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Stephen Hawkingâs A Brief History of Time explores fundamental questions about the origins and destiny of the universe, such as where everything came from and where it is headed. Advances in technology have enabled modern science to offer answers to these profound inquiries.
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Hawking begins by tracing significant scientific breakthroughs throughout history that have expanded our understanding.
For instance, while ancient Greeks like Aristotle realized the Earth was round, they mistakenly believed it was the center of the universe.
This geocentric view was challenged in 1514 when Nicholas Copernicus proposed that planets, including Earth, orbit the Sun.
In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton formulated laws of gravity, theorized that stars exert gravitational force on one another, and questioned whether the universe was infinite.
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No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory.
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Hawking highlights science's ultimate goal: to unify all theories into one comprehensive explanation. Currently, scientists rely on two major partial theories: the general theory of relativity, which addresses gravity and large celestial bodies, and quantum mechanics, which deals with the smallest known particles. However, these theories are inconsistent, and the quest for a unifying theory continues to fulfill humanityâs deep desire to understand its origins.
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Newtonâs concept of motion, forces, and relative distance challenged the notion of absolute space, much like the observations of a bouncing ping-pong ball on a moving train vary depending on the observer's location.
The idea of absolute time was further overturned in 1865 when James Clerk Maxwell discovered lightâs wavelengths,
Later refined by Albert Einsteinâs theory of relativity, which demonstrated that lightâs speed is constant and that massive objects warp space-time. This means neither space nor time is absolute.
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Einstein also introduced the cosmological constant, an anti-gravity force to explain the static universe, a notion later abandoned when Hubble showed galaxies moving apart. Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann proposed models of the universe, finite and infinite, and his work supported the Big Bang theory.
Wider acceptance of this theory followed Roger Penrose's studies on black holes, which Hawking extended to suggest a similar origin for the universe.
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These advancements dismantled earlier deterministic views, like those of the Marquis de Laplace, who believed that perfect knowledge of the universe's state could predict everything.
Werner Heisenbergâs uncertainty principle, which revealed the impossibility of precisely measuring a particleâs position and velocity simultaneously, further established the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics.
Scientists then discovered particles like electrons, protons, and neutrons, and Murray Gell-Mannâs 1969 Nobel-winning work identified quarks as their constituents.
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Black holes, a recurring theme, illustrate entropy and the laws of thermodynamics. John Michell in 1783 theorized that massive stars could trap light with their gravity. This idea evolved into the concept of event horizons and singularities, where infinite density disrupts physical laws. Hawkingâs work demonstrated that black holes emit heat and particles, making them potential energy sources.
Hawking also delves into the universe's origins, rejecting the idea of a singular beginning, positing instead that the universe has no boundary.
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Hawking discusses three arrows of time:
Thermodynamic (disorder increases)
Psychological (memory formation)
Cosmological (universe expansion)
Even if the universe contracts, disorder would still increase, meaning time wouldnât reverse. Advanced civilizations might manipulate space-time for time travel through wormholes or Einstein-Rosen bridges, but such ideas remain theoretical. The search for a unifying theory, such as string theory, continues. String theory envisions particles as waves on one-dimensional strings, requiring additional dimensions to function.
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