Great pop Science book.
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Simon Singh details the Scientific journey which produced the discovery and acceptance of the Big Bang.
The book is a chronological story. Singh begins with the foundations. He gives a clear overview of the early Aristotelian view of celestial bodies, followed by Copernicus' and Gallieo's Sun centered view and then Einstein's relativity. After this Le Maitre comes along, who showed the universe was expanding. This really is a critical stage as once its understood the universe is expanding, its more intuitive it had small beginnings. One senses the imminent Eureka!
But there's more! Hubble's discovery of other galaxys, the increased atomic understanding and the manifestation of reliable nuclear fusion theories. Singh ties them all together and explains how the Gaman, Alpher
and Herman came upon their Big Bang Hypotheisis.
However, things are never simple in such a ground breaking Scientific discovery. The theory wasn't complete and competiting with it was the Steady State Model. The cosmological community was divided.
Piece by the piece, step by step the Big Bang clawed it's way ahead of the Steady State model and eventually became widely accepted.
Some key moments:
1. The age of the universe was recalibrated - Baade and Sandage
2. Hoyle explained how heavier elements were formed upon the death of stars.
3. Radio Astromoney showed far galaxies and an uneven nature to the universe.
4. Penzias and Wilson discovered the CMB radiation predicted by Gaman, Alpher and Herman.
5. In 1992, the Cobe Satellite indicated variations in CMB radiation which indicated variations in densitiy in the early universe which would have created the early galaxies in the Big Bang Model.
The writing style is clear, concise and passionate. Got an interest in pop Science books? Put this on your shelf.
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The history of Big Bang theory explained
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Simon Singh is one of my favourite authors when it comes to popular science. I've enjoyed his books a lot, his style is both entertaining and educational at the same time. Big Bang is no different. By focusing his story on the colourful characters instead of equations, Singh makes the book easy to approach.
There's one thing to notice: the book is less about the Big Bang itself and more about the theory of Big Bang. Singh starts from the ancient Greek, describing how the whole concept of science was born and developed. Much of the book is devoted to the argument between Big Bang and steady-state universe theories. After reading this book, the reader will be familiar with the scientific process and the evolution of scientific paradigms.
Another success for Singh, and I'm definitely looking forward to whatever he's doing next. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)
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Detest Sci-Fi? Simon Singh is the Answer
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Simon Singh has put together one of the best books of the popular science genre. Tired of all the maternity literature, I bought the "Big Bang" in a desperate urge only the 8th month of pregnancy can ignite. And a wonderful read it was. He has the most complex formulas explained through a smooth narrative of historical development of the Big Bang theory. It is a most compelling evidence of a beautiful marriage the natural and humanitarian sciences may have if put together this masterfully. The best thing about it is that I now can fearlessly answer to my curious little ones' questions on where we come from and why.
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brilliant
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mr singn tells the biography of the BIG BANG theory with great skill. starting from the greeks view of the night sky, to the genius minds from, coppernicus, galileo, newton, einstein ect..
i found this book very fulfilling and easy, and has inspired me to read my on the cosmos.
a must buy for those who dont know much on the subject, but wish to.
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Once again, Simon Singh delivers a truly marvelous book
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I'm a Physics undergraduate, and upon reading Fermat's Last Theorem (also by Singh), I knew I was in for a treat when I picked this one up. As Fermat's Last Theorem was pretty much a brief history of maths, analogously Big Bang is a brief history of astronomy and cosmology.
As pretty much everyone else has said, Singh has a remarkable ability to convey every single one of his points and all of his information in an extremely clear and concise manner, and explains both simple and more complex concepts without sounding patronising.
One point I would like to make about this book is the sheer volume of reference to historical figures and discoveries in physics. Singh could quite easily have written this book without half as much of the historical background whilst maintaining the same level of content; however it is so right that such importance is given to these great thinkers, as we would certainly not be in the world we are in without them.
I think this book is perfect for people similar to my father (who I am buying this book for) who have (some) intelligence, are interested in educating themselves, but maybe do not have the physics background that some modern literature require.
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