Great Heroes and Discoveries of Astronomy

By: Emily Levesque, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Emily Levesque

When it comes to the heroes of astronomy, we tend to think of lone men persevering in the face of daunting odds. Think of the titans of astronomy and you’re likely to think of names like Edwin Hubble, Albert Einstein, and Carl Sagan. And while these individuals revolutionized our understanding of the visible and invisible universe, they, too, were standing on the shoulders of other scientists and engineers without whom none of their groundbreaking ideas would have been possible.

Great Heroes and Discoveries of Astronomy takes you around the world and across time in search of the unsung heroes who, in many ways, are just as important to the story of astronomy as Hubble, Einstein, and Sagan. Whether they stood on the shoulders of giants or themselves offered shoulders for giants to stand on, the heroes of astronomy you’ll meet in these 24 lessons are a collective of the brightest and most daring minds in science.

Other influential astronomers you’ll meet include Annie Jump Cannon, who revolutionized the way astronomers classified the stars; Grote Reber, who designed what we recognize today as radio telescopes; Vera Rubin, who identified the first observational evidence of dark matter; and so many others. From groundbreaking new theories to serendipitous observations, from engineering the world’s largest telescopes to designing bold new ways to detect gravitational waves, you’ll witness the evolution of astronomical knowledge in small steps and incredible leaps.

This is an incomparable window into why we’ve always found the stars so fascinating. And why we always will.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 The Great Courses (P)2021 The Teaching Company, LLC

Interesting but irritating delivery

I like the subject matter it’s a little different and very interesting , but the narrator has to my ear a very irritating delivery .
She seems to be desperate to get her message across.
Also , why do Americans pronounce everything incorrectly ?
Why is the Cosmos the Cos- Mose ? I nearly shut the thing off when I heard that .
Also she mispronounced many other words including
Galileo’s surname .
When putting together such a program choose a narrator that is easier on the ear .

Excellent in every way

I'm really picky with audio books. For me, either the content is not good or the narrator is not good or both. I heavily rely on the comments to help me decide on a title. Even then I return a lot of titles.

This title is new and didn't have a review when I bought it but I'm interested in Astronomy so I thought I'd give it a try; and I'm glad it did!

The content is very interesting; kind of a combination of Astronomy and the history of Astronomy. I found every section to be interesting and I learned a lot.

The narration is excellent too. She loves the topics and it is reflected in her voice. Additionally her voice is pleasant and it's easy to visualize her analogies and stories. I can imagine her in person classes are phenomenal.

This is a new Great Course title but I can imagine that it will eventually on of the top titles in their library. I highly recommend.

Fantastic. Well worth it

A well-presented and fascinating review of astronomical telescopes, discoveries, and the individuals behind them. From the perspective of an amateur, I think the relevant fundamental scientific concepts are discussed to a sufficient extent to provide context to the engaging details discussed here. Written very well with great narration. A rewarding experience for anyone interested in the subject regardless of how much they already know.

Incredibly informative, especially Chapter 13: Pioneers of X-ray and Ultraviolet Astronomy and Chapter 14: Finding Neutron Stars and Black Holes.

Only very slightly out of date which is something few other Great Courses can say.

Love the subject, dislike the reader

The subject of the book is great, I learned a lot. HOWEVER, the reader got on my nerves. I would have listened to the book all in one go except I was distracted by the readers style and had to shut it off. It sounds like the whole text is written IN CAPITOL LETTERS!! So earnest, so powerful, so important and so annoying.

great tour of astrophysics concepts

This book offers a deep dive into the fundamentals of astrophysics, framed by the stories of the people who made key discoveries and contributions. It's a great mix of history and story telling that enable the author to teach us a lot of science.

The book briefly acknowledges that several groups of people were excluded from participating in astronomy and/or excluded from recognition based on gender, etc. It's a tiny part of the book, but gives appropriate context for the stories being told. I don't know why other reviewers are so offended. Disregard their highly-exaggerated accounts of this book being too much about social issues. It really is a very small part, and where it is included, it's stated plainly as context. There's nothing controversial here. If anything, based on the reactions of some other reviewers, I'd suggest that they are the ones who most need to learn about, and get comfortable with, that historical context.

I agree with others that the diction is a bit over-annunciated, but I quickly got used to it.

Mostly Political Correctness, worst “Great Course” ever

While I have loved the Great Courses series, this is probably the last one I will listen to. The author strays from the history and uses her bully pulpit to bludgeon the listener with lectures on gay rights and the wrongs done to the lgbtq etc. movement. The listener is so hammered with this bias, you might think to be a good astronomer you have to be gay or trans. I am not homophobic, however I am homo-exhausted.

We are assaulted with this kind of propaganda daily in the news. I don’t need nor do I want to purchase political propaganda disguised as historical science. This author has earned a “Never Again” on my reading/listening list.

Not about astronomy.

Not actually about astronomy. About politics disguised as a course on astronomy. Disappointing. Title should be more appropriate.

strays into irrelevant

By chapter 21 the author works in Syrian refugees and global climate change...
I wish they would stick to the subject matter and stop beating us over the head with their political ideology.