A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking is a novel about the known range of time from the big bang up to black holes. Hawking talks about different theories and how they have changed over time from Copernicus to himself. He combines all known physics and astrophysics and displays them quickly and simply. He states that the goal of science is to able to accurately describe the universe in one theory. As he tells about theories that have disproved other theories of that time, it is proof that science is an ever-changing.
About 13.8 billion years have passed and only in the past 100 years have humans even come close to figuring out how it started. Georges Lemaitre was the first to propose the idea of the ‘big bang theory’ as the creation of the universe. the big bang theory states that all matter in the universe was originally condensed into an area smaller than the ball of a ballpoint pen and the radius rapidly expanded at a rate of one million million million million million times in less than a millionth of a second. That idea is generally accepted by most scientists, but not all scientists agree. Some scientists have created various other creation theories. Such as the steady state theory which was unveiled in 1948 by two men by the names of Hermann Bondi and Thomas Gold. Bondi and Gold had worked with Fred Hoyle to create this theory. The steady State theory suggested that galaxies were constantly moving away from each other and in between the galaxies, new galaxies would form out of newly created matter keeping the universe semi-uniform in appearance. But the steady state theory was short-lived due to new scientific discoveries, like microwave radiation. But the origin of the universe is still highly debated. One thing scie...
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...me or anti-matter more and string theory, I do not understand string theory. It was interesting to learn about his life throughout this book. I did not really understand particle spin concept. It was cool to see how much has changed in just twenty five years, I would love to see an update on the ideas presented in this book. Steven Hawking is one of the smartest people to ever live, let alone a physicist. It was a rather inspiring life story too because his parents were educated but not rich, he went to college and despite his disease he developed, he still went on to be an excellent physicist and be internationally recognized as a genius. It was great that he had an index and glossary to go back and re-read certain sections I did not get the first time. I can not wait to see what scientific developments will come in the future!
Works Cited
A Brief History of Tume
My initial reaction to the words “You’re next book you will be reading is Into Thin Air” was definitely not me jumping up and down in my seat out of joy. I’ll admit I was not looking forward to reading this book at all. I tried putting off reading it for as long as possible, but then realized that I should just try reading the first chapter. After reading the first chapter I was completely hooked and I couldn’t get enough of the book. Jon Krakauer does a phenomenal job at keeping the reader engaged with what is happening throughout the book. You get an astounding story of the struggles that come with climbing Mount Everest and a wonderful background of the mountain and its history.
For the Science Reader project, I read Black Holes, Wormholes, and Time Machines by Jim Al-Khalili. Interested in time travel and the secrets of space, I chose this book with hopes of better understanding our universe.
reality normally consists of two parts: a) A set of local laws that are obeyed
The first three chapters of A Brief History of Time cover a variety of topics. In chapter one, Stephen Hawking tries to provide a single theory to describe the entire universe. Chapter two describes some of the ideas that scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, and physicians of the past had about gravity and theories of motion. The third chapter in the book talks about the work of many scientists of the past concerning whether the universe is expanding or not. In each chapter, Stephen Hawking describes several different things to solve the huge idea of the entire universe.
Hawking, Stephen. “Our Picture of the Universe.” Fields of Reading. 6th ed. Ed. Nancy R. Comely et al. New York: St. Martin’s, 2001. (565-574)
Part I: The Edge of Knowledge Chapter 1: Tied Up with Strings This is the introductory section, where the author, Brian Greene, examines the fundamentals of what is currently proven to be true by experimentation in the realm of modern physics. Green goes on to talk more about "The Basic Idea" of string theory. He describes how physicists are aspiring to reach the Theory of Everything, or T.O.E. Some suspect when string theory is completely understood that it might turn out to become the T.O.E.Part II: The Dilemma of Space, Time, and Quanta Chapter 2: Space, Time, and the Eye of the Beholder In the chapter, Greene describes how Albert Einstein solved the paradox about light. In the mid-1800's James Maxwell succeeded in showing that light was actually an electromagnetic wave.
At a young age, Hawking began to suffer from ALS and the disease started to deteriorate the muscles in his body, which as a result affected his mobility and speech. Hawking’s disability gave him a headway into studying deeper in the field of science. As a result, Hawking has developed many respected theorem and ideas that have changed Hawking. Hawking already possessed skills and the knowledge, but because of his hurdles of adversity he was able to develop many more theorems and ideas that are applied today.
A Brief History of Time was meant to explain the basic ideas of laws that govern the universe. Hawking said that "Equations are necessary if you are doing accountancy, but they are the boring part of Mathematics. Most of the interesting ideas can be conveyed by words or pictures". The book was published on April Fool's Day, 1988--6 years after he started writing it. Since then it has been translated into 30 languages, and has sold about 5.5 million copies.
Dr. Stephen Hawking is one of the most recognizable and influential scientists since Einstein. He was born on January 8, 1942, 300 years after the death of Galileo. As a child, he was always interested in science. He spent many days and nights looking up at the stars or making fireworks with his father. He also spent time making complicated board games with his friends (McDaniel 26-28). At the age of eight, his family moved to St. Albans, where he was enrolled at the St. Albans School. Although Hawking was not the best student, he went on to Oxford University in 1959, where he graduated with a degree in natural science three years later (Hawking 1). That same year, he went to Cambridge University to pursue his Ph.D. in cosmology, but was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) one year later, in 1963. This prompted him to work harder at his schoolwork, as he was only given two years to live. In 1965, Hawking married Jane Wilde, an undergraduate student majoring in world languages at Cambridge University. He became extremely interested in the work of Roger Penrose, a cosmologist who had just explained how black holes begin from collapsing stars (Biography.com 17). In 1974 Hawking made the discovery of Hawking radiation, which escapes from black holes. This is one of the most recognized and revolutionary discoveries in cosmology. Dr. Stephen Hawking positively changed the world scientifically and socially, despite being crippled by a deadly disease.
...plicating a type of gravity that does not have to travel through extra dimensions like the gravity we experience in our daily lives. What is so special about these experiments at CERN is that they will be some of the first physical evidence proving Hawking’s black hole theories. If these black holes are created, it would make the possibility of string theory and extra dimensions quite likely. This will help lead to further research into the string and super-symmetry theories and eventually an understanding of the entire universe. Perhaps Hawking’s most far-fetched proposal is his no-boundary condition (supported by scientific evidence). He believes that the universe randomly comes about like bubbles in flowing water. Time starts when this universe is created. Our universe, according to Hawking, has no creator and exists entirely on its own, perhaps forever.
...at this book should be included with all works that hold a high literary merit. This book appeals to a wide scope of people; it relates the complicated aspects of physics in a manner that can be understood by much of the general public. More than that, this novel gives the reader a glimpse into Feynman himself. The reader can now see how he thinks and functions, additionally, it allows the reader to preview what it may have been like to be in one of Feynman’s classes. This man is considered a modern day genius, and just the chance to further see what he is actually like, is something that allows for this book to be valued more highly.
Next to cosmology, Hawking is one of many physicists who are seeking out a flawless theory of Quantum Gravity. This topic is listed under the "Stephen Hawking" Wikipedia entry as one of Hawking's primary fields of research.
The big bang theory is an attempt to explain how the world began. The big bang theory begins with what is called a “singularity.” This term is used to describe an area in space which defies all the known laws of physics. Singularities are thought to exist at the core of black holes. Black holes are areas of intense gravitational pressure. The pressure is thought to be so intense that matter is pressed together into an infinite amount of pressure. The dense hot mass of the singularity slowly expanded. This process is called inflation. As the singularity expanded the universe went from dense and hot to cool and expansive. Inflation is still continuing on today which means that the universe is continually expanding.
Since the dawn of intelligent man, humanity has speculated about the origins of the universe.
To continue, Hawking published another book A Brief History Of Time it became London’s best seller and it mostly focused on cosmology. Then years later him and Jane divorced, she felt pressured and overwhelmed with taking care of Stephen and his medical help.