Abstract
Michael Heller (ed)
Tuscon: Pachart 1996 108pp price $37.00 ISBN 0 88126 285 4 (pbk)
Hubble's Cosmology: A Guided Study of Selected Texts. (Pachart History of Astronomy Series Vol 11)
Norriss S Hetherington (ed)
Tuscon: Pachart 1996 218pp price $67.00 ISBN 0 88126 287 0 (pbk)
These two new volumes in the Pachart History of Astronomy Series are different in character. The first one is an integral facsimile reproduction of a 50 page unpublished manuscript by the Belgian cosmologist and priest Georges Lemaître. The manuscript, which was written for a Japanese encyclopaedia, dates from sometime between 1936 and 1940 and summarizes Lemaître's views on the origin of the Universe. In this volume, it is accompanied by an introduction that provides some historical context. Although the manuscript is interesting in itself, its real value will only be apparent for those who are familiar with the development of Lemaître's ideas. This is clearly a volume for the specialist.
Not just for specialists is the other volume, on Edwin Hubble. It contains abbreviated republications of four major papers by Hubble on cosmology, including his paper on the velocity - distance relation (1929). This volume is explicitly intended for a general readership. In his introduction the editor stresses his conviction that the achievements of science should be made accessible to a wider audience, in which liberal arts students should be included. Each paper is preceded by a detailed historical introduction and is accompanied by a large amount of very useful explanatory notes. In fact, the notes to each paper take up as much space as the paper itself. Both the notes and the introductions stress the importance of Hubble's work for our contemporary views of the Universe and cannot fail to capture a wide audience. Hetherington has done an excellent job, and it is to be hoped that his volume will be widely used in science classes for non-science majors.