History of Time

Nicole Lease

NSCI 110

November 20, 2003

A Brief History of Time

Hawking begins by explaining different theories about the creation of our universe and how it works. One of the theories Hawking addresses is the big bang theory, which he describes well and made me believe in, but he offers no definite answer as to where God fits into this theory, only more questions. Hawking then does an excellent job of explaining Einstein’s theories of relativity and goes on to state that coupled with quantum mechanics, some day they will aid scientists in developing a unified theory which will describe the whole universe.

Hawking’s chapter on space and time mainly consists of further details about the theories of relativity. Hawking explains that the speed of light is the only constant and that different view points of the same event offer different meanings. Because of this, it is impossible to know what happens at different places at the same time. Hawking then goes on to explain Friedmann’s theories on the expanding universe, which eventually were proved correct. Although I didn’t completely understand all of Friedmann’s theories, I do understand that they prove that the universe is not static which indicates that it must have had a beginning at one point.

In Hawking’s fourth chapter he attempts to explain quantum mechanics and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, both of which I still do not fully understand. I know that the uncertainty principle means that it is impossible to exactly predict certain outcomes, but rather allows for chances of outcomes. The uncertainty principle does not allow much room for determinism to remain true, which was difficult for some to accept. In the next chapter Hawking talks about characteristics and properties of elements and how they interact with each other to make different kinds of forces. The four categories of these forces are gravity, electromagnetic force, weak nuclear and strong nuclear force.

I thought...