A Rehash of “A Brief History Of Time”
Hawking re-organizes materials from “A Brief History Of Time” in a tree-like, instead of linear, format, explaining complex physics models as clearly as possible without the use of mathematical equations.
The theories of the black hole are based on principles of thermodynamics, Einstein’s curved space-time and the holographic principle. The latter states that all the information in a multi-dimensional space can be encoded on the boundary of such space, i.e., a surface with fewer dimensions.
Hawking believed previously that the theory of general relativity predicted the universe had a beginning and an end. Hence the Big Bang and Big Crunch theories. Conversely, he proposes an alternative “brane world” model where space-time (or space-imaginary time) does not have a start or end. The “brane world” is self-contained and without singularities, like the surface of the earth with extra dimensions.
Moreover, Hawking shows Feynman’s “Sum Over Histories” approach can help explore the probabilities of time travel and multiple universes. Contra Einstein’s famous dictum, “God does not play dice”, Hawking rejoins, “All the evidence is that God is quite a gambler.”
On Einstein
In Germany, the Nazis launched a campaign against “Jewish science” and the many German scientists who were Jews; … Einstein and relativity were principal targets of this campaign. When told of the publication of a book entitled 100 Authors Against Einstein, he replied: “Why one hundred? If I were wrong, one would have been enough.” … In 1948, he was offered the presidency of the new state of Israel but turned it down. He once said: “Politics is for the moment, but an equation is for eternity.” The Einstein equations of general relativity are his best epitaph and memorial. They should last as long as the universe.
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References:
- Hawking, Stephen. The Universe in a Nutshell. New York: Bantam Books, 2001.