Hawkin's Thesis of the Universe
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One of the foremost theoretical physicists, of our time, is Stephen W. Hawking. He states, in the acknowledgments of his book, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, that the purpose of this book is to describe the "basic ideas about the origin and the fate of the universe . . . in a form that people without a scientific education can understand" (vi). Stephen Hawking does not give a clear thesis statement for this book. An implied thesis of this book would be that humans have always sought to understand how the universe was created and works; with continued development of the Grand Unified Theory (GUT), complete understanding begins to be possible. He poses the age old questions of: "Where did the universe come from, and where is it going? Did the universe have a beginning . . . what happened before then?" (1). Breakthroughs in physics and technology suggest answers to some of these long asked questions which before now could only be answered with philosophy and theology (1). This book is mainly a description of these developments and theories. Stephen W. Hawking initiates his discussion, of the creation of the universe, with an overview of past and presently accepted theories. He is clear that all of these are just theories. No one knows for certain what happened at the beginning of the universe, or even, if there was a beginning of the universe. Hawking avoids taking a position on whether there was or is divine intervention in the world or u
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reaks down. Such a point is an example of what mathematicians call a singularity" (46). This definition is not complete enough for the way the term is used and pivotal throughout the rest of the book.
To understand what happens when classical mechanics breaks down at a singularity, quantum mechanics must be used. Hawking explains the importance of the uncertainty principle, in quantum mechanics, to finding a grand unified theory. In order to determine the future velocity and position of a particle, a person must be able to measure the particle's present position and velocity accurately; a person can not accomplish this, hence the uncertainty principle. When measuring a particle's position or velocity, the energy used to measure the particle affects the particle's speed or position (55) so it no longer behaves in the manner it would have without having been measured. The recorded measurements are no longer accurate.
Hawking uses particles to illustrate how the forces affecting particles and the force of gravity must eventually be linked into a grand unified theory. In the chapter of the book Elementary Particles and the Forces of Nature, Hawking is forced to utilize special terminology which would be difficult for mos
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2733
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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