Table of Contents

PrefaceChart of Main Topics1A First Tour12Einstein Geometrodynamics133Tests of Einstein Geometrodynamics874Cosmology, Standard Models, and Homogeneous Rotating Models1855The Initial-Value Problem in Einstein Geometrodynamics2696The Gravitomagnetic Field and Its Measurement3157Some Highlights of the Past and a Summary of Geometrodynamics and Inertia384Mathematical Appendix403Symbols and Notations437Author Index445Subject Index of Mathematical Appendix455Subject Index461Fundamental and Astronomical Constants and Units493

Promotional Information

This book is an ambitious walking tour through a host of topics in general relativity. It includes a treasure chest of useful references. -- Robert Geroch, University of Chicago Bringing together both the philosophy and the application in one place produces a synergy that vastly increases the value of the work. -- Richard Matzner, Director of the Center for Relativity at the University of Texas, Austin

About the Author

Ignazio Ciufolini is a Research Associate at CNR-IFSI in Rome. John Archibald Wheeler, one of the world's foremost relativists, is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Princeton University. His books include A Journey into Gravity and Spacetime; with Edwin F. Taylor, Spacetime Physics; and, with Charles Misner and Kip Thorne, Gravitation; all published by W. H. Freeman & Co.

Reviews

Winner of the 1996 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Physics and Astronomy, Association of American Publishers "[An] admirably comprehensive guide...The approach is leavened with historical perspectives and almost poetic insights. Particularly valuable [are] the up to date accounts of experimental tests of general relativity."--Robert Matthews, New Scientist "... it has plenty of useful resources and ideas and it is enjoyable. It covers, sometimes with distinctive originality, topics not easily found in other textbooks. Its charm lies in the interweaving of Wheeler's speculative quest for the physical origin of inertia with Ciufolini's experimental craft. In such interweaving lies the magic of an extraordinarily beautiful science: the science of the shape of space-time."--Carlo Rovelli, Science "In this important work, Ciufolini and Wheeler provide extensive coverage of current gravitation theory, current problems of interest to the physics community, and recent and proposed experiments based upon Einstein's theory of general relativity."--Choice "This is an excellent book that will be of interest to anyone seriously interested in general relativity. It is clearly written with a very well connected development of many topics which are not covered in the other books on the subject."--Classical and Quantum Gravity "Gravitation and Inertia has plenty of useful resources and ideas and it is enjoyable. It covers, sometimes with distinctive originality, topics not easily found in other textbooks. Its charm lies in the interweaving of Wheeler's speculative quest for the physical origin of inertia with Ciufolini's experimental craft. In such interweaving lies the magic of an extraordinarily beautiful science: the science of the shape of space-time."--Science