And there was light : the discovery of the universe

Knopf, 1957. hardcover. Very Good. 9x6x1. Near fine. Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Clean, unmarked pages. Dust jacket in protective mylar cover. 415 pages illustrations 25 cm. Contents:Mystic childhood : Ancient theories : The displaced zodiac and the beginnings of astronomy ; The duty of the son of heaven: orientation ; Time was once relative ; The external problems of the calendarGift from Babylon : The wrath of heaven ; Stargazing and star-reading ; The eyes of the gods ; Picture writing in the sky ; The origin of the horoscope ; Irresistible magicThe Greek cosmos : Theories of the universe ; Harmony of the spheres ; The birth of science ; The triumph of theoryFaded firmament : Why Mohammed needed astronomers ; Christianity and astrology ; Cosmic anxiety of the middle ages ; Dawn of realismHeroic youth : Copernicus the humanist : An everlasting student ; Ten thousand celestial circles ; Center of the universe ; The planetary loops ; The activities of a canonAn observer and a prophet : Theory and practice ; The first observatory ; Heirs in China ; The last flowering of astrology ; Into infinityKepler the god-seeker : Reflection of the spirit of God ; Ptolemy’s overthrow ; Varying speeds of the planets ; Trip to the moon ; Wife seeking, wine-cask reckoning, witch trial ; Reform of astrology; music of the spheresGalileo the pathfinder : Experiments ; The sky in the telescope ; “But it does move” ; Inquisition ; Wordless thoughtsThe maturing cosmology : The sun king’s republic of scholars : An observatory fire in Danzig ; Instruments ; Circumference of the earth ; Distance of the sun, speed of light ; Mynheer Huygen’s compelling logicMonarch Newton : The many-colored sun ; The falling moon ; Ocean of truth ; Sir Isaac’s parliamentThree generations at Greenwich : An observatory to solve a navigation problem ; The gentleman astronomer ; Wobbly earth, wobbly starsPerspective, prospect, retrospect : The galactic island ; Future of the solar system ; Evolution of the planetsThe adventurous amateurs : Herschel’s plunge into space : The seventh planet ; Double stars, star clusters, and nebulae ; The sun’s orbit ; Sounding the depths of spaceExplorations in the solar system : Minor planets fill a gap ; Encke’s comet and the home of comets ; Death of comets ; Meteor swarms ; Life on Mars? ; An event on the moon ; Sunspot periods ; Protuberances and coronaTriumph of precision : The perfect telescope ; Spectral lines and wave lengths ; Solitude of the stars ; The leviathan and the rival discoverers ; The deviation of Mercury; the discovery of NeptuneProblems of Genesis : How Saturn’s rings originated ; The birth of planets ; Bombs on the moonRejuvenation : Organization and technology : Astronomy becomes astrophysics ; The camera revolution ; Planned research, and the two rivers of stars ; The American spiritFabulous spectrum analysis : Light and dark lines ; The chemistry of celestial bodies ; A stellar thermometer ; Dust in the Milky Way ; A stellar speedometer ; The diffusion of metals ; Modern fables of the starsThe revelations of photometry : Lighthouses and glowworms ; Variable stars ; Milestones of the galaxy ; Giants and dwarfs ; Novae and the evolution of stars ; SupernovaeRevolutionary theory : Is anything at rest in the universe? ; Space-time continuum ; Curved space ; Radiation balance ; Age of the universeBeginning of a sixth book : The new universe : The giant eyes ; One hundred million milky ways ; Is the universe flying apart? ; Evolution of spiral nebulae ; Radio astronomy ; Space travel ; To infinity