num_pages: 229
description: A short charming character-driven book on science that tells the story of the 50-year search by the worlds top scientists for the missing planet Vulcan and Albert Einsteins remarkable proof of the Theory of Relativity which once and for all proved that the planet never existed in the first place. November 2015 is the 100th anniversary of Einsteins discovery of the General Theory of Relativity.Levenson head of MITs Science Writing Program tells the captivating unusual and nearly-forgotten backstory behind Einsteins invention of the Theory of Relativity which completely changed the course of science forever. For over 50 years before Einstein developed his theory the worlds top astronomers spent countless hours and energy searching for a planet which came to be named Vulcan that had to exist it was thought given Isaac Newtons theories of gravity. Indeed in the two centuries since Newtons death his theory had essentially become accepted as fact. It took Einsteins genius to realize the mystery of the missing planet wasnt a problem of measurements or math but of Newtons theory of gravity itself. Einsteins Theory of Relativity proved that Vulcan did not and could not exist and that the decades-long search for it had merely been a quirk of operating under the wrong set of assumptions about the universe. Thomas Levenson tells this unique story one of the strangest episodes in the history of science with elegant simplicity fast-paced drama and lively characters sure to capture the attention of a wide group of readers.
language: English
title: The Hunt for Vulcan: ...And How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe
publisher: Random House