From unicorns on the Moon to UFOs piloted by Martian bees, this book chronicles some of the strangest ideas that have been put forward - and have actually been believed in -- about our universe. Drawn from tales dating from the Middle Ages to the present, this collection of stories takes readers on an imaginative and wild ride through the ages and minds of some of the wackiest, tackiest, most outlandish concepts in astronomy, cosmology and physics. Follow along as Geoff Kirby recounts each quirky idea in detail and explains how these theories fare against modern astronomical research and technologies.

Hersteller:
Springer Verlag GmbH
juergen.hartmann@springer.com
Tiergartenstr. 17
DE 69121 Heidelberg

Geoff Kirby holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Environmental Sciences. His career was in Oceanography, specifically concerning the interactions between the atmosphere and oceans that drive important aspects of climate change. Kirby's interest in astronomy began while living in London during World War II. The "Blackout" precautions against enemy bombers provided the intensely dark skies that originally enabled him to see the heavens in spectacular detail. In the 1950s, he began making astronomical telescopes, and over subsequent decades gained minor fame for his observations of the Moon, Planets, Variable Stars and Artificial Satellites. His work has been featured in several international astronomical journals, while his autobiography, An Amateur Astronomer's Life: Seven Decades of Enthusiasm for the Heavens, was published in 2016.