“When you have reached the last page (…), you will still not know what most of the material universe consists of.” Anyone who puts their book on the shelf in disappointment after this open-hearted confession from Govert Schilling is making a big mistake. Between this sentence from the introduction and the end lie 400 pages of a fact-rich, captivatingly written and fun-to-read science report about one of the greatest mysteries in cosmology: What does around 80 percent of the matter in space consist of?
Based on a Hindu fable, Schilling in an original way compares this dark matter to an elephant that stands in the room but is not recognized, and calls the three parts of his work “The Ear,” “The Tusk,” and “The Trunk.” . For his research, the Dutch author and amateur astronomer spoke to researchers and visited various places where intensive – but so far unsuccessful – searches for the great unknown are being carried out, such as the Italian Gran Sasso underground laboratory.
Historical developments are also not neglected in the book, starting with Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, who published the idea that dark matter must exist as early as 1922. To date, the cosmic elephant has not been captured. But when you read it, you witness one of the most exciting chapters in science. Helmut Hornung
Govert Schilling
The elephant in the universe
The great mystery of dark matter
Cosmos, 400 p., € 28,–
ISBN 978-3-440-17719-8