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Cover of The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking

The Grand Design

  • 208 pages · about 3 hours
  • First published 2010
  • 28 editions

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1 About this book

When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? What is the nature of reality? Is the apparent grand design of our universe evidence for a benevolent creator who set things in motion? Or does science offer another explanation? In The Grand Design, the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe is presented, in language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.

The Grand Design explains the latest thoughts about model-dependent realism (the idea that there is no one version of reality), and about the multiverse concept of reality in which there are many universes.

There are new ideas about the top-down theory of cosmology (the idea that there is no one history of the universe, but that every possible history exists).It concludes with a riveting assessment of m-theory, and discusses whether it is the unified theory Einstein spent a lifetime searching for. This is the first major work in nearly a decade by one of the world s greatest thinkers.

Good for readers who want: physics and astronomy.

  • Mathematical physics
  • Physics
  • Astrophysics
  • Unified field theories
  • Cosmology
  • Recherche
  • Physique

2 About Stephen Hawking

1942–2018

Stephen William Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. Hawking was born in Oxford into a family of physicians.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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