A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes is a

popular-science book on cosmology by English physicist Stephen A Brief History of Time
Hawking.[1] It was first published in 1988. Hawking wrote the book
for readers without prior knowledge of the universe and people who
are just interested in learning something new.

In A Brief History of Time, Hawking writes in non-technical terms

about the structure, origin, development and eventual fate of the
Universe, which is the object of study of astronomy and modern
physics. He talks about basic concepts like space and time, basic
building blocks that make up the Universe (such as quarks) and the
fundamental forces that govern it (such as gravity). He writes about
cosmological phenomena such as the Big Bang and black holes. He
discusses two major theories, general relativity and quantum
mechanics, that modern scientists use to describe the Universe.
Finally, he talks about the search for a unifying theory that describes
everything in the Universe in a coherent manner.

The book became a bestseller and sold more than 25 million copies.[2]
First edition
Author Stephen Hawking
Contents Country United Kingdom
Publication Language English
Contents Subject Cosmology
Chapter 1: Our Picture of the Universe
Genre Popular Science
Chapter 2: Space and Time
Chapter 3: The Expanding Universe Publisher Bantam Dell
Publishing Group
Chapter 4: The Uncertainty Principle
Chapter 5: Elementary Particles and Forces of Nature Publication 1988
date
Chapter 6: Black Holes
Chapter 7: Hawking Radiation Media type Print (Hardcover and
Paperback)
Chapter 8: The Origin and Fate of the Universe
Chapter 9: The Arrow of Time Pages 256
Chapter 10: Wormholes and Time Travel ISBN 978-0-553-10953-5
Chapter 11: The Unification of Physics OCLC 39256652 (https://w
Chapter 12: Conclusion ww.worldcat.org/oclc/
Editions 39256652)

Film Dewey 523.1 21

Decimal
Apps
LC Class QB981 .H377 1998
Opera
Followed by Black Holes and
See also Baby Universes and
References Other Essays
External links

Publication
Early in 1983, Hawking first approached Simon Mitton, the editor in charge of astronomy books at Cambridge
University Press, with his ideas for a popular book on cosmology. Mitton was doubtful about all the equations
in the draft manuscript, which he felt would put off the buyers in airport bookshops that Hawking wished to
reach. With some difficulty, he persuaded Hawking to drop all but one equation.[3] The author himself notes in
the book's acknowledgements that he was warned that for every equation in the book, the readership would be
halved, hence it includes only a single equation: . The book does employ a number of complex
models, diagrams, and other illustrations to detail some of the concepts that it explores.

Contents
In A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking attempts to explain a range of subjects in cosmology, including
the Big Bang, black holes and light cones, to the non-specialist reader. His main goal is to give an overview of
the subject, but he also attempts to explain some complex mathematics. In the 1996 edition of the book and
subsequent editions, Hawking discusses the possibility of time travel and wormholes and explores the
possibility of having a Universe without a quantum singularity at the beginning of time.

Chapter 1: Our Picture of the Universe

In the first chapter, Hawking discusses the history of astronomical

studies, including the ideas of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Aristotle, unlike
many other people of his time, thought that the Earth was round. He
came to this conclusion by observing lunar eclipses, which he thought
were caused by the Earth's round shadow, and also by observing an
increase in altitude of the North Star from the perspective of observers
situated further to the north. Aristotle also thought that the Sun and
stars went around the Earth in perfect circles, because of "mystical
reasons". Second-century Greek astronomer Ptolemy also pondered
the positions of the Sun and stars in the Universe and made a
planetary model that described Aristotle's thinking in more detail. Ptolemy's Earth-centric model about
the location of the planets, stars, and
Today, it is known that the opposite is true: the Earth goes around the Sun
Sun. The Aristotelian and Ptolemaic ideas about the position of the
stars and Sun were overturned by a series of discoveries in the 16th,
17th, and 18th centuries. The first person to present a detailed argument that the Earth revolves around the Sun
was the Polish priest Nicholas Copernicus, in 1514. Nearly after a century later, Galileo Galilei, an Italian
scientist, and Johannes Kepler, a German scientist, studied how the moons of some planets moved in the sky,
and used their observations to validate Copernicus's thinking.

To fit the observations, Kepler proposed an elliptical orbit model instead of a circular one. In his 1687 book on
gravity, Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton used complex mathematics to further support Copernicus's idea.
Newton's model also meant that stars, like the Sun, were not fixed but, rather, faraway moving objects.
Nevertheless, Newton believed that the Universe was made up of an infinite number of stars which were more
or less static. Many of his contemporaries, including German philosopher Heinrich Olbers, disagreed.
The origin of the Universe represented another great topic of study and debate over the centuries. Early
philosophers like Aristotle thought that the Universe has existed forever, while theologians such as St.
Augustine believed it was created at a specific time. St. Augustine also believed that time was a concept that
was born with the creation of the Universe. More than 1000 years later, German philosopher Immanuel Kant
argued that time had no beginning.

In 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that most galaxies are moving away from each other, which
could only be explained if the Universe itself was growing in size. Consequently, there was a time, between
ten and twenty billion years ago, when they were all together in one singular extremely dense place. This
discovery brought the concept of the beginning of the Universe within the province of science. Today,
scientists use two theories, Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, which
partially describe the workings of the Universe. Scientists are still looking for a complete Grand Unified
Theory that would describe everything in the Universe. Hawking believes that the discovery of a complete
unified theory may not aid the survival of our species, and may not even affect our life-style, but that
humanity's deepest desire for knowledge is justification enough for our continuing quest, and that our goal is
nothing less than a complete description of the Universe we live in.[4]

Chapter 2: Space and Time

Stephen Hawking describes how Aristotle's theory of absolute space came to an end following the
introduction of Newtonian mechanics. In this description, whether an object is 'at rest' or 'in motion' depends
on the inertial frame of reference of the observer; an object may be 'at rest' as viewed by an observer moving in
the same direction at the same speed, or 'in motion' as viewed by an observer moving in a different direction
and/or at a different speed. There is no absolute state of 'rest'. Moreover, Galileo Galilei also disproved
Aristotle's theory that heavier bodies fall more quickly than lighter ones. He experimentally proved this by
observing the motion of objects of different weights and concluded that all objects would fall at the same rate
and would reach the bottom at the same time unless an external force acted on them.

Aristotle and Newton believed in absolute time. They believed that if an event is measured using two accurate
clocks in different states of motion from each other, they would agree on the amount of time that has passed
(today, this is known to be untrue). The fact that the light travels with a finite speed was first explained by the
Danish scientist Ole Rømer, by his observation of Jupiter and one of its moons Io. He observed that Io appears
at different times when it revolves around Jupiter because the distance between Earth and Jupiter changes over
time.

The actual propagation of light was described by James Clerk Maxwell who concluded that light travels in
waves moving at a fixed speed. Maxwell and many other physicists argued that light must travel through a
hypothetical fluid called aether, which was disproved by the Michelson–Morley experiment. Einstein and
Henri Poincaré later argued that there is no need for aether to explain the motion of light, assuming that there is
no absolute time. The special theory of relativity is based on this, arguing that light travels with a finite speed
no matter what the speed of the observer is. Moreover, the speed of light is the fastest speed at which any
information can travel.

Mass and energy are related by the famous equation , which explains that an infinite amount of
energy is needed for any object with mass to travel at the speed of light. A new way of defining a metre using
speed of light was developed. "Events" can also be described by using light cones, a spacetime graphical
representation that restricts what events are allowed and what are not based on the past and the future light
cones. A 4-dimensional spacetime is also described, in which 'space' and 'time' are intrinsically linked. The
motion of an object through space inevitably impacts the way in which it experiences time.
Einstein's general theory of relativity explains how the path of a ray of light is affected by 'gravity', which
according to Einstein is an illusion caused by the warping of spacetime, in contrast to Newton's view which
described gravity as a force which matter exerts on other matter. In spacetime curvature, light always travels in
a straight path in the 4-dimensional "spacetime", but may appear to curve in 3-dimensional space due to
gravitational effects. These straight-line paths are geodesics. The twin paradox, a thought experiment in special
relativity involving identical twins, considers that twins can age differently if they move at different speeds
relative to each other, or even if they lived in different locations with unequal spacetime curvature. Special
relativity is based upon arenas of space and time where events take place, whereas general relativity is
dynamic where force could change spacetime curvature and which gives rise to the expanding Universe.
Hawking and Roger Penrose worked upon this and later proved using general relativity that if the Universe
had a beginning then it also must have an end.

Chapter 3: The Expanding Universe

In this chapter, Hawking first describes

how physicists and astronomers
calculated the relative distance of stars
from the Earth. In the 18th century, Sir
William Herschel confirmed the positions
and distances of many stars in the night
sky. In 1924, Edwin Hubble discovered a
method to measure the distance using the
brightness of Cepheid variable stars as
viewed from Earth. The luminosity,
brightness, and distance of these stars are
related by a simple mathematical formula.
Using all these, he calculated distances of
nine different galaxies. We live in a fairly
typical spiral galaxy, containing vast The expansion of the universe since the Big Bang
numbers of stars.

The stars are very far away from us, so we can only observe their one characteristic feature, their light. When
this light is passed through a prism, it gives rise to a spectrum. Every star has its own spectrum, and since each
element has its own unique spectra, we can measure a star's light spectra to know its chemical composition.
We use thermal spectra of the stars to know their temperature. In 1920, when scientists were examining spectra
of different galaxies, they found that some of the characteristic lines of the star spectrum were shifted towards
the red end of the spectrum. The implications of this phenomenon were given by the Doppler effect, and it was
clear that many galaxies were moving away from us.

It was assumed that, since some galaxies are red shifted, some galaxies would also be blue shifted. However,
redshifted galaxies far outnumbered blueshifted galaxies. Hubble found that the amount of redshift is directly
proportional to relative distance. From this, he determined that the Universe is expanding and had had a
beginning. Despite this, the concept of a static Universe persisted until the 20th century. Einstein was so sure
of a static Universe that he developed the 'cosmological constant' and introduced 'anti-gravity' forces to allow a
universe of infinite age to exist. Moreover, many astronomers also tried to avoid the implications of general
relativity and stuck with their static Universe, with one especially notable exception, the Russian physicist
Alexander Friedmann.

Friedmann made two very simple assumptions: the Universe is identical wherever we are, i.e. homogeneity,
and that it is identical in every direction that we look in, i.e. isotropy. His results showed that the Universe is
non-static. His assumptions were later proved when two physicists at Bell Labs, Arno Penzias and Robert
Wilson, found unexpected microwave radiation not only from the one particular part of the sky but from
everywhere and by nearly the same amount. Thus Friedmann's first assumption was proved to be true.

At around the same time, Robert H. Dicke and Jim Peebles were also working on microwave radiation. They
argued that they should be able to see the glow of the early Universe as background microwave radiation.
Wilson and Penzias had already done this, so they were awarded with the Noble Prize in 1978. In addition,
our place in the Universe is not exceptional, so we should see the Universe as approximately the same from
any other part of space, which supports Friedmann's second assumption. His work remained largely unknown
until similar models were made by Howard Robertson and Arthur Walker.

Friedmann's model gave rise to three different types of models for the evolution of the Universe. First, the
Universe would expand for a given amount of time, and if the expansion rate is less than the density of the
Universe (leading to gravitational attraction), it would ultimately lead to the collapse of the Universe at a later
stage. Secondly, the Universe would expand, and at some time, if the expansion rate and the density of the
Universe became equal, it would expand slowly and stop, leading to a somewhat static Universe. Thirdly, the
Universe would continue to expand forever, if the density of the Universe is less than the critical amount
required to balance the expansion rate of the Universe.

The first model depicts the space of the Universe to be curved inwards. In the second model, the space would
lead to a flat structure, and the third model results in negative 'saddle shaped' curvature. Even if we calculate,
the current expansion rate is more than the critical density of the Universe including the dark matter and all the
stellar masses. The first model included the beginning of the Universe as a Big Bang from a space of infinite
density and zero volume known as 'singularity', a point where the general theory of relativity (Friedmann's
solutions are based in it) also breaks down.

This concept of the beginning of time went against many religious beliefs, so a new theory was introduced,
"steady state theory" by Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold, and Fred Hoyle, to compete with Big Bang theory.
Its predictions also matched with the current Universe structure. But the fact that radio wave sources near us
are far fewer than from the distant Universe, and there were numerous more radio sources than at present,
resulted in the failure of this theory and universal acceptance of the Big Bang Theory. Evgeny Lifshitz and
Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov also tried to find an alternative to the Big Bang theory but also failed.

Roger Penrose used light cones and general relativity to prove that a collapsing star could result in a region of
zero size and infinite density and curvature called a Black Hole. Hawking and Penrose proved together that
the Universe should have arisen from a singularity, which Hawking himself disproved once quantum effects
are taken into account.

Chapter 4: The Uncertainty Principle

The uncertainty principle says that the speed and the position of a particle cannot be precisely known. To find
where a particle is, scientists shine light at the particle. If a high-frequency light is used, the light can find the
position more accurately but the particle's speed will be less certain (because the light will change the speed of
the particle). If a lower frequency is used, the light can find the speed more accurately but the particle's
position will be less certain. The uncertainty principle disproved the idea of a theory that was deterministic, or
something that would predict everything in the future.

The wave–particle duality behavior of light is also discussed in this

chapter. Light (and all other particles) exhibits both particle-like and
wave-like properties.

Light waves have crests and troughs. The highest point of a wave is A representation of a light wave
the crest, and the lowest part of the wave is a trough. Sometimes more
than one of these waves can interfere with each other. When light
waves interfere with each other, they behave as a single wave with
properties different from those of the individual light waves.

Chapter 5: Elementary Particles and Forces of

Nature

Quarks and other elementary particles are the topic of this chapter.

Quarks are elementary particles which comprise the majority of matter

in the universe. There are six different "flavors" of quarks: up, down,
strange, charm, bottom, and top. Quarks also have three "colors": red,
green, and blue. There are also antiquarks, which differ in some Light interference causes many
properties from quarks. colours to appear.

All particles (for example, the quarks) have a property called spin.
The spin of a particle shows us what a particle looks like from
different directions. For example, a particle of spin 0 looks the same
from every direction. A particle of spin 1 looks different in every
direction unless the particle is spun completely around (360 degrees).
Hawking's example of a particle of spin 1 is an arrow. A particle of
spin two needs to be turned around halfway (or 180 degrees) to look A particle of spin 1 needs to be
the same. turned around all the way to look the
same again, like this arrow.
The example given in the book is of a double-headed arrow. There
are two groups of particles in the Universe: particles with a spin of 1/2
(fermions), and particles with a spin of 0, 1, or 2 (bosons). Only
fermions follow the Pauli exclusion principle. Pauli's exclusion principle (formulated by Austrian physicist
Wolfgang Pauli in 1925) states that fermions cannot share the same quantum state (for example, two "spin up"
protons cannot occupy the same location in space). If fermions did not follow this rule, then complex structures
could not exist.

Bosons, with a spin of 0, 1, or 2, do not follow the exclusion

principle. Some examples of these particles are virtual gravitons and
virtual photons. Virtual gravitons have a spin of 2, and carry the force
of gravity. This means that when gravity affects two things, virtual
gravitons are exchanged between them. Virtual photons have a spin of
1 and carry the electromagnetic force, which holds atoms together.

Besides the force of gravity and the electromagnetic forces, there are
weak and strong nuclear forces. The weak nuclear force is responsible
for radioactivity. The weak nuclear force affects mainly fermions. The
strong nuclear force binds quarks together into hadrons, usually
neutrons and protons, and also binds neutrons and protons together
into atomic nuclei. The particle that carries the strong nuclear force is
A proton consists of three quarks,
the gluon. Due to a phenomenon called color confinement, quarks
which are different colours due to
and gluons are never found on their own (except at extremely high colour confinement.
temperature), and are always 'confined' within hadrons.

At extremely high temperature, the electromagnetic force and weak

nuclear force behave as a single electroweak force. It is expected at even higher temperature, the electroweak
force and strong nuclear force would also behave as a single force. Theories which attempt to describe the
behavior of this "combined" force are called Grand Unified Theories, which may help us explain many of the
mysteries of physics that scientists have yet to solve.

Chapter 6: Black Holes

Black holes are regions of spacetime where gravity is so strong that

nothing can escape from within it. Most black holes are formed when
very massive stars collapse at the end of their lives. A star must be at
least 25 times heavier than the Sun to collapse into a black hole. The
boundary around a black hole from which no particle can escape to
the rest of spacetime is called the event horizon.

Black holes that do not rotate have spherical symmetry. Others that
have rotational angular momentum have only axisymmetry.
A black hole, showing how it distorts
Black holes are difficult for astronomers to find because they don't its background image through
produce any light. One can be found when it consumes a star. When gravitational lensing.
this happens, the infalling matter lets out powerful X-rays, which can
be seen by telescopes.

In this chapter, Hawking talks about his famous bet with another scientist, Kip Thorne, that he made in 1974.
Hawking argued that black holes did not exist, while Thorne argued that they did. Hawking lost the bet as
new evidence proved that Cygnus X-1 was indeed a black hole.

Chapter 7: Hawking Radiation

This chapter discusses an aspect of black hole behavior that Stephen Hawking discovered.

According to older theories, black holes can only become larger, and never smaller, because nothing which
enters a black hole can come out. However, in 1974, Hawking published a new theory which argued that
black holes can "leak" radiation. He imagined what might happen if a pair of virtual particles appeared near
the edge of a black hole. Virtual particles briefly 'borrow' energy from spacetime itself, then annihilate with
each other, returning the borrowed energy and ceasing to exist. However, at the edge of a black hole, one
virtual particle might be trapped by the black hole while the other escapes. Because of the second law of
thermodynamics, particles are 'forbidden' from taking energy from the vacuum. Thus, the particle takes energy
from the black hole instead of from the vacuum, and escape from the black hole as Hawking radiation.

According to Hawking's theory, Black Holes must very slowly shrink over time because of this radiation,
rather than continue living forever as scientists had previously believed. Though his theory was initially
viewed with great skepticism, it would soon be recognized as a scientific breakthrough, earning Hawking
significant recognition within the scientific community.

Chapter 8: The Origin and Fate of the Universe

The beginning and the end of the universe are discussed in this chapter.

Most scientists agree that the Universe began in an expansion called the "Big Bang". At the start of the Big
Bang, the Universe had an extremely high temperature, which prevented the formation of complex structures
like stars, or even very simple ones like atoms. During the Big Bang, a phenomenon called "inflation" took
place, in which the Universe briefly expanded ("inflated") to a much larger size. Inflation explains some
characteristics of the Universe that had previously greatly confused researchers. After inflation, the universe
continued to expand at a slower pace. It
became much colder, eventually allowing
for the formation of such structures.

Hawking also discusses how the

Universe might have appeared differently
if it grew in size slower or faster than it
actually has. For example, if the Universe
expanded too slowly, it would collapse,
and there would not be enough time for
life to form. If the Universe expanded too
quickly, it would have become almost
empty. Hawking argues in favor of the
controversial "eternal inflation
hypothesis", suggesting that our Universe
is only one of countless universes with
different laws of physics, most of which
would be inhospitable to life. The Big Bang and the evolution of the Universe

The concept of quantum gravity is also

discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 9: The Arrow of Time

In this chapter Hawking talks about why "real time", as Hawking calls time as humans observe and experience
it (in contrast to "imaginary time", which Hawking claims is inherent to the laws of science) seems to have a
certain direction, notably from the past towards the future. Hawking then discusses three "arrows of time"
which, in his view, give time this property.

Hawking's first arrow of time is the thermodynamic arrow of time. This is the given by the direction in which
entropy (which Hawking calls disorder) increases. According to Hawking, this is why we never see the
broken pieces of a cup gather themselves together to form a whole cup.

The second arrow is the psychological arrow of time. Our subjective sense of time seems to flow in one
direction, which is why we remember the past and not the future. Hawking claims that our brain measures time
in a way where disorder increases in the direction of time – we never observe it working in the opposite
direction. In other words, Hawking claims that the psychological arrow of time is intertwined with the
thermodynamic arrow of time.

Hawking's third and final arrow of time is the cosmological arrow of time. This is the direction of time in
which the Universe is expanding rather than contracting. Note that, during a contraction phase of the universe,
the thermodynamic and cosmological arrows of time would not agree.

Hawking claims that the "no boundary proposal" for the universe implies that the universe will expand for
some time before contracting back again. He goes on to argue that the no boundary proposal is what drives
entropy and that it predicts the existence of a well-defined thermodynamic arrow of time if and only if the
universe is expanding, as it implies that the universe must have started in a smooth and ordered state that must
grow toward disorder as time advances.

Hawking argues that, because of the no boundary proposal, a contracting universe would not have a well-
defined thermodynamic arrow and therefore only a Universe which is in an expansion phase can support
intelligent life. Using the weak anthropic principle, Hawking goes on to argue that the thermodynamic arrow
must agree with the cosmological arrow in order for either to be observed by intelligent life. This, in
Hawking's view, is why humans experience these three arrows of time going in the same direction.

Chapter 10: Wormholes and Time Travel

Many physicists have attempted to devise possible methods by humans with advanced technology may be able
to travel faster than the speed of light, or travel backwards in time, and these concepts have become mainstays
of science fiction.

Einstein–Rosen bridges were proposed early in the history of general relativity research. These "wormholes"
would appear identical to black holes from the outside, but matter which entered would be relocated to a
different location in spacetime, potentially in a distant region of space, or even backwards in time.

However, later research demonstrated that such a wormhole, even if it possible for it to form in the first place,
would not allow any material to pass through before turning back into a regular black hole. The only way that
a wormhole could theoretically remain open, and thus allow faster-than-light travel or time travel, would
require the existence of exotic matter with negative energy density, which violates the energy conditions of
general relativity. As such, almost all physicists agree that faster-than-light travel and travel backwards in time
are not possible.

Hawking also describes his own "chronology protection conjecture", which provides a more formal
explanation for why faster-than-light and backwards time travel are almost certainly impossible.

Chapter 11: The Unification of Physics

Quantum field theory (QFT) and general relativity (GR) describe the
physics of the Universe with astounding accuracy within their own
domains of applicability. However, these two theories contradict each
other. For example, the uncertainty principle of QFT is incompatible
with GR. This contradiction, and the fact that QFT and GR do not
fully explain observed phenomena. These issues have led physicists to
search for a theory of "quantum gravity" that is both internally
consistent and explains observed phenomena just as well as or better The fundamental objects of string
than existing theories do. theory are open and closed strings.

Hawking is cautiously optimistic that such a unified theory of the

Universe may be found soon, in spite of significant challenges. At the time the book was written, "superstring
theory" had emerged as the most popular theory of quantum gravity, but this theory and related string theories
were still incomplete and had yet to be proven in spite of significant effort (this remains the case as of 2020).
String theory proposes that particles behave like one-dimensional "strings", rather than as dimensionless
particles as they do in QFT. These strings "vibrate" in many dimensions. Instead of 3 dimensions as in QFT or
4 dimensions as in GR, superstring theory requires a total of 10 dimensions. The nature of the six
"hyperspace" dimensions required by superstring theory are difficult if not impossible to study, leaving
countless theoretical string theory landscapes which each describe a universe with different properties. Without
a means to narrow the scope of possibilities, it is likely impossible to find practical applications for string
theory.

Alternative theories of quantum gravity, such as loop quantum gravity, similarly suffer from a lack of evidence
and difficulty to study.
Hawking thus proposes three possibilities: 1) there exists a complete unified theory that we will eventually
find; 2) the overlapping characteristics of different landscapes will allow us to gradually explain physics more
accurately with time and 3) there is no ultimate theory. The third possibility has been sidestepped by
acknowledging the limits set by the uncertainty principle. The second possibility describes what has been
happening in physical sciences so far, with increasingly accurate partial theories.

Hawking believes that such refinement has a limit and that by studying the very early stages of the Universe in
a laboratory setting, a complete theory of Quantum Gravity will be found in the 21st century allowing
physicists to solve many of the currently unsolved problems in physics.

Chapter 12: Conclusion

Hawking states that humans have always wanted to make sense of the Universe and their place in it. At first,
events were considered random and controlled by human-like emotional spirits. But in astronomy and in some
other situations, regular patterns in the workings of the universe were recognized. With scientific advancement
in recent centuries, the inner workings of the universe have become far better understood. Laplace suggested at
the beginning of the nineteenth century that the Universe's structure and evolution could eventually be
precisely explained by a set of laws, but that the origin of these laws was left in God's domain. In the twentieth
century, quantum theory introduced the uncertainty principle, which set limits to the predictive accuracy of
future laws to be discovered.

Historically, the study of cosmology (the study of the origin, evolution, and end of Earth and the Universe as a
whole) has been primarily motivated by a search for philosophical and religious insights, for instance, to better
understand the nature of God, or even whether God exists at all. However, most scientists today who work on
these theories approach them with mathematical calculation and empirical observation, rather than asking such
philosophical questions. The increasingly technical nature of these theories have caused modern cosmology to
become increasingly divorced from philosophical discussion. Hawking expresses hope that one day everybody
would talk about these theories in order to understand the true origin and nature of the Universe, and
accomplish "the ultimate triumph of human reasoning".

Editions
1988: The first edition included an introduction by Carl Sagan that tells the following story:
Sagan was in London for a scientific conference in 1974, and between sessions he wandered
into a different room, where a larger meeting was taking place. "I realized that I was watching
an ancient ceremony: the investiture of new fellows into the Royal Society, one of the most
ancient scholarly organizations on the planet. In the front row, a young man in a wheelchair
was, very slowly, signing his name in a book that bore on its earliest pages the signature of
Isaac Newton ... Stephen Hawking was a legend even then." In his introduction, Sagan goes
on to add that Hawking is the "worthy successor" to Newton and Paul Dirac, both former
Lucasian Professors of Mathematics.[5]

The introduction was removed after the first edition, as it was copyrighted by Sagan, rather than by Hawking
or the publisher, and the publisher did not have the right to reprint it in perpetuity. Hawking wrote his own
introduction for later editions.

1994, A brief history of time – An interactive adventure. A CD-Rom with interactive video
material created by S. W. Hawking, Jim Mervis, and Robit Hairman (available for Windows 95,
Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows XP).[6]
1996, Illustrated, updated and expanded edition: This hardcover edition contained full-color
illustrations and photographs to help further explain the text, as well as the addition of topics
that were not included in the original book.
 1998, Tenth-anniversary edition: It features the same text as the one published in 1996, but was
also released in paperback and has only a few diagrams included. ISBN 0553109537
2005, A Briefer History of Time: a collaboration with Leonard Mlodinow of an abridged version
of the original book. It was updated again to address new issues that had arisen due to further
scientific development. ISBN 0-553-80436-7

Film
In 1991, Errol Morris directed a documentary film about Hawking, but although they share a title, the film is a
biographical study of Hawking, and not a filmed version of the book.

Apps
"Stephen Hawking's Pocket Universe: A Brief History of Time Revisited" is based on the book. The app was
developed by Preloaded for Transworld publishers, a division of the Penguin Random House group.

The app was produced in 2016. It was designed by Ben Courtney (now of Lego) and produced by video
game production veteran Jemma Harris (now of Sony) and is available on iOS only.

Opera
The New York's Metropolitan Opera had commissioned an opera to premiere in 2015–16 based on Hawking's
book. It was to be composed by Osvaldo Golijov with a libretto by Alberto Manguel in a production by
Robert Lepage.[7] The planned opera was changed to be about a different subject and eventually canceled
completely.[8]

See also
Turtles all the way down – a jocular expression of the infinite regress problem in cosmology
that appears in Hawking's book
General relativity § Further reading
List of textbooks on classical mechanics and quantum mechanics
List of textbooks in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
Hawking Index – a mock mathematical measurement of how far people will read a book before
giving up, named in reference to Hawking's book.

References
1. A Brief History of Time is based on the scientific paper J. B. Hartle; S. W. Hawking (1983).
"Wave function of the Universe". Physical Review D. 28 (12): 2960.
Bibcode:1983PhRvD..28.2960H (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983PhRvD..28.2960H).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.28.2960 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevD.28.2960).
2. McKie, Robin. "A brief history of Stephen Hawking" (https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/a-bri
ef-history-of-stephen-hawking). Cosmos. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
3. Gribbin, John; White, Michael (1992). Stephen Hawking: a life in science. Viking Press.
ISBN 978-0670840137.
4. Bartusiak, Marcia. "A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME From the Big Bang to Black Holes" (https://arc
hive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/hawking-time.html). New York
Times. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
 5. Hawking, Stephen (1988). A Brief History of Time (https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofti00st
ep_1). Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-38016-3.
6. A brief history of time – An interactive adventure (http://www.worldcat.org/title/brief-history-of-tim
e-an-interactive-adventure/oclc/31854616/editions?start_edition=11&sd=desc&referer=null&se
=yr&editionsView=true&fq=dt%3Acom)
7. "Un nouveau Robert Lepage au MET" (https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/actualites-culturelles/3
13037/un-nouveau-robert-lepage-au-met). Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved 13 June 2020.
8. Cooper, Michael (29 November 2016). "Osvaldo Golijov's New Opera for the Met is Called Off"
(https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/arts/music/osvaldo-golijovs-new-opera-for-the-met-is-call
ed-off.html?mcubz=1). The New York Times.

External links
Photos of the first edition of A Brief History of Time (http://www.mansionbooks.com/BookDetail.
php?bk=205)

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