Big Bang: the Origin of the Universe.

BIG BANG: The Origin of the Universe SIMON SINGH

Although the quest to figure out the universe is as old as humanity, we are "the first generation who can claim to have a respectable, rational, and coherent description" for it, reports Singh. That description lies in the Big Bang theory, which has become the definitive answer to how our universe was born. Singh considers the evolution of this idea. He begins with the time of Copernicus and Galileo, when an Earth-centered universe first came under Question. Singh fast-forwards from there to the early 20th century, when Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity, which aided Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lemaitre in developing models for an evolving and expanding universe. During that time, Edwin Hubble showed how the direct relation between a galaxy's distance and velocity implies that the universe started in a small, condensed state Not everyone bought into this approach, and a compromise theory took hold: The steady state model said that the universe is expanding but also eternal. It wasn't until the mid-1960s that scientists using radio astronomy discovered cosmic microwave background radiation and pushed the Big Bang theory into prominence. Singh, a particle physicist as well as the author of Fermat's Last Theorem and The Code Book, skillfully explains the complex ideas underlying descriptions of the Big Bang. He livens up that science with anecdotes about the scientists who formulated it. Originally published in Great Britain in 2004.4th Estate, 2004, 532 p., b&w photos/illus., hardcover, $27.95.