Adventures in Order and Chaos: A Scientific Autobiography

George Contopoulos (auth.)0-7923-5465-6

The field of Order and Chaos had a remarkable expansion in the last 50 years. The main reason was the use of computers, and the development of new theoretical methods that we call now ‘the theory of chaos’. The author describes this fascinating period in a relaxed and sometimes humorous autobiographical way. He relates his interactions with many people in dynamical astronomy and he quotes several anecdotes from these interactions. He refers also to his experiences when he served in various international positions, such as general secretary of the IAU and chairman of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. In recent years the theory of chaos has been extended to new areas, like relativity, cosmology and quantum mechanics and it continues expanding in almost all branches of physics. The book describes many important ideas in this field in a simple way. It refers also to problems of more general interest, like writing papers and giving lectures and the interaction of authors and referees. Finally it gives some useful prospects for the future of dynamical astronomy and related fields.

Table of contents :
Front Matter….Pages I-X
Years of Study….Pages 1-184
Back Matter….Pages 185-198