TBD on Ning

Big Bang Didn't Need God, Stephen Hawking Says

PASADENA, Calif. — Our universe didn't need any divine help to burst into being, famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking told a packed house here at the California Institute of Technology Tuesday night (April 16).

Stephen Hawking began the event by reciting an African creation myth, and rapidly moved on to big questions such as, Why are we here?

He noted that many people still seek a divine solution to counter the theories of curious physicists, and at one point, he quipped, “What was God doing before the divine creation? Was he preparing hell for people who asked such questions?”

After outlining the historical theological debate about how the universe was created, Hawking gave a quick review of more scientific cosmological explanations, including Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold’s steady-state theory. This idea hypothesizes that there is no beginning and no end and that galaxies continue to form from spontaneously created matter.

Hawking said this theory and several other ideas don't hold up, citing recent observations by space telescopes and other instruments.

After giving a brief historical background on relativistic physics and cosmology, Hawking discussed the idea of a repeating Big Bang. He noted that in the 1980s, he and physicist Roger Penrose proved the universe could not “bounce” when it contracted, as had been theorized.

Therefore, time began at the moment of singularity, and this has likely occurred only once, Hawking said. The age of the universe — now believed to be about 13.8 billion years — fits that model, as the number and maturity of observed galaxies seem to fit in the general scheme.

In another observation of modern religion, Hawking noted that in the 1980s, around the time he released a paper discussing the moment the universe was born, Pope John Paul II admonished the scientific establishment against studying the moment of creation, as it was holy.

“I was glad not to be thrown into an inquisition,” Hawking joked.

He closed by outlining "M-theory," which is based partly on ideas put forward years ago by another famed physicist, Caltech’s Richard Feynman. Hawking sees that theory as the only big idea that really explains what he has observed.

M-theory posits that multiple universes are created out of nothing, Hawking explained, with many possible histories and many possible states of existence. In only a few of these states would life be possible, and in fewer still could something like humanity exist. Hawking mentioned that he felt fortunate to be living in this state of existence.

Hawking closed the event with a familiar plea for continued exploration of the cosmos: “We must continue to go into space for the future of humanity,” he said, adding, “I don’t think we will survive another thousand years without escaping our fragile planet.”

Hawking has been battling the debilitating neurological disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disase, for 50 years.

The physicist has been spending a month or so at Caltech, as he does each year, sequestered with colleagues, such as fellow theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, to discuss many great mysteries of the cosmos.

Really !!!???

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ioruach on April 18, 2013 at 10:05am

The fascinating world of Theoretical Physics! I believe that field offers a much more plausible explanation of our universe, to the extent that any is even possible, than does religion.

Permalink Reply by LoveLife&Laughter on April 18, 2013 at 11:08am

...but God obviously needed the BigBang :0)

Permalink Reply by LoveLife&Laughter on April 18, 2013 at 11:31am

Time Travel is not an option in Theoretical Physics, and not really in Relativity either. Time Travel is like God... only in your wildest imagination But bad hair day religiosity continues to confuss cosmology with cosmetology.

Permalink Reply by Ioruach on April 18, 2013 at 1:39pm

What? No wormholes? I can't go back to find the real path to fame and riches?

Permalink Reply by Lifesighs on April 18, 2013 at 2:29pm

I loved reading Richard Feynman's books, he was so human and so damned funny. I loved his breaking into safe's in those top secret places. This post was interesting.

Permalink Reply by exedir on April 21, 2013 at 8:31am

The Creation, and it is important that there be an explanation, which is why so many people and cultures create one, a creation. What it is also is an explanation of us, why we are here and who we are, what has happened and what will happen.

Hawkings is talking specifics while most everyone else just want a justification, to believe, to believe that life and living has a meaning, that life and living is not just grunts, snacks and self-sufficient behavior.

If the cosmos is chaotic and random, is there any point in being anything but chaotic and random. Most of us don't believe that, most of us believe in cause and effect, that the point of being is a responsibility, not a just a series of random acts dictated by self-preservation.

We have had this scientific question before as to the point of being with Darwin. Were we animals, survivors of natural selection, or were we the point of creation? Darwin said animal. Others, the divine result of specific acts that gave us dominion over others.

Whatever, the result is a civilization and events like the last week we have experienced; a collection of random and chaotic acts, or plan directed by the will or acts of a supreme power.

It is what you believe.

Permalink Reply by exedir on April 21, 2013 at 2:33pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XfuBRE...

Permalink Reply by Dennis Barsten on April 21, 2013 at 11:26am