The epic, behind-the-scenes story of an astounding gap in our scientific knowledge of the cosmos.

In the past few years, a handful of scientists have been in a race to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only 4 percent of it consists of the matter that makes up you, me, our books, and every planet, star, and galaxy. The rest—96 percent of the universe—is completely unknown.

Richard Panek tells the dramatic story of how scientists reached this conclusion, and what they’re doing to find this "dark" matter and an even more bizarre substance called dark energy. Based on in-depth, on-site reporting and hundreds of interviews—with everyone from Berkeley’s feisty Saul Perlmutter and Johns Hopkins’s meticulous Adam Riess to the quietly revolutionary Vera Rubin—the book offers an intimate portrait of the bitter rivalries and fruitful collaborations, the eureka moments and blind alleys, that have fueled their search, redefined science, and reinvented the universe.

理查德·潘内克,以前的作品包括《眼见为实》、《看不见的世纪》。作为古根海姆基金科学写作奖的获得者,他曾为《纽约时报》、《探索杂志》、《史密森尼杂志》、《时尚先生杂志》、《自然史杂志》和许多其他出版物撰写过有关天文学和宇宙学的文章。他与妻子和两个儿子生活在纽约。石云里,中国科学技术大学科学史博士,美国哈佛大学和MIT博士后。上海交通大学科学史与科学文化研究院特聘教授,博士生导师,中国天文学会天文学史专业委员会副主任,中国科学史学会理事,教育部高等学校历史学类专业教学指导委员会委员,国际东亚科学史学会副主席,国际天文学联合会历史仪器工作组主席,国际天文学联合会天文学与世界遗产工作组成员．英国Annal s of Science和德国East Asian Science,Technology ana Medicine等期刊编委。教育部精品视频公开课《科学简史-科学革命篇》主讲人。在国内外期刊上发表学术论文90多篇,有多部著作出版。