The Science of Discworld IV

23–4
    Shakespeare, William 5, 6
    Shamballa 111
    Shannon, Claude 80
    Shatpatha Brahmana
56
    Shesha 58
    Shu 97
    see also
gods/goddesses
    silentio dei
320–2
    see also
God
    Sir Isaac Newton
(Brodetsky) 50
n
    Slipher, Vesto 237
    Smith, David 127
    snake, in mythology 58
    soul 39
    space bolas 201
    space elevator 201
    special relativity 219
    Spinoza, Baruch 64
    Star Trek
128
    Starkman, Gleen 240
    stars:
    Earth’s distance from 30
    as gods 25
    Staruszkiewicz, Andrzej 224
    steady-state theory 62, 239
    final nail in coffin of 239
    revival of 245
    see also
universe, origin of
    Stenger, Victor 288, 292, 294
    string theory 223, 226–7
    Stukeley, William 158
n
    Sumer 98, 99
    Sun:
    and Copernican cosmology,
see under
cosmology
    Earth’s distance from 30, 315
    as god 25, 97
    and Ptolemaic cosmology,
see under
cosmology
    ‘purpose’ of 24, 27
    temperature of 31
    see also
cosmology
    superconductors 167–8
    Symmes, John 111, 112–13
    Symmes’ Theory of Concentric Spheres
(McBride) 111
    Symzonia: a Voyage of Discovery
(Seaborn) 113
    Synodontis nigriventris
197
    Teed, Cyrus 109–10
    Temple of Karnak 97–8
    Theia 130–2
    Theoretical Astronomy Examined and Exposed
(Carpenter) 106
    theories, meanings of 32
    Theory of Everything,
see
unified field theory
    Thompson, William,
see
Kelvin, Lord
    Thomson, J. Anderson 258, 317
    Thomson, Joseph John 16, 164
    Thor 124, 129
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Thoth 100
    see also
gods/goddesses
    thunderstorms 126–9
    time, existence of 225–6
    Tippler, Frank 282
    Toffler, Alvin 184
    topology 215–19
    tortoise:
    in mythology 55–6, 57, 62
    see also
turtle
    Trousers of Time 5, 72, 78
    turtle:
    in mythology 51–3, 55–7, 62, 63, 121
    see also
tortoise
    2001: A Space Odyssey
170–1
    UFOs 112, 268, 270, 312–13
    unified field theory 222–3
    see also
string theory
    universe:
    accelerating expansion of 243, 244, 245–6
    age of 242
    alternative 72–5
    finiteness of 221–2
    formula for changing shape and size of 241
    great scale of 29, 30, 236
    humanity placed at centre of 278;
see also
Anthropic Principle; astrobiology; xenoscience
    humanity’s contextual relationship with 26–9, 37, 38–40
    increasing complexity of 129
    origin of 234–40;
see also
Big Bang
    and standard model of cosmology 240
    steady-state theory of 62, 239, 245
    see also
universe, origin of; universe, shape of
    universe, origin of:
    and cosmological constant 241, 244
    and dark energy 244
    and dark matter 243–4
    and eternal inflation 244–5
    and inflation fields 243
    from nothing 241
    see also
universe; universe, shape of
    universe, shape of 211–28
    and dodecahedral space 219, 220–1
    and doughnuts 215–16
    and Escher 227–8, 238
    and finiteness 221–2
    as football (soccer ball) 220
    and general relativity 217–18
    hypersphere theory of 217–19, 238
    and string theory 223, 226–7
    and topology 215–19
    as torus 215, 224–7
    and unified field theory 222–3;
see also
string theory
    see also
Earth: shape of; universe; universe: origin of
    Unseen University, thaumaturgy experiment at 2
    Unweaving the Rainbow
(Dawkins) 71, 254
    uranium, for dating 35–6
    Urey, Harold 135
    US election, 2012 125
    Ussher, Archbishop James 108
n
    Uxmal 53
    Van Vogt, A.E. 262
n
    Vedas
101
    Veltman, Martinus 245
    Venus, motions of 54, 99
    Venus Table of Ammisaduqa 99
    Verne, Jules 113
    Vernon-Harcourt, Leveson 56
    viruses 140–2
    Vishnu 57
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Vishnu Purana
57, 59
    Voyage of the Space Beagle
(Van Vogt) 262
n
    Vrba, Elizabet 189
    Wachtershauser, Gunther 137
    Walker, Arthur 239–40
    Wallace, Alfred Russell 106
    Waltershausen, Sartorius van Waltershausen 214
    Walton, Ernest 16
    Weeks, Jeffrey 221, 240
    Weiner, Norbert 80
    Why I Am Not a Christian
(Russell) 55–6
    Why We Believe in God(s)
(Thomson) 258
    Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 221
    William of Occam 280
    Wilson, Horace Hayman 57
    WIMPs 244
    Witten, Edward 224
    Woese, Carl 140
    Wolpert, Daniel 268–9
    Wonderful Life
(Gould) 184
    worldwide web, invention of 87
    Wright, J.M.F. 50
n
    Xenophanes 100
    xenoscience 296, 298
    Xmucane 54, 55
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Xpiyacoc 54
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Yucatán Diego de Landa, Bishop of 55
    Zetetic Astronomy
(Rowbotham) 105
    Zetetic Society 106
    see also
Earth: shape of
    Zhang, Junjun 132
    zircons 36

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