The Magicians

by Marcus Chown

  time-translation 1

  Tate, John 1

  Taylor, Joseph 1

  technetium 1

  Tegmark, Max 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Telstar satellite 1

  temperature inversion 1

  Tennyson, Alfred 1

  theory of everything, the 1, 2

  thermodymamic equilibrium 1, 2

  Thomson, J. J. 1

  Thomson, William 1

  T’hooft, Gerard 1, 2, 3, 4

  Thorne, Kip 1, 2

  tides, ocean 1

  Titius–Bode Law 1

  Toronto, University of 1

  transatlantic telegraph cable 1

  triple-alpha process 1, 2, 3

  Truman, Harry 1

  Tube Alloys 1

  Tübingen 1, 2

  Turtle, Tony 1

  TV 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Twain, Mark 1, 2

  two-body system 1

  Tyburn 1

  U-boats 1

  Uetliberg 1

  Uhuru satellite 1

  ultimate ensemble of universes 1

  ultraviolet light 1

  universe baby photo of 1

  expanding 1, 2, 3, 4

  horizon of 1

  observable 1

  origin 1, 2

  oscillating 1, 2

  Updike, John 1

  uranium 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Uranus 1, 2

  V2 137

  vacuum tube 1, 2

  Van Allen Belts 1

  Van der Meer, Simon 1

  Van Vleck, John 1

  Vandenberg Air Force Base 1

  vector boson 1, 2

  Victoria and Albert Museum 1

  Virdee, Jim 1

  virtual particle 1

  Vokhminzeva, Lyubov 1

  Volta, Alessandro 1, 2

  von Helmholtz, Hermann 1

  Vulcan 1, 2

  Waldman, Professor 1

  Wall Street Crash 1

  Walton, Ernest 1

  Warren, Martin 1

  Washington DC 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  wave interference of 1, 2

  longitudinal 1

  standing 1

  wave function 1

  wave–particle duality 1, 2, 3, 4

  wavelength 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  WCBS 1

  Weber, Wilhelm 1, 2

  Webster, Louise 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Wegener’s granulomatosis 1

  Weinberg, Steven 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Weiner, Charles 1

  Weiss, Rainer 1, 2, 3, 4

  Wenzel, Bill 1, 2

  Westminster Abbey 1, 2

  Weyl, Hermann 1

  Whaling, Ward 1, 2, 3, 4

  Wheeler, John 1, 2

  Whewell, William 1, 2

  Whippany 1

  white dielectric material 1

  white dwarf 1, 2

  White Sands test range 1

  Wi-Fi 1

  Wigner, Eugene 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Wilczek, Frank 1

  Willetts, David 1

  Williamson, Jody 1

  Wilson, Charles 1

  Wilson, Robert 1, 2, 3, 4

  Wireless World (magazine) 1, 2

  Wolfram, Stephen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Womersley, John 1

  Woolley, Richard 1, 2

  Wooster, William 1, 2

  Wordsworth, William 1

  World War I 1, 2 Eastern Front 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  World War II 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Wright, Stephen 1

  writing, invention of 1

  Wu, Chien-Shiung 1

  X-ray 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  X-ray tube 1

  Yang, Chen Ning 1

  Yang–Mills equation 1

  Zeeman, Pieter 1

  Zweig, George 1

  Zwicky, Fritz 1, 2, 3

  About the Author

  Marcus Chown is an award-winning science writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is now cosmology consultant for the New Scientist. His acclaimed books include What a Wonderful World, Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You, We Need to Talk about Kelvin and The Ascent of Gravity (Sunday Times Science Book of the Year 2017). He is also the author of Solar System for iPad, which won The Bookseller 2011 Digital Innovation of the Year.

  www.marcuschown.com

  @marcuschown

  by the same author

  INFINITY IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND

  THE ASCENT OF GRAVITY

  BIG BANG: A LADYBIRD EXPERT BOOK

  WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

  TWEETING THE UNIVERSE

  THE SOLAR SYSTEM

  SOLAR SYSTEM FOR IPAD

  FELICITY FROBISHER AND THE THREE-HEADED ALDEBARAN DUST DEVIL

  WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KELVIN

  QUANTUM THEORY CANNOT HURT YOU

  THE NEVER-ENDING DAYS OF BEING DEAD

  THE UNIVERSE NEXT DOOR

  THE MAGIC FURNACE

  AFTERGLOW OF CREATION

  Copyright

  First published in the UK in 2020 by

  Faber & Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  This ebook edition first published in 2020

  All rights reserved

  © Marcus Chown, 2020

  The right of Marcus Chown to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  Cover design by kid-ethic

  Cover photography by Kamesh Vedula

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–34641–7