Big Bang
The bestselling author of Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Code Book tells the story of the brilliant minds that deciphered the mysteries of the Big Bang. A fascinating exploration of the ultimate question: how was our universe created?Albert Einstein once said: ‘The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.’ Simon Singh believes geniuses like Einstein are not the only people able to grasp the physics that govern the universe. We all can.As well as explaining what the Big Bang theory actually is and why cosmologists believe it is an accurate description of the origins of the universe, this book is also the fascinating story of the scientists who fought against the established idea of an eternal and unchanging universe. Simon Singh, renowned for making difficult ideas much less daunting than they first seem, is the perfect guide for this journey.Everybody has heard of the Big Bang Theory. But how many of us can actually claim to understand it? With characteristic clarity and a narrative peppered with anecdotes and personal histories of those who have struggled to understand creation, Simon Singh has written the story of the most important theory ever.
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Big Bang
The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About it
Simon Singh
Fourth Estate
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This edition published by Harper Perennial 2005
First published by Fourth Estate 2004
Copyright © Simon Singh 2004
Diagrams copyright © Raymond Turvey 2004
PS section copyright © Louise Tucker 2005,
except‘The Missing Pages’ by Simon Singh © Simon Singh 2005
PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
Simon Singh asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780007152520
Ebook Edition © NOVEMBER 2010 ISBN: 9780007375509 Version: 2017-01-04
‘Singh is a very gifted storyteller who never misses the chance to make his subject clearer or more entertaining’
SCARLETT THOMAS, Independent on Sunday
‘This very well-written book conveys the ideas underpinning cosmological theory with great clarity’
Nature
‘Singh uses beautifully simple analogies and clearly explained dia grams to enable even the most mathematically hobbled of us to recapitulate the history of man’s intellectual engagement with the dark spaces around him’
Sunday Telegraph
‘If you are intrigued by the story but wary of mathematics, do not worry; Simon Singh spares us most of the maths, and he juggles big ideas with tact and care’
Daily Mail
A model of clarity’
Economist
‘Singh tells his tale well, with chatty anecdotes leavening the astro physics’
Guardian
‘An epic tale brilliantly told, packed with courage and tragedy, heroes and martyrs’
Daily Telegraph
‘Even if the cosmologists don’t know where the universe is going, at least they have found out where it has come from. Anybody who wants to understand this wonderful achievement will not do better than start with Singh’s book’
Mail on Sunday
‘An excellent introduction to the way modern science works’
The Times Higher Education Supplement
This book would not have been possible without Carl Sagan, James Burke, Magnus Pyke, Heinz Wolff, Patrick Moore, Johnny Ball, Rob Buckman, Miriam Stoppard, Raymond Baxter, and all the science TV producers and directors who inspired my interest in science.
Place three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars.
JAMES JEANS
The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.
STEVEN WEINBERG
In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite.
PAUL DIRAC
The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths.
KARL POPPER
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
GALILEO GALILEI
Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun.
ANONYMOUS
Physics is not a religion. If it were, we’d have a much easier time raising money.
LEON LEDERMAN
Our universe is dotted ‘with over 100 billion galaxies, and each one contains roughly 100 billion stars. It is unclear how many planets are orbiting these stars, but it is certain that at least one of them has evolved life. In particular, there is a life form that has had the capacity and audacity to speculate about the origin of this vast universe.
Humans have been staring up into space for thousands of generations, but we are privileged to be part of the first generation who can claim to have a respectable, rational and coherent description for the creation and evolution of the universe. The Big Bang model offers an elegant explanation of the origin of everything we see in the night sky, making it one of the greatest achievements of the human intellect and spirit. It is the consequence of an insatiable curiosity, a fabulous imagination, acute observation and ruthless logic.
