How The Universe Got Its Spots. Diary Of A Finite Time In A Finite Space

224 Pages·2002·5.35 MB·English

by  Janna Levin

More praise for
HOW THE UNIVERSE GOT ITS SPOTS
“Gives a personal resonance to scientists’ attempts to understand the
mysteries of the universe.”
— Washington Post
“Levin not only tours the wilder reaches of cosmology,
but she also bares her soul.”
— New Scientist
“Levin interweaves enlightening insights into the most profound enigmas
of space, time and infinity with reflections on her strug gle to balance her
personal and professional lives. The result suggests a blend of Zen and
the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The History of Time.”
— DAN KINCAID, Arizona Republic
“Levin unpacks the technicalities with a skill honed from giving many lectures
on the subject, and it is fascinating to read. . . . A book to be applauded.”
— ANDREW CRUMEY, The Scotsman
“The intellectual- emotional balance, and the finely tuned prose, are what
makes this dif er ent from the very many other books on cosmology.
And Levin has found an in ter est ing way to do this; the book is in
the form of letters to her mother.”
— Globe and Mail
“[A] touchingly personal account.”
— JIM McCLEAN, The Herald (Glasgow)
“A genuine attempt to break down barriers, both intellectual and emotional,
between scientists and their wished- for audience.”
— KEN GRIMES and ALISON BOYLE, Astronomy
“If the universe is infinite, then its possibilities are infinite as well. But in
How the Universe Got Its Spots, the astrophysicist Janna Levin insists that infinity
works as a hy po thet i cal concept only, and that it is not found in nature.”
— LAUREN PORCARO, The New Yorker
“Although we’re tantalizingly close to the answer, we still don’t know if our
universe is infinite or finite. Janna Levin, one of the bright young stars on the
interface between topology (the study of shapes) and cosmology, describes
her eforts to look for the signatures of a finite universe and ofers
the reader a unique insight into her life and inner thoughts.”
— DAVID SPERGEL, Prince ton University
“Janna Levin is one of the most talented and original of the young
cosmologists, and her book combines a tour of the frontiers of cosmology
with an intimate account of her strug gles to reconcile the demands of a
scientific career with the demands of the heart. No other scientist has yet
had the courage to write such an honest and personal account of
what it is like to live the life of a scientist.”
— LEE SMOLIN, author of The Life of the Cosmos and 
Three Roads to Quantum Gravity
“This is a totally charming piece of work. A memoir of one very talented
young woman, it layers her personal odyssey and bits of science like an exotic
piece of intellectual/personal pastry. The attitude toward the subject is that of
the artist: feelings matter, pictures matter, intuitions matter. Levin’s book is a
wonderful read that introduces current science from an odd angle in a lively,
accessible, and engaging fashion. I have never read a book like it.”
— JEREMIAH P. OSTRIKER, Cambridge University
HOW THE
U N I V E R S E
GOT ITS SPOTS
HOW THE
U N I V E R S E
GOT ITS SPOTS
DIARY OF A FINITE TIME IN A FINITE SPACE
Janna Levin
With a new preface by the author
Princeton Oxford
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Published in the United States, Canada, and the Philippine
Islands by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
First published in Great Britain in 2002 by
Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd, London
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Islands by PrPianpceertobanc Uk nISivBeNrs i9t7y8 P0r6e9s1s2, 34212 W70illiam Street,
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permission of the copyright owner.
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The moral right of Janna Levin to be identified as
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the author of this work has been asserted in accordance
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am so grateful to everyone who took care of me in California and in
New York especially Angelina de Antonis, Jason Coleman, Alene
Dawson, Nancy Eastep, Sean Hayes, Eno Jackson, Rory Kelly, Prudence
Longaker, Sean McGuire, Sylvie Myerson, Diane Olivier, Ruthonly, Sara
Jane Parsons, Karen Rait, Andy Rasmussen, Will Waghorn, the San
Francisco drawing group, and everyone in the Oakland commune.
Thanks to Warren Malone for providing so much material and to all the
support in London from Bergit Arends, Jaki Arthur, Paul Bonaventura,
Bernard Carr, Sarah Dunant, Siân Ede, Pedro Ferreira, Jem Finer,
Na’ama Gidron, Jonathan Halliwell, Annabell Huxley, Chris Isham,
Mark Lythgoe, Joao Magueijo, Sallie Robbins, Valerie Rosewell, Lee
Smolin, Richard Wentworth, Tom Wharton, Pitt Wuehrl, PPARC,
DAMTP, the CfPA, and the Theoretical Physics Group at Imperial
College, the sci/art community, and everyone on the fourth, Brian
Deegan, Eric Jorrin, Whitney Hanscom, Ben McLaughlin, Tim Williams
and Blast Theory, and to my friends and colleagues I have worked with
and who have taught me so much about topology and cosmology, John
Barrow, Dick Bond, Neil Cornish, Giancarlo de Gasperis, Imogen
Heard, Jean-Pierre Luminet, Dmitry Pogosyan, David Spergel, Glenn
Starkman, Evan Scannapieco, Joe Silk, George Smoot, Tarun Souradeep
and Jeff Weeks. Forgive me anyone I have carelessly omitted. I am espe-
cially grateful to my editor Peter Tallack for his insight and vision. I
don’t know how to acknowledge the seemingly endless support of my
family. Thank you Leslie Levin for not letting me back down. Thank you
John Hibbard, Ari and Jack Hibbard, Stacey and Cami Levin, the
Jacobsons, the Kavins, the Levins and Eve Jacobson, and most of all
Sandy and Richard Levin.