Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity is possibly the most perfect intellectual achievement in modern physics. Anything that involves gravity, the force that powers everything on the largest, hottest or densest of scales, can be explained by it.

From the moment Einstein first proposed the theory in 1915, it was received with enthusiasm yet also with tremendous resistance, and for the following ninety years was the source of a series of feuds, vendettas, ideological battles and persecutions featuring a colourful cast of characters.

A gripping, vividly told story, A Perfect Theory entangles itself with the flashpoints of modern history and is the first complete popular history of the theory, showing how it has informed our understanding of exactly what the universe is made of and how much is still undiscovered: from the work of the giant telescopes in the deserts of Chile to our newest ideas about black holes and the Large Hadron Collider deep under French and Swiss soil.

An engaging popular history of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, taking in the sheer magnificence of its discovery, as well as the infighting that the theory sparked across a century.

About the Author
Raised in Portugal and Britain, Pedro G. Ferreira arrived at Oxford University in 2000, by way of London, Berkeley and CERN. For over twenty-five years he has worked on the frontline of general relativity and cosmology research. Now forty-five, he is Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University.

Reviews
Prof Ferreira is an outstanding storyteller, and the tales here reveal more about how science really works than any number of textbooks * BBC Focus *


Awards
Long-listed for Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books 2014 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9780349123677
Author Professor Pedro G. Ferreira
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Abacus
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 234g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 21mm