented provides a survey of the state-of-the-art...

Measuring the spin distribution of supermassive black holes is of critical importance for understanding how these black holes and their host galaxies form and evolve over time, yet this type of study is only in its infancy.  This brief describes how astronomers measure spin in supermassive black holes using X-ray...

Amateur astronomers interested in learning more about astronomical spectroscopy now have the guide they need. It provides detailed information about how to get started inexpensively with low-resolution spectroscopy, and then how to move on to more advanced  high-resolution spectroscopy. Uniquely, the instructions concentrate very much on...