Towards an explanation of the world. Milestones of physics and astrophysics

The present book wants to be helpful to explain and summarize the present status of knowledge in the main fields of research for the today unified picture of the world. Very extensively nuclear and particle physics is explained. They are the foundation of cosmology, to which the second half of the book is dedicated. To the chapter about the expansion of the universe and bout the Friedman equations follow chapters on the cosmic red shift and about distances in the universe. Discussed are the big bang and the cosmic inflation as well as dark matter, dark energy, and the accelerated expansion of the universe. Exciting are the aspects of nucleosynthesis, by which the stellar dust is generated, of which we men consist. The final chapter is dedicated to the earth, its development, and the origins of life.