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Stephen Hawking's Universe
Here is an intimate glimpse of the greatest scientist of our day, the brilliant physicist confined to a wheelchair whose A Brief History of Time has become the first worldwide scientific bestseller of the century. The story of Stephen Hawking's relentless quest for the secret of the origins of the universe will change forever the way you look at the stars . . . and your place among them.
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1984
26 people are currently reading
939 people want to read
About the author
John Boslough
16 books5 followersJohn Irvan Boslough was born June 18, 1942, in Charlotte, N.C., and later moved with his family to Denver. He graduated from East High School and earned a history of science degree at Princeton University. He worked as a logger, crab fisherman and construction worker in Alaska for two years.
He was editor of the Mountain Mail newspaper in Salida and worked at The Associated Press before joining The Post in 1974, where he worked until 1978. Part of his time with The Post he worked at the paper’s Washington, D.C., bureau.
He married Susan Raehn on Sept. 23, 1989.
Boslough loved science and covered the subject for The Denver Post and for U.S. News and World Report.
His Stephen Hawking book, “Beyond the Black Hole — Stephen Hawking’s Universe,” was translated into 10 languages and has been used in high school and college science classes, said his brother, Jim Boslough of Billings, Mont.
With astrophysicist John C. Mather, Boslough co-wrote two books, one on cosmology and another about a scientific journey back to the dawn of the universe.
He was editor of the Mountain Mail newspaper in Salida and worked at The Associated Press before joining The Post in 1974, where he worked until 1978. Part of his time with The Post he worked at the paper’s Washington, D.C., bureau.
He married Susan Raehn on Sept. 23, 1989.
Boslough loved science and covered the subject for The Denver Post and for U.S. News and World Report.
His Stephen Hawking book, “Beyond the Black Hole — Stephen Hawking’s Universe,” was translated into 10 languages and has been used in high school and college science classes, said his brother, Jim Boslough of Billings, Mont.
With astrophysicist John C. Mather, Boslough co-wrote two books, one on cosmology and another about a scientific journey back to the dawn of the universe.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
February 27, 2018
Factual and delightful!
I can't get enough of Stephen Hawking's books. Recommended reading.
Full 5 stars!
I can't get enough of Stephen Hawking's books. Recommended reading.
Full 5 stars!
February 26, 2023
I came across this book on a shelf in the living room and nobody in the household knew where it came from. Despite the uncertainties around its origins, I decided to read it anyway.
I could be thinking about this review for days to make sure it this does the book justice, on content but equally to appreciate Stephen Hawking himself, and everything he’s accomplished in the face of a debilitating disease.
I must point out, I’m not a physicist and so when it comes to many physics based concepts, my brain explodes like a black hole, yet unlike said black hole, emits nothing.
I’ve also been told recently that my ‘physics jokes’ are truly awful and I must stop. Harsh, but certainly fair.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book. It’s a short book and can be finished relatively quickly (depending on your experience of time). A thoughtful account of Stephen Hawking’s achievements in the field of theoretical physics and cosmology, as well as snippets of insight into Hawking as a human being and his excellent sense of humour.
For a non-expert this book provides a accessible introduction to many concepts surrounding the origins of the universe and the search for a unified theory that would explain the phenomena of what surrounds us, and help us to make sense of what we observe. This book was first published in 1984 and whilst the field of theoretical physics has progressed significantly over the years, I actually found this early account quite charming. I enjoyed reading about Hawking’s work and his cerebral journey through contemplation and development of theories such as the Big Bang, black holes, for example.
I’d recommend this to anyone with an interest in theoretical physics and cosmology, or even just a casual curiosity about the universe. It explains (most) things in a simple way, without over simplifying so you could read it without much prior knowledge and enjoy it. I got a little lost around chapter seven but not so much that I couldn’t get back on track, just about! I’d say this is a suitable warm-up to reading A Brief History of Time, which is on my shelf waiting to be read! It’s there, because I bought it.
The inaugural lecture from Hawking entitled ‘Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics?’ is included at the back, and was naturally more high level than the preceding chapters (I admit to googling ‘Pauli Exclusion Principle’) but nonetheless fascinating.
I enjoyed chapter 9 the most which discusses the anthropic principle, and whilst - with my limited knowledge of the topic - I have mixed feelings on it, I also think there’s something kind of poetic about the way Hawking summarises it; ´Things are as they are because we are’. Whether you believe that or not, that last part is a nice reminder.
I could be thinking about this review for days to make sure it this does the book justice, on content but equally to appreciate Stephen Hawking himself, and everything he’s accomplished in the face of a debilitating disease.
I must point out, I’m not a physicist and so when it comes to many physics based concepts, my brain explodes like a black hole, yet unlike said black hole, emits nothing.
I’ve also been told recently that my ‘physics jokes’ are truly awful and I must stop. Harsh, but certainly fair.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book. It’s a short book and can be finished relatively quickly (depending on your experience of time). A thoughtful account of Stephen Hawking’s achievements in the field of theoretical physics and cosmology, as well as snippets of insight into Hawking as a human being and his excellent sense of humour.
For a non-expert this book provides a accessible introduction to many concepts surrounding the origins of the universe and the search for a unified theory that would explain the phenomena of what surrounds us, and help us to make sense of what we observe. This book was first published in 1984 and whilst the field of theoretical physics has progressed significantly over the years, I actually found this early account quite charming. I enjoyed reading about Hawking’s work and his cerebral journey through contemplation and development of theories such as the Big Bang, black holes, for example.
I’d recommend this to anyone with an interest in theoretical physics and cosmology, or even just a casual curiosity about the universe. It explains (most) things in a simple way, without over simplifying so you could read it without much prior knowledge and enjoy it. I got a little lost around chapter seven but not so much that I couldn’t get back on track, just about! I’d say this is a suitable warm-up to reading A Brief History of Time, which is on my shelf waiting to be read! It’s there, because I bought it.
The inaugural lecture from Hawking entitled ‘Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics?’ is included at the back, and was naturally more high level than the preceding chapters (I admit to googling ‘Pauli Exclusion Principle’) but nonetheless fascinating.
I enjoyed chapter 9 the most which discusses the anthropic principle, and whilst - with my limited knowledge of the topic - I have mixed feelings on it, I also think there’s something kind of poetic about the way Hawking summarises it; ´Things are as they are because we are’. Whether you believe that or not, that last part is a nice reminder.
September 23, 2024
Hawking searched for a single substance that underlies all of reality. This might be found at the beginning of the Big Bang (or pre-Big Bang moment?), a point at which gravity pulled all matter-energy into a singularity. Here, the density is so great that the matter particles (electrons, quarks, neutrinos) and three of the four (2) force particles (gluons, photons, W-Z bosons) lacked differentiation and were in some philosophical sense something that was "One," something that preceded "the Many" that, post Big Bang, differentiated over time.
What this Hawking quest leaves unanswered (or not discussed by Boslough), is what creates the Big Bang explosion? Physicists know that with the electro-magnetic force, like charges repel and unlike charges attract, and presumably something similar happens with the quarks within the nucleus; physicists also know that the collapsing process of larger-scale stars push particles beyond a breaking point, resulting in supernova explosions. (3) Is there a connection between this forcing of energy-particles, in whatever form, into an incompatible "One" that results in the explosion process which creates "the Many" that differentiates over time? (4)
Regarding this interest in pulling together the four forces, gravity is the outlier (in what sense for the physicist I don't know). The forces that interact at the atomic and subatomic, microscopic scale involve attraction that allows for merger and combination via the transfer of energy, or repulsion that preserves some form of independence/integrity. Gravity is said to involve only an attractive force. (5) It acts on everything, pulling matter-energy toward the center, in effect in a singularity and Big Bang scenario, overwhelming everything (all atomic, sub-atomic matter-energy). (6) What is it - what is the single underlying force - that integrates energy and matter together like this? If it is gravity, what is it about gravity that overpowers repulsive forces, allowing attraction to reign supreme? Is the singularity result (black hole or pre-Big Bang) the One? Or, because the pressure is too intense, "the One" is, in the end, unstable and explodes to create movement, change, differentiation and "the Many" in the cosmos?
(1) "Hawking, like most theoretical physicists, now believes that the secret of the most elusive of all goals lies in the very early universe, the period within the first trillionth of a second after the beginning of the Big Bang. It is there when the four forces we see in our cold, stable universe were probably one."
(2) Gravity, operating at the macro level, pulls energy and matter into a singularity via mutual attraction. Interestingly, under general relativity, while matter-energy is pulled into a singularity, in quantum mechanics, there is no point. There is only a field.
(3) Hawking is known for his theorizing on black hole radiation, the seeping of energy out of a black hole. But if black holes are singularities like a pre-Big Bang moment, why wouldn't a black hole also explode? Boslough also writes that black holes "as Hawking tells it, are rips in the fabric of space and time so dense and distorted by unimaginable gravitational forces that for years physicists believed nothing could escape from one, including light." I don't understand what Boslough is stating. The "rip in the fabric of space and time" is rich in imagery, but it also suggests that the black hole is so massively heavy that it breaks through the "fabric" of space-time (whatever "fabric" means), as if it was some flat bed sheet (versus matter and energy being pulled from all directions toward a gravitational center). The next question, is "Into what?"
(4) In a post Big Bang scenario, energy is radiated outward, dissipating across space and time, in a generalized, entropic process, though there's a localized clumping of matter and energy into galatic clusters, galaxies, stars and planets. Isn't this internally propelled movement? Is this (per Einstein's special theory of relativity?) the uniform movement of cosmic matter and energy that is then acted upon (accelerated), as Einstein theorized with general relativity, by larger-scale bodies of matter-energy that depress the fabric of space-time, which guide other matter-energy toward the center? Interestingly, the reference to entropy -- "the amount of energy available to perform a physical task must always decrease," in a process of gradual "inutility" - seems to be defined in Earthly-human terms, as opposed, say, to a more cosmically-oriented process of "heat death," which is the lessening of power differentials and therefore movement and change within fields of matter and energy.
(5) Referencing Einstein, Boslough says that gravity is not a force "in the usual sense." Large masses do not literally pull smaller masses. Rather, they depress the "fabric" (which is?) of space-time, like a bowling ball sitting on a blanket, depressing it in the middle, and smaller masses merely following the natural trajectory in "the fabric" toward the center. The discussion of gravity is incomplete in this Boslough book. Heavy mass draws matter-energy into itself to a central point, but the Earth and planets are not drawn into the sun so other factors (distance per the inverse square law) plus speed and counter-pulling masses are also involved. Boslough also reverts to the traditional notion of gravity as a force when he references the "tug-of-war between the powerful outward-directed force" of a star's "heat and radiation" (electro-magnetic force, carried by photons?), and "the strong inward-directed force of gravity." Elsewhere, he refers to the pull of gravity on a person toward the earth and says that is the same as "inertia of his body resisting." Though gravity does not repel like an electric-magnetic charge, this statement suggests that gravity's attraction does have a flip side, which via inertia, resists (i.e., mutual attraction involves mutual resistance of sorts).
(6) If a star has a greater mass (1.4 times or more of the sun), the (Pauli?) "exclusion principle will be overpowered by gravitation....breaking atomic nuclei apart, destroying atoms."
What this Hawking quest leaves unanswered (or not discussed by Boslough), is what creates the Big Bang explosion? Physicists know that with the electro-magnetic force, like charges repel and unlike charges attract, and presumably something similar happens with the quarks within the nucleus; physicists also know that the collapsing process of larger-scale stars push particles beyond a breaking point, resulting in supernova explosions. (3) Is there a connection between this forcing of energy-particles, in whatever form, into an incompatible "One" that results in the explosion process which creates "the Many" that differentiates over time? (4)
Regarding this interest in pulling together the four forces, gravity is the outlier (in what sense for the physicist I don't know). The forces that interact at the atomic and subatomic, microscopic scale involve attraction that allows for merger and combination via the transfer of energy, or repulsion that preserves some form of independence/integrity. Gravity is said to involve only an attractive force. (5) It acts on everything, pulling matter-energy toward the center, in effect in a singularity and Big Bang scenario, overwhelming everything (all atomic, sub-atomic matter-energy). (6) What is it - what is the single underlying force - that integrates energy and matter together like this? If it is gravity, what is it about gravity that overpowers repulsive forces, allowing attraction to reign supreme? Is the singularity result (black hole or pre-Big Bang) the One? Or, because the pressure is too intense, "the One" is, in the end, unstable and explodes to create movement, change, differentiation and "the Many" in the cosmos?
(1) "Hawking, like most theoretical physicists, now believes that the secret of the most elusive of all goals lies in the very early universe, the period within the first trillionth of a second after the beginning of the Big Bang. It is there when the four forces we see in our cold, stable universe were probably one."
(2) Gravity, operating at the macro level, pulls energy and matter into a singularity via mutual attraction. Interestingly, under general relativity, while matter-energy is pulled into a singularity, in quantum mechanics, there is no point. There is only a field.
(3) Hawking is known for his theorizing on black hole radiation, the seeping of energy out of a black hole. But if black holes are singularities like a pre-Big Bang moment, why wouldn't a black hole also explode? Boslough also writes that black holes "as Hawking tells it, are rips in the fabric of space and time so dense and distorted by unimaginable gravitational forces that for years physicists believed nothing could escape from one, including light." I don't understand what Boslough is stating. The "rip in the fabric of space and time" is rich in imagery, but it also suggests that the black hole is so massively heavy that it breaks through the "fabric" of space-time (whatever "fabric" means), as if it was some flat bed sheet (versus matter and energy being pulled from all directions toward a gravitational center). The next question, is "Into what?"
(4) In a post Big Bang scenario, energy is radiated outward, dissipating across space and time, in a generalized, entropic process, though there's a localized clumping of matter and energy into galatic clusters, galaxies, stars and planets. Isn't this internally propelled movement? Is this (per Einstein's special theory of relativity?) the uniform movement of cosmic matter and energy that is then acted upon (accelerated), as Einstein theorized with general relativity, by larger-scale bodies of matter-energy that depress the fabric of space-time, which guide other matter-energy toward the center? Interestingly, the reference to entropy -- "the amount of energy available to perform a physical task must always decrease," in a process of gradual "inutility" - seems to be defined in Earthly-human terms, as opposed, say, to a more cosmically-oriented process of "heat death," which is the lessening of power differentials and therefore movement and change within fields of matter and energy.
(5) Referencing Einstein, Boslough says that gravity is not a force "in the usual sense." Large masses do not literally pull smaller masses. Rather, they depress the "fabric" (which is?) of space-time, like a bowling ball sitting on a blanket, depressing it in the middle, and smaller masses merely following the natural trajectory in "the fabric" toward the center. The discussion of gravity is incomplete in this Boslough book. Heavy mass draws matter-energy into itself to a central point, but the Earth and planets are not drawn into the sun so other factors (distance per the inverse square law) plus speed and counter-pulling masses are also involved. Boslough also reverts to the traditional notion of gravity as a force when he references the "tug-of-war between the powerful outward-directed force" of a star's "heat and radiation" (electro-magnetic force, carried by photons?), and "the strong inward-directed force of gravity." Elsewhere, he refers to the pull of gravity on a person toward the earth and says that is the same as "inertia of his body resisting." Though gravity does not repel like an electric-magnetic charge, this statement suggests that gravity's attraction does have a flip side, which via inertia, resists (i.e., mutual attraction involves mutual resistance of sorts).
(6) If a star has a greater mass (1.4 times or more of the sun), the (Pauli?) "exclusion principle will be overpowered by gravitation....breaking atomic nuclei apart, destroying atoms."
April 14, 2022
This was definitely a quick read considering how lazy I am with books. It was quite engaging from the start to finish. The author writes about his conversations with Stephen and the questions that he has almost resonate with what you would have asked if you had met him in person. Towards the end, the author goes into detail about the Bubble or Bang theory where personally I felt a bit lost. And finally "Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics?" by Mr. Hawking in the Appendix is a must read!
January 19, 2025
It was a quick and easy read (even though I took nearly a quarter of a year to finish it). I enjoyed comparing what scientists of the ‘80s understood about our world versus modern physics. Overall, it is a nice and short book detailing the life of an ‘equal of Einstein.’
July 3, 2011
Every time a police car or fire truck drives by, I explain to the person I'm with that we are currently experiencing the Doppler effect...and then I get into how scientists are able to figure out that starts and galaxies are moving away from us based on the same principle. The response I get: "You read too much."
I take it as a compliment, of course.
In Stephen Hawking's Universe, David Filkin does an excellent job of explaining to the average person (meaning someone who doesn't study astronomy or cosmology for a living) the history of Newtonian physics, how we know dark matter exists, how we can 'find' black holes, and Hawking's Theory of everything. It even comes with pictures!
I can't say that I learned too much, but that's mainly because I've already read A Briefer History of Time, where a lot of the information is the same. The good thing is that it's easier for me to remember this information. But if there's anything you ever wanted to know about today's science and how much we know about the universe, then this is the book to get. And who knows...next time you hear a siren, you might be able to dive into the principles behind the Doppler Effect!
I take it as a compliment, of course.
In Stephen Hawking's Universe, David Filkin does an excellent job of explaining to the average person (meaning someone who doesn't study astronomy or cosmology for a living) the history of Newtonian physics, how we know dark matter exists, how we can 'find' black holes, and Hawking's Theory of everything. It even comes with pictures!
I can't say that I learned too much, but that's mainly because I've already read A Briefer History of Time, where a lot of the information is the same. The good thing is that it's easier for me to remember this information. But if there's anything you ever wanted to know about today's science and how much we know about the universe, then this is the book to get. And who knows...next time you hear a siren, you might be able to dive into the principles behind the Doppler Effect!
December 27, 2007
Covers the basics of theoretical physics, such as the Big Bang , Big Crunch, black holes, bubble theory, and early history of the universe. Interesting stuff. Most of the book is written in layman language with the exception of the last chapter, which was a speech that Hawking gave at Cambridge.
January 23, 2011
Loved this book! I checked it out from our local public library, which doesn't always have the most modern options. But even a nearly 30-year-old biography of Hawking was fascinating. It definitely makes me want to read more by and about him.
February 26, 2008
A good overview of Hawking's early work, but a lot's happened in cosmological physics since the book was published. It'd be a good warm-up for A Brief History of Time.
September 19, 2008
An essential read. No answers to the God question, but The Anthropic Principle and the Big Bang arguments are quite compelling!
January 26, 2011
This is a great, if a bit dated, explanation of theoretical physics.
July 8, 2012
A decent quick introduction to many of the concepts developed/studied by Hawking through the early '80s. Hawking's own books provide much more depth.
February 5, 2020
Muy bueno. Lo compré sin querer junto con otros 5, y pues es mi primer libro de la colección de ciencia de Salvat. El libro está narrado a modo de entrevista, ya que Boslough estuvo en diversas ocasiones en el despacho de Hawking, en donde nuestro querído físico-teórico explica muchas cosas, desde el límite de Planck hasta los primeros minutos del Big Bang. Obviamente un tema importante en el libro es todo lo relacionado con los agujeros negros, en donde se nos habla mucho de Sir Roger Penrose, colaborador de Hawking, y del descubrimiento de la radiación de Hawking, lo cual demostró que los agujeros negros no son del todo negros, y eventualmente sentó las bases de la paradoja de la conservación de la información. El libro también explica mucho sobre particulas elementales, ya que Hawking se especializó en ese tema. El libro incluye ilustraciones y un discurso sobre el futuro de la física teórica.
September 25, 2025
This was very interesting to read. To save time for two books that I read at least 30 years ago, I’m going to post identical or nearly identical reviews of this book and Hawking’s own A Brief History of Time. Naturally, both books are written with a committed materialist worldview.
Here is a poignant observation from a blog at https://www.mikeduran.com/2018/03/17/...
Here is a poignant observation from a blog at https://www.mikeduran.com/2018/03/17/...
Stephen Hawking’s own worldview diminishes the import of his life, discoveries, and worth. Materialism ultimately renders his memory and discoveries moot.As with all of my pre-2000 books, the “Date finished” may be several years off. I entered the correct ISBN, but the cover image doesn’t match mine.
April 10, 2018
I enjoyed it as a very brief overview of some of Stephen Hawking's early work and how his work relates to some important physical theories.
The book is quite a bit outdated now although it was seemingly honest, considering various objections to theory.
I also found the book quite repetitive which is amazing considering the book is only 126 pages.
The quotes taken from discussions with Stephen were the thrill of the book for me.
Not a bad read if you're after a very quick look at Stephen Hawking's early work.
The book is quite a bit outdated now although it was seemingly honest, considering various objections to theory.
I also found the book quite repetitive which is amazing considering the book is only 126 pages.
The quotes taken from discussions with Stephen were the thrill of the book for me.
Not a bad read if you're after a very quick look at Stephen Hawking's early work.
December 29, 2017
It's a little outdated being nearly 30 years old but I'm interested in Hawking and the book was rather short. This was one of those books that I really had to concentrate on what I was reading. I found myself more than a few times reading over a section two or three times to better comprehend (or at least attempt to) what was being discussed. In some portions of the book, it was completely over my head. It was an okay introduction to Hawking.
March 9, 2020
This is a well-written book by someone who had face to face interaction with Hawking and was able to discuss his research and theories with intelligence. Much of the book was over my head, but I did enjoy and, I hope, understand at a layman's level the chapters on relativity , black holes, the Big Bang, and Hawking radiation.
October 22, 2020
This has been a good read. The author has put a lot of time and effort. Being a writer myself, I find it commendable. The content is decent and keeps you hooked for a long time. And some parts are simply minds blowing. I look forward to reading more books like this. All in all, a good experience for an avid reader like me.
October 25, 2020
Boslough presents wonderful and complex ideas in a fun and easily readable manner. Coupled with Stephen Hawking's wit and humour, this book is a great read for anyone interested in the big questions of the cosmos.
July 16, 2025
I enjoyed reading this more than I was expecting too. It was pretty simple to follow and read and an interesting follow, especially with some theories and thoughts I had not heard of before. It's interesting to find out how we came to some conclusions and what people still debated on.
May 8, 2018
Great read. A little bit on Hawking, the man himself, and a lot bit on the theoretical research that defined his life.
June 5, 2018
Really well written and brings vast science concepts down to a level that I think I maybe understood.
Space time continuum is not my strong suit. But a quick easy read.
Space time continuum is not my strong suit. But a quick easy read.
January 28, 2019
i like this book
April 20, 2019
Great intro to black holes and more:)
May 16, 2019
This passage is all about the great scientist Stephen Hawking's life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2017
A succinct of the scientific expertise of few of the brightest scientific minds of the human civilization, giving us the opportunity for a passionate glimpse into the greatest cosmological mysteries orbiting around the ever increasing conundrums emerging out of the vastness of the universe – How it was created? What triggered the initiation? What followed? And how it shall end?
All scientific approaches ceases functioning as science delves deeper into the cosmic. This scientific paralysis leads to the beginning of religious, mystical and para psychological speculations. Science and religious faith has always been the adversaries of each other, each contradicting and demeaning the conjectures of the other with a great vehemence.
Science and mysticism as what I feel should be complementary to each other, for the oldest outpouring of the human mind is the ideas and beliefs of the Eastern mysticism. Science is still being naive in not realizing that understanding Eastern mysticism might gain them with an insight into the cosmological reality.
All scientific approaches ceases functioning as science delves deeper into the cosmic. This scientific paralysis leads to the beginning of religious, mystical and para psychological speculations. Science and religious faith has always been the adversaries of each other, each contradicting and demeaning the conjectures of the other with a great vehemence.
Science and mysticism as what I feel should be complementary to each other, for the oldest outpouring of the human mind is the ideas and beliefs of the Eastern mysticism. Science is still being naive in not realizing that understanding Eastern mysticism might gain them with an insight into the cosmological reality.
October 24, 2016
I love science books
January 4, 2018
La escala histórica de tiempos está empapada de relatividad, no que esté aplicando la teoría de Einstein a ella, ni mucho menos con mi elemental nivel de física, sino que hace tres décadas conseguí éste librito en un kiosko de periódicos y ha estado reposando hasta ahora; y bueno, el tiempo pasa, el tiempo mata y como que estoy recuperando ese tiempo, perdido en lecturas postergadas; tan postergadas que la premisa científica del presente tomo ha quedado algo desactualizada ¿o no?
Boslough construye su narrativa en base a una serie de inicialmente dificultosas entrevistas a Hawking, básicamente porque a los gringos les es difícil conversar en inglés y peor aún con un inglés que estaba sufriendo los síntomas de su enfermedad que, entre otros, le afectaba la voz.
En ese momento se discutía en el universo de los físicos teóricos, acerca del Big Bang, la posibilidad de unificar las teorías que explican la cosmogénesis, partiendo de Newton, pasando por Maxwell, Einstein y Heisenberg hasta llegar a confrontar la teoría de la relatividad con la mecánica cuántica.
Las observaciones tanto astrofísicas como las experimentaciones en laboratorio, más las elucubraciones teóricas de super mentes tipo Hawking nos han permitido tener una explicación de los instantes iniciales del Big bang, hasta por lo menos 10 a la menos 34 segundos (el tiempo de Planck) y deducir la composición de la energía y su condensación en materia, la composición de ésta (hadrones y leptones) y los cuatro niveles de integraciones. Esto ha permitido también deducir la existencia de los Agujeros Negros pequeños y aislados que se originaron en el Big Bang, a diferencia de los "normales" producidos por el colapso de estrellas de gran masa.
No está mal para comenzar a ilustrarse a un nivel bastante básico.
Boslough construye su narrativa en base a una serie de inicialmente dificultosas entrevistas a Hawking, básicamente porque a los gringos les es difícil conversar en inglés y peor aún con un inglés que estaba sufriendo los síntomas de su enfermedad que, entre otros, le afectaba la voz.
En ese momento se discutía en el universo de los físicos teóricos, acerca del Big Bang, la posibilidad de unificar las teorías que explican la cosmogénesis, partiendo de Newton, pasando por Maxwell, Einstein y Heisenberg hasta llegar a confrontar la teoría de la relatividad con la mecánica cuántica.
Las observaciones tanto astrofísicas como las experimentaciones en laboratorio, más las elucubraciones teóricas de super mentes tipo Hawking nos han permitido tener una explicación de los instantes iniciales del Big bang, hasta por lo menos 10 a la menos 34 segundos (el tiempo de Planck) y deducir la composición de la energía y su condensación en materia, la composición de ésta (hadrones y leptones) y los cuatro niveles de integraciones. Esto ha permitido también deducir la existencia de los Agujeros Negros pequeños y aislados que se originaron en el Big Bang, a diferencia de los "normales" producidos por el colapso de estrellas de gran masa.
No está mal para comenzar a ilustrarse a un nivel bastante básico.
January 19, 2015
"We dance 'round in a ring and suppose, but the Secret sits in the middle and knows." (Robert Frost)
Buku terbitan 1985, dan merupakan 'the first popular introduction to the man and his work', katanya. Saya menandainya dengan 'it was ok' karena ini merupakan buku ke sekian tentang Hawking dan teori-teorinya yang pernah saya baca, jadi tidak banyak informasi baru yang saya dapat dari buku ini, malah cenderung kurang dan agak membosankan karena faktor usia buku ini. Tapi kembali lagi, 'it was ok'. Bahasanya ringan dan mudah dimengerti, penjabaran teorinya tidak terlalu mendalam. Bagian awal buku ini banyak menarasikan kehidupan pribadi Hawking, sesuai judulnya, 'Stephen Hawking's Universe'. Setidaknya buku ini menyegarkan kembali ingatan saya tentang event horizon dan pernyataan kontroversial Hawking baru-baru ini (yah, tidak baru-baru juga sih) "there are no black holes" (yang sebenarnya merupakan koreksi terhadap event horizon yang tentu saja, apparent horizon belum disinggung di buku ini :p). Juga tentang hukum kedua termodinamika yang sangat saya suka: entropi.
"Things are as they are because we are."
Buku terbitan 1985, dan merupakan 'the first popular introduction to the man and his work', katanya. Saya menandainya dengan 'it was ok' karena ini merupakan buku ke sekian tentang Hawking dan teori-teorinya yang pernah saya baca, jadi tidak banyak informasi baru yang saya dapat dari buku ini, malah cenderung kurang dan agak membosankan karena faktor usia buku ini. Tapi kembali lagi, 'it was ok'. Bahasanya ringan dan mudah dimengerti, penjabaran teorinya tidak terlalu mendalam. Bagian awal buku ini banyak menarasikan kehidupan pribadi Hawking, sesuai judulnya, 'Stephen Hawking's Universe'. Setidaknya buku ini menyegarkan kembali ingatan saya tentang event horizon dan pernyataan kontroversial Hawking baru-baru ini (yah, tidak baru-baru juga sih) "there are no black holes" (yang sebenarnya merupakan koreksi terhadap event horizon yang tentu saja, apparent horizon belum disinggung di buku ini :p). Juga tentang hukum kedua termodinamika yang sangat saya suka: entropi.
"Things are as they are because we are."
February 16, 2016
Of the Science writers who I love reading, Richard Feynman, James Gleick, Mary Roach, Simon Singh, there is a common characteristic. There is glee in their voice that comes from a childlike excitement for knowledge, a naive curiosity that is bolstered by the personalities of the scientists/ authors. Science is just a vehicle for them to go on an intellectual odyssey, a tool that helps them find prospective paths to answers of our most fundamental questions.
John Boslough reveres Hawking. He seems fairly erudite in Theoretical Physics. But it's one thing to know something, totally another to be able to convey about it in such a way that the reader's enthusiasm is lit. And there Boslough falls short. This is not a bad book as much an incomplete mishmash of all things Big Bang, Hawking's life and new discoveries in Cosmology. The difficulty level of the matter alternated between fairly understandable and way-over-my-head. Boslough didn't seem to have been clear about his target audience, or what exactly he wanted to talk about. Overall, not recommended.
John Boslough reveres Hawking. He seems fairly erudite in Theoretical Physics. But it's one thing to know something, totally another to be able to convey about it in such a way that the reader's enthusiasm is lit. And there Boslough falls short. This is not a bad book as much an incomplete mishmash of all things Big Bang, Hawking's life and new discoveries in Cosmology. The difficulty level of the matter alternated between fairly understandable and way-over-my-head. Boslough didn't seem to have been clear about his target audience, or what exactly he wanted to talk about. Overall, not recommended.
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