Erik Gregersen: 24 books

While the atom is universally acknowledged as the basis for most branches of physics, the study of its constituent particles has illuminated significant new areas of research. The behavior of subatomic particles provides crucial information on the structure and nature of atomic nuclei, which in turn...

Beyond Earth’s small, red neighbor Mars lie the gaseous, giant planets of the Outer Solar System. This book investigates these behemoths and dwarf planet Pluto, as well as other curiosities within the solar system’s farthest reaches, such as asteroid fields and the Kuiper belt.

The planets closest to the Sun—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars—include the world we know and its closest neighbors. However, despite our proximity, these rocky, silicate-based planets still represent so many mysteries yet to discover. Through a trove of images and a narrative bursting with detail,...

Audio and visual cues facilitate some of our most powerful sensory experiences and embed themselves deeply into our memories and subconscious. Sound and light waves interact with our ears and eyes—our biological interpreters—creating a textural experience and relationship with the world around...

The Sun is merely one of some 200 billion stars that make up the Milky Way--and the Milky Way is only one of a billion galaxies in the known universe. Packed with fascinating facts and stunning photography, this book examines the Galaxy humans call home and travels light years away, to the domain of phenomena such as the Oort cloud.

Space travel is a familiar concept. Such was not the case in the early 20th century, when the United States and the former Soviet Union were locked in a race to send humans into orbit. This book details the history of manned spaceflight, from the development of rockets to the advent of space tourism....

The oft-referenced “E = mc2” may perhaps be one of the world’s most famous equations, but it actually represents only one aspect of the complex branch of physics known as relativity. Together, relativity and quantum mechanics explain both the most cosmic and most elementary relationships and...

The dynamism of the natural world means that it is constantly changing, sometimes rapidly, sometimes gradually. By mathematically interpreting the continuous change that characterizes so many natural processes, analysis and calculus have become indispensable to bridging the divide between mathematics...

The inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are important for study because they are so similar. All are terrestrial, meaning they have a solid surface. Mercury, being closest to the Sun, experiences the most intense solar radiation. Venus is an example of an extreme greenhouse environment,...

While the wheel itself has changed little over time, it has immeasurably altered the nature of transportation. This insightful volume examines the various wheeled conveyances that have been instrumental in agriculture and commerce—carts and wagons, for instance—as well as those that have facilitated...

The universe has been both a subject of study and supplier of fresh mysteries. This book tackles a topic that is infinitely broad with extreme precision and careful organization, bringing the far reaches of the universe squarely into the hands and minds of readers.

From our television sets to the magnets that dot our refrigerators, electricity and magnetism are ever-present in our everyday lives. Even aside from our modern technology, electrical charges can be found throughout nature—the most significant example being Earth’s magnetic field. This incisive...

Satellites and robotic spacecraft have long travelled where humankind cannot, or dare not, go. By delving into the pages of this book, readers will learn about the technology, people, and organizations that have made fruitful unmanned space missions a reality.

Common to all matter and its smallest and most fundamental unit, the atom determines the properties of a substance and how it responds to other materials and stimuli. Dividing the atom further reveals several smaller particles whose activity forms the heart of nuclear physics. Readers will discover...