Gravitation

The natural phenomenon of attraction between massive bodies, and the act or process of moving under the influence of this attraction. Also called gravity, this phenomenon is described in the Law of gravitation.

Einstein described gravitation as a distortion of spacetime under the influence of mass. See also: general relativity.

Although it is a pretty big thing; according to Einstein; "gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love."

Textbook by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler. Written in 1972, this tome is black with a diagram of an apple being examined under a magnifying glass on the front cover. It is 1279 pages of unrelenting formalisim. I have dipped in and out of this test but have yet to cast myself afloat in it's waters. This book is almost singlehandedly responsible for the resurgance seen in research in gravity in the last quater century.
The table of contentes for the last chaper of the book are:
44. Beyond the End of Time 1196

1. Gravitational Collapse as the Greatest Crisis in Physics of All Time 1196
2. Assessment of the Theory that Predicts Collapse 1198
3. Vaccum Fluctuations: Their Prevalence and Final Dominance 1202
4. Not Geometry, but Pregeometry, as the Magic Building Material 1203
5. Pregeometry as the Calculus of Propositions 1208
6. The Black Box: The Reprocessing of the Universe 1209

Grav"i*ta"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. gravitation. See Gravity.]

1.

The act of gravitating.

2.

(Physics) That species of attraction or force by which all bodies or particles of matter in the universe tend toward each other; called also attraction of gravitation, universal gravitation, and universal gravity. See Attraction, and Weight.

Law of gravitation, that law in accordance with which gravitation acts, namely, that every two bodies or portions of matter in the universe attract each other with a force proportional directly to the quantity of matter they contain, and inversely to the squares of their distances.

 

© Webster 1913.