at the rate of expansion of the universe, the rate of the deceleration of that expansion, and the total mass-density parameter. Respectively, in shorthand: Hubbies constant, q-nought, and dark matter. We're asking if the universe is open or closed... I look at you, Detective, and I see a resident of the naked-eye universe. I'm sure you don't bother too much with this stuff.
I said, well, no, I seem to make do okay without it. But please.
What we see out there, the stars, the galaxies, the galaxy clusters and superclusters, that's just the tip of the iceberg. That's just the snowcap on the mountain. At least 90 percent of the universe consists of dark matter, and we don't know what that dark matter is. Nor what it adds up to. If the total mass density is below a certain critical point, the universe will expand forever. The heavens will just go on getting emptier. If the total mass density is above a certain critical point, then gravity will eventually overcome expansion, and the universe will start to contract. From big bang to big crunch. Then—who knows?—big bang. And so on. What has been called the eighty-billion-year heartbeat.
I'm trying to give you an idea of the kinds of things Jennifer thought about.
I asked him if Jennifer actually went up in the telescope much. He smiled indulgently.
Bubble, bubble, Hoyle and Hubble. Allan Sandage needs a bandage. Ah, the cage at midnight, with your flask, your parka, your leather ass and your iron bladder. The seeing! Detective— Excuse me. The what?
The seeing. The seeing? Actually it's a word we still use. The quality of the image. Having to do with the clarity of the sky. The truth is, Detective, we don't do much 'seeing' anymore. It's all pixels and fiber optics and CCDs. We're down at the business end of it, with the computers.
I asked him the simple question. I asked him if Jennifer was happy in her work.
I'll say! Jennifer Rockwell was an inspiration to us all. She had terrific esprit. Persistent, tough, fair. Above all tough. In every respect her intellect was tough. Women... Let me rephrase this. Maybe not at the Nobel level, but cosmology is a field where women have made lasting contributions. Jennifer had a reasonable shot at adding to that.
I asked if she had an unorthodox side, a mystical side. I said, You guys are scientists, but some of you end up getting religion, right?
There's something in that. Knowing the mind of God, and so on. You're certainly affected by the incredible grandeur and complexity of revealed creation. But don't lose sight of the fact that it's 'reality' we're investigating here. These things we're studying are very strange and very distant, but they're as real as the ground beneath your feet. The universe is everything religions are supposed to be, and then some, weird, beautiful, terrifying, but the universe 'is the case'. Now, there are people around here who pride themselves on saying, 'All this is just a physics problem. That's all.' But Jennifer was more romantic than that. She was grander than that.
Romantic how?
She didn't feel marginalized, as some of us can do. She felt that this was a central human activity. And that her work was... pro bono. She felt that very strongly.
Excuse me? The study of stars is pro bono?
Now I'm going to speak with some freedom and optimism here. All set? In broad terms it makes sense to argue that the Renaissance and the Enlightenment were partly powered by the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo. And Brahe and Kepler and others. You'd think that it would be desolating to learn that the earth was merely a satellite of the sun and that you'd lost your place at the center of the universe. But it wasn't. On the contrary. It was energizing, inspiring, liberating. It felt great to be in possession of a truth denied to
I said, well, no, I seem to make do okay without it. But please.
What we see out there, the stars, the galaxies, the galaxy clusters and superclusters, that's just the tip of the iceberg. That's just the snowcap on the mountain. At least 90 percent of the universe consists of dark matter, and we don't know what that dark matter is. Nor what it adds up to. If the total mass density is below a certain critical point, the universe will expand forever. The heavens will just go on getting emptier. If the total mass density is above a certain critical point, then gravity will eventually overcome expansion, and the universe will start to contract. From big bang to big crunch. Then—who knows?—big bang. And so on. What has been called the eighty-billion-year heartbeat.
I'm trying to give you an idea of the kinds of things Jennifer thought about.
I asked him if Jennifer actually went up in the telescope much. He smiled indulgently.
Bubble, bubble, Hoyle and Hubble. Allan Sandage needs a bandage. Ah, the cage at midnight, with your flask, your parka, your leather ass and your iron bladder. The seeing! Detective— Excuse me. The what?
The seeing. The seeing? Actually it's a word we still use. The quality of the image. Having to do with the clarity of the sky. The truth is, Detective, we don't do much 'seeing' anymore. It's all pixels and fiber optics and CCDs. We're down at the business end of it, with the computers.
I asked him the simple question. I asked him if Jennifer was happy in her work.
I'll say! Jennifer Rockwell was an inspiration to us all. She had terrific esprit. Persistent, tough, fair. Above all tough. In every respect her intellect was tough. Women... Let me rephrase this. Maybe not at the Nobel level, but cosmology is a field where women have made lasting contributions. Jennifer had a reasonable shot at adding to that.
I asked if she had an unorthodox side, a mystical side. I said, You guys are scientists, but some of you end up getting religion, right?
There's something in that. Knowing the mind of God, and so on. You're certainly affected by the incredible grandeur and complexity of revealed creation. But don't lose sight of the fact that it's 'reality' we're investigating here. These things we're studying are very strange and very distant, but they're as real as the ground beneath your feet. The universe is everything religions are supposed to be, and then some, weird, beautiful, terrifying, but the universe 'is the case'. Now, there are people around here who pride themselves on saying, 'All this is just a physics problem. That's all.' But Jennifer was more romantic than that. She was grander than that.
Romantic how?
She didn't feel marginalized, as some of us can do. She felt that this was a central human activity. And that her work was... pro bono. She felt that very strongly.
Excuse me? The study of stars is pro bono?
Now I'm going to speak with some freedom and optimism here. All set? In broad terms it makes sense to argue that the Renaissance and the Enlightenment were partly powered by the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo. And Brahe and Kepler and others. You'd think that it would be desolating to learn that the earth was merely a satellite of the sun and that you'd lost your place at the center of the universe. But it wasn't. On the contrary. It was energizing, inspiring, liberating. It felt great to be in possession of a truth denied to
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