The Universal Timekeepers

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 RoyalDavid 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 HistoryThe 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 The Elegant Universe and Until the End of TimeHelfand 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 AmsterdamA 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 *

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).