Những con đường của ánh sáng - Tập II

by Trịnh Xuân Thuận, Phạm Văn Thiều (Translator), Ngô Vũ (Translator)

Những con đường của ánh sáng được coi là bản sử thi về cuộc hành trình của con người đi vào vương quốc ánh sáng và giải mã những bí mật của nó. Và trong cuốn sách này tác giả đã thảo luận về ánh sáng, và liên qua tới nó là bóng tối, trên nhiều phương diện bao gồm tầm quan trọng của nó đối với sự sống, đối với khoa học, sự diễn giải ánh sáng của bộ não, nghệ thuật của các họa sĩ thuộc trường phái ấn tượng, việc sử dụng ánh sáng trong kiến trúc và các khía cạnh tâm linh của ánh sáng...

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Trinh Xuan Thuan was born on 20th August, 1948 in Hanoï (Vietnam). He left Hanoi at the age of 6, when Vietnam was divided into two parts at the 17th parallel by the Geneva treaty, signed in 1954. His family then moved to Sàigon, capital of South Vietnam. He pursued his studies in Saigon, at the French high-school Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It is during that period that he acquired the French style that allowed him to write in French such great popular books on astrophysics and cosmology, that are famous not only for their scientific accuracy, but also for their poetic language. He passes with high honors the baccalaureate degree in 1966.

He then went abroad for his higher education. After one year in Switzerland (1966-1967), at the Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, he continued his studies in well-known American universities. He obtained his Bachelor of Physics at the California Institute off Technology (Caltech) in 1970, then his PhD in Astrophysics at Princeton University in 1974, under the guidance of the eminent astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer, father of the Hubble space Telescope and one of the pioneers of the physics of the interstellar medium and of plasmas.


Since 1976, he has been a professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and divides his time between the United States and France. As an invited professor at the University of Paris 7, at the observatory of Paris-Meudon, at the department of astrophysics of Saclay and at the IAP (Institute of astrophysics of Paris) of the CNRS, he collaborates regularly with French scientists.

An astrophysicist internationally recognized for his research in extragalactic astronomy (concerning objects beyond the Milky Way), he is the author of more than 230 articles on the formation and evolution of galaxies, in particular of dwarf galaxies, and on the synthesis of light elements in the Big-bang. His articles are widely referred to in the world.

Observatoire de Kitt Peak en ArizonaFor his astronomical research, he makes use of the largest telescopes on the ground (Kitt Peak, Hawaii, Chile...) and in space (Hubble, Spitzer...). At the end of 2004, thanks to observations made with Hubble, he discovered the youngest known galaxy in the universe (I Zwicky 18) – a discoverery that was amply discussed in the international press.

In addition to his research, he teaches a course at the University of Virginia which is called "Astronomy for Poets". In this course, students with a non-scientitific background have the pleasure of discovering the wonders of the Universe in a non-technical language.

In addition to his research, he teaches a course at the University of Virginia which is called
"Astronomy for Poets". In this course, students with a non-scientitific background have the pleasure of discovering the wonders of the Universe in a non-technical language.

Trinh Xuan Thuan is regularly invited on television and radio emissions in the US, France and other countries.

He is also a frequent guest lecturer in many countries over the world.