One Sentence Summary
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Hawking writes in non-technical terms about the structure, origin, development and eventual fate of the universe, which is the object of study of astronomy and modern physics.
Best Quotes
“The universe doesn't allow perfection.”
“What did God do before he created the universe?”
“The increase of disorder or entropy is what distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time.”
Key Takeaways
- He begins with the earlier ways people understood the universe and moves to the present day, where many theories exist for specific pieces of the whole picture, but none of the theories cover the universe in its entirety.
- Hawking uses two fundamental theories: general relativity and quantum mechanics.
- General relativity is Einstein’s theory, involving innovative ideas of space, time, matter, and gravity that enabled him and others to deepen their understanding of the large-scale structure of the universe.
- Quantum mechanics, developed by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg and others, enabled scientists to understand puzzling phenomena at the subatomic level.
- After Aristotle and Pythagoras’s discoveries, the next step in human evolution linked to our planet took the renowned Polish Priest and astrologist Nicholas Copernicus almost 1,800 years ago. Inspired by these philosophers, he started the long-term examination of how actually things unfold in the universe.
About author
- Stephen Hawking (born 8 January 1942 – died 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology.
- Probably many people consider him as the righteous successor of Albert Einstein in the field of physics, philosophy, and evolution.
