Gravitation (book)
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| Authors | Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne, and John Archibald Wheeler |
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| Cover artist | Kenneth Gwin |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Physics |
| Publisher | W. H. Freeman |
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Publication date
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1973 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | xxvi, 1279 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 585119 |
| 531/.14 | |
| LC Class | QC178 .M57 |
Gravitation is a physics book on Einstein's theory of gravity, written by Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne, and John Archibald Wheeler and originally published by W. H. Freeman and Company in 1973. Owing to its prominence, it is frequently abbreviated MTW after its authors' initials. The book, which has more than 1200 pages, resembles a large telephone book in size and shape. The cover illustration, drawn by Kenneth Gwin, is a line drawing of an apple with cuts in the skin to show geodesics. It contains 10 parts and 44 chapters, each beginning with a quotation. The bibliography has a long list of original sources and other notable books in the field. The level of the book is advanced, with the intended audience at the graduate-level and above.
After a brief review of special relativity and flat spacetime, physics in curved spacetime is introduced and many aspects of general relativity are covered; particularly about the Einstein field equations and their implications, experimental confirmations, and alternatives to general relativity. Segments of history are included to summarize the ideas leading up to Einstein's theory. The book concludes by questioning the nature of spacetime and suggesting possible frontiers of research. Although the exposition on linearized gravity is detailed, one topic which is not covered is gravitoelectromagnetism. Some quantum mechanics is mentioned, but quantum field theory in curved spacetime and quantum gravity are not included.
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