Chapter 1. The Bathtub The Prologue. Alfonso L Sabio, the protagonist, or Alfie for short, introduces himself. Alfie meets Professor George Gallagher, the theoretical astrophysicist, at their favourite haunt, Bruno's Italian restaurant. They plan to have discussions on black holes. On his way home, Alfie acquires his magical bathtub and the special bubble bath mix from a mysterious store. He has his first experience of the fantasy inducing bubbles that suspiciously resemble evaporating black holes. Chapter 2. The Stellar BED Bruno's Italian restaurant. George explains stellar evolution leading to the end products - the white dwarfs, the neutron stars and the black hole. The acronym BED stands for Birth - Existence - Death. Chapter 3. The Casanova Connection Fantasy induced by the bubble bath. Casanova appears and explains why he has been chosen to be Alfie's escort. He gives a guided tour of some of the constellations and takes Alfie on a trip through space and time. They visit Yang Wei-te, the Chinese astronomer who observed and recorded the supernova of 1054 AD as well as Tycho Brahe and Kepler. The fantasy ends with the battle between Orion and Scorpio. Chapter 4. Footprints of the Giants A park in the university. Alfie and George discuss science before Newton as represented by the ideas and work of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo. Chapter 5. Cosmic Framework Newton's theory of gravitation and several phenomena that are explained within that framework, in particular those that would be of relevance to the general theory of relativity and black hole physics. Chapter 6. Moving Experience Bruno's restaurant. George surveys the ideas that led to Einstein's special theory of relativity and the consequences of the theory. Chapter 7. Fabric of Spacetime Minkowski's concept of spacetime is described. This sets the stagefor the development of the general theory of relativity. Chapter 8. Grappling with Gravity Discussion continues. Einstein's remarkable odyssey from special relativity to the general theory of relativity is traced. Chapter 9. Beetles on a Branch The main tenets of general relativity are described highlighting the revolutionary idea of identifying spacetime curvature with gravitation. Implications of the theory are discussed with special reference to gravitational waves and black holes. Chapter 10. Tub Talk Bubble bath. Einstein's life in Princeton is chronicled by one who knew him closely in his Mercer Street home. Einstein's ideas are presented essentially through his own quotations. Chapter 11. The First Solution and the Last Statement George's office in the university. Discussions focus on the discovery and the general properties of the non-rotating Schwarzschild exterior spacetime Chapter 12. Sphere of Darkness Properties of the non-rotating Schwarzschild black hole are discussed in detail. An important aspect elucidated in depth is the characterization of the black hole itself, in particular the exact reason for its one-way membrane property, which is hardly ever explained properly. Some of the common misconceptions about black holes are also dispelled. Chapter 13. The Voracious Whirlpool George's office. The rotating Kerr black hole. Novel features engendered by rotation such as the existence of the ergosphere and the possibility of extraction of energy are highlighted. Flow of matter leading to the formation of accretion disks is described. Chapter 14. Dynamics of the Unique Uniqueness of black holes is discussed. George's three graduate students join in for a lively discussion of black hole thermodynamics and black hole evaporation. Chapter 15. A Date with Dante A virtual reality trip to the
About the Author: Specializing in Einstein's general theory of relativity, Vishveshwara has worked extensively on the theory of black holes, making major contributions to this exciting field of research since its very beginning. For instance, he was one of the first ones to analyse the structure of black holes employing spacetime symmetries thereby demonstrating the existence of the ergosphere. He proved the stability of the non-rotating Schwarzschild black hole, a crucial factor that ensures its continued existence after formation. Further, he discovered the quasinormal modes of black holes. These modes of black hole vibrations would be one of the main targets of observation when the gravitational wave detectors, being set up all over the world, become functional. In recent years, he has been investigating black holes in cosmological backgrounds, an important aspect of black hole physics that has hardly been explored. Vishveshwara has also made significant contributions to other areas of general relativity such as the exact solutions of Einstein's field equations, gravitational collapse, compact stellar objects, inertial forces, and spacetime perturbations.
Vishveshwara received his AM degree from Columbia University and PhD from the University of Maryland, and subsequently served on the faculties of New York University, Boston University, and University of Pittsburgh. After his return to his hometown of Bangalore, India, he has been a senior professor at the Raman research Institute and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Vishveshwara has also held the position of Visiting Professor at several universities including University of Pennsylvania, University of Maryland, Boston University, University of London, and Universidad del Pais Vasco.
In addition to authoring a number of technical papers, Vishveshwara has co-edited ten volumes on relativity, astrophysics and cosmology that have been brought out by leading publishers such as Cambridge University Press and Kluwer Academic Publishers. He has contributed articles to these volumes and illustrated two of the volumes with his cartoons, which have been highly appreciated. Further, he has written a number of popular articles on various topics in science. As founder-director of the Planetarium in Bangalore, he has written the scripts of several planetarium programmes and directed them. These have proved to be exceedingly popular because of the simple and attractive manner in which difficult concepts have been presented. Vishveshwara has also produced two short science films.
For a more detailed profile of Vishveshwara and further account of his contributions, see Black Holes, Gravitational Radiation and the Universe: Essays in Honour of C.V.Vishveshwara, Bala R. Iyer and Biplab Bhawal eds, Kluwer Academic Publishers (1999).
Popular Science Contributions:
1.Geometry and the Universe in Cosmic Perspecives, eds. SK Biswas, DCV Mallik, and CV Vishveshwara, Cambridge University Press(1989).
This volume contains articles by eminent people like Sir Joseph Needham, Hanbury-Brown, Brandon Carter, Fred Hoyle etc. It got excellent reviews including my article.
2.After the Fall: From Adam and Eve to Apples and Elevators, Gravitation and Relativity: At the Turn of the Millenium - Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation(1998).
This is the expanded and illustrated version of the after dinner talk I gave at the conference. Prof CJS Clarke of Southampton University wrote in his review of the volume that 'Vishveshwara's article alone makes the book worth buying.'
3.Leaves from an Unwritten Diary. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar - Reminiscences and Reflections
It was published by Current Science, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, India, which has circulation in both UK and USA. It is on their website which can be found throgh Google. Again, the article was highly acclaimed.
4.New Cosmos and Cosmic Perspectives. Two articles commissioned by Gran Enciclopedia del Mundo, Spain. Translated into Spanish from original English text.
5.Articles under the heading 'Out of Focus' - light-hearted short essays on different subjects.
The author contributes a poem on relativity for the Einstein Experiment pursued by Lettre International of Berlin.
