Product Description

The authoritative story of the headline-making discovery of gravitational wavesby an eminent theoretical astrophysicist and award-winning writer.


From the author of How the Universe Got Its Spots and A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines the epic story of the scientific campaign to record the soundtrack of our universe.
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Black holes are dark. That is their essence. When black holes collide they will do so unilluminated. Yet the black hole collision is an event more powerful than any since the origin of the universe. The profusion of energy will emanate as waves in the shape of spacetime: gravitational waves. No telescope will ever record the event; instead the only evidence would be the sound of spacetime ringing. In 1916 Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves his top priority after he proposed his theory of curved spacetime. One century later we are recording the first sounds from space the soundtrack to accompany astronomys silent movie.

In Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space Janna Levin recounts the fascinating story of the obsessions?? the aspirations?? and the trials of the scientists who embarked on an arduous?? fifty-year endeavor to capture these elus