Nicole Lloyd-Ronning is an astrophysicist in Northern New Mexico who studies all aspects of the physics behind the deaths of massive stars, the black hole-accretion disk systems they leave behind, the relativistic jets they launch, and the role these events play in global star formation throughout the history of our universe. She received the Distinguished Mentor Award at Los Alamos National Lab in 2019, the Faculty Initiative Award at University of New Mexico, Los Alamos in 2020 and the Los Alamos National Lab Community Medal in 2021.
The book conveys the general sense that the pursuit of knowledge never ends: we can never draw a line and say this is the final answer. Lloyd-Ronning frequently states that deep mysteries may point to new physics, or to something as mundane as calibration issues, or the way we conduct our observations. Lloyd-Ronning’s book is a thoroughly good (if in some places, demanding) read, and at £30/$50, is excellent value for money. Your library should have a copy, and the book should appeal to a wide spectrum of physics and mathematics abilities. I’d recommend it to professionals who are interested in getting to know more about the latest in high-energy astrophysics, and to the adventurous novice who is keen to know how scientists in general, and astrophysicists in particular, conduct their business. A. Evans, The Observatory, October 2023 -- A Evans * The Observatory *