The Universal Timekeepers

Reconstructing History Atom by Atom

David Helfand

$27.95

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Columbia University Press
09 August 2025

Atomic & molecular physics

Runner-up, 2024 Columbia University Press Distinguished Book Award

Atoms are unfathomably tiny. It takes fifteen million trillion of them to make up a single poppy seed-give or take a few billion. And there's hardly anything to them: atoms are more than 99.9999999999 percent empty space. Yet scientists have learned to count these slivers of near nothingness with precision and to peer into their internal states. In looking so closely, we have learned that atoms, because of their inimitable signatures and imperturbable internal clocks, are little archives holding the secrets of the past.

David J. Helfand reconstructs the history of the universe-back to its first microsecond 13.8 billion years ago-with the help of atoms. He shows how, by using detectors and reactors, microscopes and telescopes, we can decode the tales these infinitesimal particles tell, answering questions such as: Is a medieval illustrated prayer book real or forged? How did maize cultivation spread from the highlands of central Mexico to New England? What was Earth's climate like before humans emerged? Where can we find clues to identify the culprit in the demise of the dinosaurs? When did our planet and solar system form? Can we trace the births of atoms in the cores of massive stars or even glimpse the origins of the universe itself?

A lively and inviting introduction to the building blocks of everything we know, The Universal Timekeepers demonstrates the power of science to unveil the mysteries of unreachably remote times and places.

By: David Helfand
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780231219037
ISBN 10: 0231219032
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 09 August 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

David J. Helfand, former chair of the Astronomy Department at Columbia University, has served on Columbia’s faculty for nearly five decades. He was also president and vice chancellor of Quest University Canada. Helfand is the chair of the American Institute of Physics and a past president of the American Astronomical Society. His commentary has appeared in Nature, Physics Today, the Globe and Mail, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, among other publications, and he is the author of A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age: Scientific Habits of Mind (Columbia, 2016).

Reviews for The Universal Timekeepers: Reconstructing History Atom by Atom

David Helfand is a distinguished scientist, specially acclaimed in the community for his skills as an expositor. These talents – along with his intellectual range – are manifest in this highly original and culture-spanning book which gathers and recounts diverse ways whereby scientific analysis can enrich historical understanding. Few people could have written The Universal Timekeepers so well. It is fascinating, wide-ranging, and accessible; everyone should read it. -- Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal David Helfand has composed a magical, epic dance of atoms that connects us all to each other, and to key events of the past, present, and future of Earth and the cosmos itself. The choreographers are the laws of the universe. The performers are the atoms themselves. The Universal Timekeepers offers a cosmic perspective like no other. -- Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History The Universal Timekeepers is a wonderful exploration that reveals how wispy atomic nuclei provide a powerful means for reconstructing history. Using engaging examples from art forgeries to the Shroud of Turin to the Big Bang itself, Helfand expertly ushers readers through the subtle science that vibrantly brings the past to life. -- Brian Greene, author of <i>The Elegant Universe</i> and <i>Until the End of Time</i> Helfand will enthuse and educate readers about the marvelous applications of atomic and nuclear physics to learn about human and natural history. I had a blast reading this book. -- Jordy de Vries, University of Amsterdam A work of outstanding and meticulous scholarship. An extraordinarily informative and thoroughly 'reader friendly' study. * Midwest Book Review * Gives us a tour of the atom not as a destroyer, but as a detective that can help us unravel mysteries as wide-ranging as art forgeries, the provenance of ancient temples and the death of the dinosaurs. * Amherst College Magazine *