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Under The Microscope

OUR EVOLVING UNIVERSE by Malcolm S. Longair; Cambridge University Press, 1996; 185 pp; $41.95 (paperback)

Reviewed by Dr William Tobin

London's Royal Institution is a venerable organisation, founded in 1799 by the colourful Count Rumford "for the dual purpose of research and exposition." Faraday's electrical discoveries in the Institution's laboratories are a shining example of the former purpose; the Christmas Lectures for Young Persons, which since the 1960s have been televised, are an embodiment of the latter. It is a mark of a scientist's clarity of expression and enthusiasm, as well as scientific merit, to be invited to deliver the Christmas Lectures.

Malcolm Longair, onetime Astronomer Royal for Scotland, is Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy in Cambridge, England. Our Evolving Universe is based on, and updates, the Christmas Lectures he gave in 1990. Longair reviews of all of astrophysics from stars to the universe itself. This recipe underlies many popular astronomy books, but what sets Our Evolving Universe apart is its strongly physical approach: application of physical law is the key to understanding the material universe. Another attraction is its obvious authorship by a research scientist who has grappled with the problems described.

When Longair began research in astronomy in 1963, his supervisor warned him that "There are only 2 1/2 facts in cosmology," the half-fact being the probable evolution of the universe indicated by radio-source counts. That the universe is evolving is now a certainty (whence the book's title), and the 2 1/2 facts have grown to nine.

Our Evolving Universe is commendably concise and attractively illustrated (it is splendid to see pictures of the many satellite observatories which have contributed so importantly to enlarging our conception of the universe). It is a worthly successor to that classic of 19th-century science popularization, The Chemical History of a Candle, based on Faraday's own Christmas Lectures of 1860-61.