EINSTEIN’S ENIGMA
or
Black Holes in My Bubble Bath
Copernicus Books
An Imprint of Springer Science + Business Media
C. V. Vishveshwara
EINSTEIN’S ENIGMA
or
Black Holes in My Bubble Bath
© 2006 C. V. Vishveshwara, Bangalore, India
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a re-
trieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
Published in the United States by Copernicus Books,
an imprint of Springer Science+Business Media.
Copernicus Books
Springer Science+Business Media
233 Spring Street
New York, NY 10013
www.springer.com
Library of Congress Control Number:
2006928956
Illustrations in Chapter 15 and all technical drawings: B. G. Gujjarappa, Bangalore,
India, www.thepotmaker.com
Cartoons: C. V. Vishveshwara
Printed on acid-free paper.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-10 3-540-33199-9
ISBN-13 9-783-540-33199-5
To the memory of my parents
My father C. K. Venkata Ramayya
Writer, scholar, orator
And
My mother K. Venkatasubbamma
Who supported my father and took care of us all
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
THE BATHTUB 1
Chapter 2
THE STELLAR BED 13
Chapter 3
THE CASANOVA CONNECTION 39
Chapter 4
FOOTPRINTS OF THE GIANTS 55
Chapter 5
COSMIC FRAMEWORK 69
Chapter 6
A MOVING EXPERIENCE 85
Chapter 7
THE FABRIC OF SPACETIME 101
Chapter 8
GRAPPLING WITH GRAVITY 115
Chapter 9
BEETLES ON A BRANCH 133
Chapter 10
TUB TALK 157
Chapter 11
THE FIRST SOLUTION AND THE LAST STATEMENT 173
Chapter 12
SPHERE OF DARKNESS 189
Chapter 13
THE VORACIOUS WHIRLPOOL 215
Chapter 14
DYNAMICS OF THE UNIQUE 239
Chapter 15
A DATE WITH DANTE 259
Chapter 16
IMPRINTS OF THE INVISIBLE 285
Chapter 17
CELESTIAL SWAN SONG 309
Chapter 18
CIBO PER LA MENTE 313
Chapter 19
CURTAIN CALL 333
Chapter 20
FOUNDATIONS OF FACT AND FANTASY 351
1
Chapter 1
THE BATHTUB
I
love my bathtub. To all appearances, there is nothing special about it ex-
cept that it is rather