"STEPHEN HAWKING'S UNIVERSE" "SEEING IS BELIEVING" ""Stephen Hawking's Universe" is made possible... by Alfred P. Sloan foundation to enhance public understanding... of the role of science and technology." "The Arthur Vining Davis foundations." "The corporation for public broadcasting." "And viewers like you." "Corporate funding is provided by Amgen." "Unlocking the secrets of life through biotechnology." "At Amgen, we produce medicines... that improve people's lives today... and bring hope for tomorrow." "Where do we come from?" "How did the universe begin?" "Why is the universe the way it is?" "Good morning." "Welcome to Gonville and Caius," "More commonly known as Caius college." "Caius college was founded in 1348" "By Edmund Gonville." "Where are we going?" "Now we come to the portrait" "Of probably our most famous caiusan," "Professor Stephen Hawking, the world-Famous cosmologist." "Like predecessor sir Isaac Newton before him," "He is lucasian professor of mathematics" "For the university," "And his particular sphere is research of the black hole" "And the history of the universe," "Culminating in his book "The Brief history of time"" "Which worldwide has sold over 8 million copies." "Hawking:" "All of my life, i have been fascinated" "By the big questions that face us," "And have tried to find scientific answers to them." "Perhaps that's why i have sold more books on physics" "Than madonna has on sex." "Now this is professor Hawking's study," "Which he will use when he's in residency in college." "He'll use this for his tutorials or meetings" "Or any private work he needs to do." "It is very much a personal room with his books" "And his portraits and pictures, so it's really a home from home" "When they're in college." "He's got an inherited disease, motor neuron disease." "He can project his voice with a synthesizer" "Which is attached to his wheelchair." "Hope you enjoyed your visit." "Bye." "Bye." "If, like me, you have looked at the stars" "And tried to make sense of what you see," "You too have started to wonder what makes the universe exist." "The questions are clear and deceptively simple," "But the answers have always seemed well beyond our reach" "Until now." "Narrator:" "Our view of the universe" "Has long been shaped simply by what we could see." "For thousands of years, that meant we understood" "Only what the naked eye could behold." "Now, new breakthroughs in science and technology" "Are rapidly advancing our horizons." "We are witness to the very brink of time and space." "Hawking:" "I want you to share my excitement" "At the discoveries, past and present," "Which have revolutionized the way we think." "From the big bang to black holes," "From dark matter to a possible big crunch," "Our image of the universe today" "Is full of strange-Sounding ideas" "And remarkable truths." "The story of how we arrived at this picture" "Is a story of learning to understand what we see." "Narrator:" "With every century," "Our eyes on the universe have been opened a new." "Only 75 years ago," "At the mount wilson observatory in california," "A young astronomer peered into a now-Primitive telescope" "And forever changed our understanding of the heavens." "His name Edwin hubble." "We know, thanks to hubble, that" "Altogether within the limits" "Of the observable universe" "There's something like 100 billion trillion stars." "It's a lot of stars." "And we now know thanks to recent discoveries" "Very recent discoveries also" "What we had believed but had no proof of," "And that is that many of those stars have planets." "So there are countless trillions of planets" "In the observable universe." "Narrator:" "This was among hubble's" "Most striking contributions" "Even as it was for his predecessors." "The more we learn about the universe," "The humbler the role we seem to play in it." "Jastrow:" "Two-Thirds of the stars and planets" "And life, if it's there, in the universe" "Are billions of years older than we are." "And if you ask what a billion years means" "In the history of life, i must tell you" "That a billion years ago" "The highest form of life on the earth was a worm." "Three billion years ago," "The highest form of life on the earth were bacteria." "So we must ask ourselves," "We who are so proud of our accomplishments," "What is our place in the cosmic perspective of life" "If most of those beings out there," "If they are there, stand in relationship to us" "As we do to the worms on this planet?" "And that is not meant to be a denigrating remark," "But only to suggest that humankind's greatest experiences" "Still lie ahead of us." "Narrator:" "It was the sumerians and babylonians" "Who first studied the workings of the heavens." "Tions laid the groundwork" "For the ancient greeks who followed." "They could see the stars" "And wonder about the sky and the heavens" "But they had very little information indeed" "Just what their eyes could pick up." "They thought that everything they knew came out of the water." "Obviously water was a very important substance," "And so they gave water a sort of cosmic significance." "They thought that the heavens are made of many holes," "And these holes represented the stars," "And just behind they had this divine fire." "Narrator:" "The Greeks had long explained what they saw" "With myths and legends." "Now they began to use reason." "Cotsakis:" "They thought that they had to find" "A more accurate way of expressing" "Their views about the universe," "And that way dramatically turned out to be mathematics" "Narrator:" "The science of logic was born," "And long-Held assumptions were called into question." "Cotsakis:" "When you see from the distance" "A boat coming," "You don't see the whole boat in the beginning," "But you gradually see the boat appearing" "From the horizon as if it was raising up from the sea." "So in this way they questioned the view" "That the earth was flat." "Narrator:" "Proof that the earth was round" "Would have to be persuasive." "A philosopher named eratosthenes" "Devised one of the first scientific experiments." "Identical objects on a flat earth" "Should cast identical shadows." "So at the same time of day," "In two places miles apart," "He put this to the test." "It was a beautiful way that he discovered" "Where he used two sticks." "He noticed that the rays coming from the sun" "Produced different amounts of shade" "In each of the two sticks." "Narrator:" "Since each peg cast shadows of different lengths" "The earth's surface had to be curved." "From the angle of the shadows, eratosthenes could estimate" "The earth's circumference at 25,000 miles" "Less than 100 miles off today's measurements." "To its first students," "The earth itself submitted to its laws." "Mathematics was the discipline" "That endowed the greeks with ultimate truths." "Cotsakis:" "They realized" "That they can use mathematics to develop" "Theories and applications" "To all sorts of different kinds of phenomena." "Hawking:" "But mathematically beautiful theories" "Are not always supported by observation." "In the earliest days of astronomy," "The ancient greeks found the heavens" "Less perfect than they had first imagined." "Looking at the skies more closely," "They began to see stars move" "In a way which defined their logic." "If every night you go out" "And you have a careful look seeing towards south," "After two or three days" "If you watch again you'll see five stars." "And this is something unusual" "In respect to the other stars of the sky" "Which don't change any position." "They look as moving from west towards the east." "Sometime they look staying still." "Then they begin to move from the east towards the west" "Narrator:" "The Greeks had identified" "Five heavenly bodies that neighbored us." "They dubbed them "planetos" or "wanderers."" "They believed in a universe in perfect balance." "The planets, they were convinced," "Were precise globes," "Traveling in sublime circular orbits." "But observation said otherwise" "It was the astronomer ptolemy" "Who tried to explain the discrepancy with math." "He made adjustments to the planets' orbits," "Retracing their paths as circles within circles," "All neatly fitting within a sphere of fixed stars." "At the center of the universe" "The earth." "Ptolemy lived over a century after the death of christ." "The new christian church" "Was quick to seize upon a model of the universe" "That imagined us, god's pride, at its center." "Papathanassiou:" "The cosmology of the church" "Is the cosmology of the genesis," "And if something has the same ideas" "As they are described in "genesis," it's okay." "For those who could understand" "The mathematics of ptolemy's model," "Well, it's a model which can foretell" "The position of the planets" "With an accuracy which is satisfying." "And on the other hand there is nothing" "Which can contradict the idea of the genesis." "3, 2, 1, zero," "Liftoff!" "Hawking:" "Today, the claims of the scriptures" "Are being put to the test" "By experiments launched into the heavens." "Steady improvements in technology over the years" "Have enabled us to test our theories" "About the universe." "But before such detailed" "Observational evidence was available," "Belief in any theory was often" "As much a matter of faith and conviction" "Ptolemy's model of the universe" "Went virtually unchallenged for 1,500 years," "Supported all the time by the church," "Which was at that time the repository of learning" "Lord, receive our gifts." "Let our offerings make us holy" "And bring us salvation." "Narrator:" "Ptolemy's vision prevailed" " Of a universe that acknowledged our supremacy." "Of an earth that, after all, did not seem to move." "And if simple experience weren't enough" "To lend ptolemy credence," "He had the support of the authorities as well" "The catholic church, by and large," "Through the centuries, say, from ptolemy" "For 1,000 years A bit more " "Was the educated world." "Ptolemy thought that it wasn't really sensible" "To have anything but the earth as the center, not so much" "For astronomical reasons, but because, after all," "If you're not used to it, it does seem incredible" "That the earth can be moving" "And ptolemy catalogued" "Quite a few of the obvious reasons" "Which affront common sense" "Like, why aren't we hurled off a rotating earth?" "How could the birds fly if there was a constant gale blowing?" "And so on." "So that, i think, weighed fairly heavily with ptolemy." "Narrator:" "By the 16th century, ptolemy's followers were faced" "With increasingly contradictory observations" "The church's teachings would soon enough be undone" "By one of its own scholar-Priests." "Sharratt:" "Nicholas copernicus was a church man" "Not just in the sense he was catholic," "But he actually held" "A church office as a canon" "Of a cathedral." "He had a great admiration for ptolemaic astronomy." "Lacked a certain elegance for copernicus" "He found he could better explain observations" "If he made one staggering shift." "He put the sun," "Not the earth, the center of the universe." "Hawking:" "It was a revolutionary moment for cosmology." "Copernicus had radically re-Organized" "The model of the universe which had lasted for centuries." "He began an irreversible process" "That has downgraded us from the center of the universe" "To the outer suburbs" "Of one among billions of galaxies." "Narrator:" "For the church, though," "Copernicus' model amounted to heresy." "God had put man on earth," "And the earth at the hub of his creation." "Copernicus died in 1543," "His life's work dismissed but not forgotten." "Some 60 years later," "Johannes kepler, a german mathematician," "Took up his work." "Sharratt:" "He broke with 2,000 years" "Of philosephical and astronomical tradition." "What kepler finished up with was non-Circular motion." "He realized that the planets" "Are actually traveling in elliptical orbits." "The great thing about kepler's system" "Is he can do everything copernicus did simply with the one clear curve of the ellipse" "In a colossal achievement." "Narrator:" "At first, the church failed to comprehend" "The dramatic change coming" "But when galileo galilei, an italian scientist," "Dared to publish copernicus' heretical idea" "The vatican took action." "Man:" "We are now at the top floor of the villa il juliello" "In the place where galileo" "Spent his last 10, 15 years of life," "The most dramatic part of his life," "As a prisoner being condemned not to leave the house," "Not to receive guests." "And that's why this was a place at the beginning very happy," "At the end, very sad for him" "Isolation was torment for galileo" "But, in solitude, his studies came into sharp focus." "The only work he could perform" "During the period in which he was prisoner" "In his own house was the completion" "Of the laws of motion." "Narrator:" "Kepler's model" "Had raised some boggling questions." "For day to follow night," "The earth would have to rotate at a thousand miles an hour." "Why, then, didn't we fall off?" "Your first impression Everybody..." "A kid for instance, 5 years old," "Not yet going to school," "You ask him if the earth is in motion," "He will say no." "He will not have any idea, any possible idea." "This is what was the situation, not just for kids," "But for everybody time of galileo." "Narrator:" "That the earth was moving," "Galileo had no doubt." "He realized we were unaware of its motion" "Simply because as it moved we moved with it." "But he could not explain what force" "Keeps us fixed to its surface." "As he studied the laws of motion," "Galileo longed for a clearer view of the firmament." "Galuzzi:" "At the end of 1609 he heard" "That there were into the market" "Some funny objects which were a tube with some glasses," "Were giving some funny performance." "This instrument" "Was coming from holland" "And was sold as a toy." "When galileo took it, it began to be transformed" "From a toy to an instrument." "He started to use" "The magnification power of the telescope" "To look at the skies." "This is a major step in his career" "And also in the history of modern cosmology." "Narrator:" "This novelty trinket, remodeled as a scientific tool" "Was to revolutionize our vision of the heavens." "At once galileo was witness to worlds we had only imagined" "According to the church," "They should have been perfect spheres" "Orbiting the earth." "They were not." "Galuzzi:" "The moon was not so polished" "And so round as people believed," "But they were presented" "Valleys and mountains exactly as the earth." "And he moved afterwards to other bodies." "He started to observe mercury, mars" "But he was captured by jupiter" "He started to observe, seriously," "Jupiter in january 1610," "And his diary note is very touching." "It says, "i have discovered a funny body," "Something like that which is circulating around jupiter,"" "7 january, if i remember correctly." "And the day after," "He was immediately at the sunset at the telescope" "Narrator:" "Struck with disbelief, he sketched what he saw." "Galuzzi:" "In a few days he became aware" "That those moons as he called them were four," "And they were satellites because they were doing" "Rhythmic and cyclic performances around the body of jupiter" "Narrator:" "Something orbiting jupiter" "Could not be orbiting earth." "The church's model of the universe was shattered." "Why galileo became convinced" "So he started to publish" "And started to produce work saying, be careful." "We cannot stay anymore with ptolemy." "What the bible was saying in many times" "About the position of the sun" "And the motion of the sun around the earth" "Was not tenable anymore." "Galileo entered a fight with the authorities." "The book of copernicus was suspended" "And sent to correction." "Galileo was called to rome at the tribunal of inquisition" "Finally he was condemned." "Narrator:" "Threatened with death at the stake," "Galileo retracted his claims" "He was sentenced to spend the of his life" "Under house arrest." "Galuzzi:" "It's the beginning of the conflict between science and religion" "Science and theology," "And it's a tension which is going to be" "Many other episodes during the modern age." "Narrator:" "Galileo's voice could be stilled," "But his spirit could not." "the spark he lit caught fire , and for those who followed" "Observing the sky became a consuming quest." "To this day, we peer into space" "With the same sense of wonder he felt." "Observing is almost mystical." "It's the act that really puts me in contact" "With the rest of the universe." "I often think if somebody' s looking back at me" "I wonder if their telescope is bigger than mine." "Narrator:" "Today's telescopes depend in part" "On refinements introduced" "By a man born the year galileo died" "Isaac newton." "Hawking:" "I feel i have links to both newton and galileo." "I now hold the same professorship at cambridge" "That newton once held," "And i was born 300 years to the day after galileo died." "But at least" "Half a million other babies" "Were born that day." "Man:" "Isaac newton" "Was born here in this house in woolsthorpe" "On christmas day, 1642." "Newton, by all accounts, was a very difficult man." "His father died" "Before he was born." "His mo" "The rather rich rector in the neighboring village." "Newton was left here in woolsthorpe" "At the age of 3," "And was brought up for the next seven or eight years" "By his grandmother." "So i think he probably had a sense of insecurity." "Narrator:" "The year was 1660." "The world of astronomy was filled with questions" "And ripe for change." "Barbour:" "At cambridge, more or less by chance," "He picked up about four or five books on mathematics," "And he set to work to read them." "Six months later he was making" "Important contributions to mathematics." "18 months later he was" "The greatest mathematician alive." "It's just staggering." "he taught himself, just from four or five books" "And it all came out of that." "Narrator:" "Newton didn't lack ambition." "He set his sights on tackling mysteries" "Galileo had left unsolved." "He bettered his chances" "By incorporating an internal mirror in the telescope," "Doubling its power." "Barbour:" "The news of this telescope" "Was distributed around europe," "And that's actually what made his name." "And later on, that design of telescope" "Turned out to be the best one of all" "For studying the heavens," "So in that way he greatly advanced astronomy." "Newton had been at cambridge for several years" "When the plague forced him" "To come back home here to woolsthorpe." "And at the time he'd left cambridge," "He was beginning to think about the laws of motion," "How things are moving," "And he had the idea that basically things" "Would essentially move in a straight line" "If they were left on their own" "He was beginning to think about the forces" "That might be at work," "And one of the most obvious is the pull of gravity," "Which is pulling an object towards the earth." "Narrator:" "Newton's discovery became the stuff of myth.." "Remember the story of the apple falling from a tree?" "I think it probably is true" "S that he did start thinking about these thing" "From seeing apples fall," "But i'm absolutely certain he didn't have" "The complete theory of universal gravitation back here in the plague year" "And the full working out came much later." "His idea of gravity" "And he called it universal gravity" "Because that is a very important thing" "Is that every single piece of matter in the universe" "Pulls every other piece" "Of matter in the universe towards it, and vice versa" "The earth is billions of times more massive than the apple," "So basically the earth is moving" "Ever so slightly towards the apple," "But you just can't see that." "The motion of the apple is much more pronounced" "Than that of the earth." "The importance of the apple is that it symbolizes the idea" "That the laws of nature that are working on the earth" "Are also working throughout the whole universe." "Narrator:" "Newton's crowning achievement" "Was to unite all that had preceded him." "He applied his theory of gravity" "To the heavens kepler described," "Then united galileo's laws with his own." "he described the path of the moon around the earth" "Then looked beyond." "Barbour:" "And that was enough to give newton the hints" "To then apply those same techniques of galileo," "But now to the planets." "And that essentially was the whole of the universe." "Narrator:" "With one sweeping theory," "Newton had redefined the cosmos." "He had solved the mystery of what kept us on earth," "What kept the earth moving , what set the stars in motion" "Even the church had to bow to the inevitable." "The ptolemaic system" "Had surrendered to one word Gravity." "Barbour:" "He was the first person" "Which manifestly worked." "And the title of his great book, the"principia,"" "That real makes the point" "He described it as the mathematical principles" "Of natural philosophy." "Hawking:" "Newton's equations" "For gravity explained the elliptical orbits" "Of the planets perfectly." "Kepler and copernicus were vindicated." "According to newton's theory" "The universe ran like clockwork forever." "I think people were comforted by the thought" "That even though they grew old and died," "The universe was eternal and unchanging." "Narrator:" "With new telescopes based on newton's design" "With a new vision of the sky based on his theories" "Stargazing became popular." "It was the age of gentleman astronomers." "Man:" "I am william brendan, the 7th earl of rosse," "Great-Great-Grandson" "Of the 3rd earl, who was also another william" "His great achievement was the building" "Of the great 6-Foot telescope," "Or leviathan of parsons town, as it was called," "That was the biggest and the most powerful telescope" "In the world up till the present century." "Narrator:" "Brendan's great-Great-Grandfather" "In the marshy countryside outside dublin." "He made everything he needed himself, here." "He made it in a foundry that he set up" "At the bottom of the moat," "That was fueled by the turf from the local bogs," "By making the most of all the resources he had." "I think he wanted to see farther" "Than anyone else had ever been able to see before." "He invited great scientist s and astronomers" "From all over the world" "To show them what he saw here at birr," "And that was amazing at the time," "Because many other of the early astronomers" "Had guarded far more carefully," "And he didn't want to do that." "He wanted to share what he'd discovered with everyone." "Narrator:" "Today, a kindred spirit" "Pays a call on the earl of rosse's telescope." "Man:" "My name is francisco diego." "I am involved in optical design in university college, london," "And we are planning to build a new mirror for this telescope." "Narrator:" "The antique diego is restoring" "Worked the same way as newton's telescope." "Images from space were concentrated" "On a concave mirror." "In newton's day, the mirror was 5 inches wide" "S 200 years later, the earl'" "Was 6 feet in diameter." "Diego:" "With telescopes like galileo or newton," "You could only see the solar system" "I mean the moon, the sun, the planets," "And almost nothing else." "Earl of rosse:" "And you see here a plate" "Of the 6-Foot telescope with an observer" "Here in position." "remembering, of course, that this is a reflecting telescope" "So the observers had to get into position at the top" "To look right down the length of the tube" "To see the image reflected" "In the giant 6-Foot mirror at the bottom." "I was browsing in your library," "And found this book" "This is "transactions of the royal society,"" "1850 or something like that." "And there is the 3rd earl's" "Drawing of the whirlpool." "The whirlpool galaxy" "The first time the whirlpool galaxy was ever seen." "Narrator:" "Telescopes like the earl of rosse's" "Gave new detail to distant wisps of light," "Assumed to be strange gaseous clouds" "On the fringes of our galaxy" "The realization that these were indeed other galaxies" "Would only come after another conceptual breakthrough." "The universe was once again about to be redefined" "Now by light," "Born across time and the incomprehensible" "Distances of space." "Diego:" "Spectroscopy is the analysis of light." "The information that we get from starlight or from sunlight" "Or from light in general is tremendous, is enormous." "Narrator:" "It was a german physicist" "Who discovered spectroscopy in the early 19th century" "Joseph von frauenhofer." "Diego:" "He was an optical manufacturer." "He was working in a company which was building" "Lenses for astronomers." "He was very methodical." "He used to write everything he did." "And fortunately we have these texts" "Of his own very words" ""In a shuttered room i allowed sunlight to pass" ""Through a narrow opening in the shutters" ""Onto a prism." ""I found with the telescope almost countless" ""Strong and weak vertical line s crossing the spectrum," ""Which however are darker than the remaining part" ""Of the spectrum of the color image." "Some seem to be nearly completely black."" "He couldn't explain the origin of these lines." "He just saw that part of the spectrum was missing." "Narrator:" "In the cryptic traces of its light," "The universe reveals its true colors." "We can see its chemical structure." "Light is originated in atoms" "Light is originated" "Every time that electrons in these atoms" "It's emitting or absorbing light at a particular frequency." "So each chemical element has a particular way of behavior" "The electrons are jumping in particular places." "So depending on these places" "Is the position of the line in the spectrum." ""Ah, this is hydrogen."" "but if the line appears here" "So in the solar spectrum we have the finger prints" "Of a lot of chemical elements" "That we can identify in our labs," "Because with the same equipment we take a spectrum off our lamp," "Say, for example, an arc of iron" "And we can produce the same lines in our labs" "And we match the lines from the sun" "With the lines from the lamp in our laboratory," "And the match is perfect." "Hawking:" "Using spectroscopy it was found" "That the chemical content of our sun" "Was identical to that of any star in the universe." "Our sun, and our solar system itself," "Was just one of an infinite number of others." "Perhaps we ourselves" "Have no special place in the universe." "Diego:" "The chemistry of star s is more or less the same" "As the chemistry of the sun," "So the sun becomes a star or stars become suns." "This is a big revolution." "This is like a copernican revolution," "When you abandon the idea" "That the earth is the center of the universe," "And you say, well," "It's no longer the center of the universe no center at least of the solar system" "And that was a major revolution in science." "Now we have another revolution in which we say," "Well, we are not so special about it," "Because our own bodies, our own chemistry," "Our blood, our bones, our skins" "They are made of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, etcetera" "Sodium, etcetera." "And we find hydrogen and oxygen, etcetera," "In nebulae, in stars, in the universe." "So it is the same chemistry," "So there is nothing special about it." "Narrator:" "Light, it turns out, is a messenger," "As swift as it is informative." "The news it bears is not just about chemistry." "It also signals the motion of the universe itself." "That discovery is owed in part to christian doppler." "Diego:" "The doppler shift has been, perhaps," "One of the tools in astrophysics, i would say in cosmology now" "Because it is our speedometer, if you like." "It is the meter that we us e to measure the speed" "Of almost everything in the universe." "Narrator:" "Doppler suggested that, as an object moves," "The light it emits will appear to be altered." "We can't observe this in everyday life," "Because light moves too fast , but we hear the same effect." "Sound is also carried in waves" ".As it approaches, sound is also carried in waves" "Its waves are squashed together." "As it departs, the sound waves are stretched apart." "The change in pitch is audible and known as the doppler shift" "By analyzing stars," "Scientists found the doppler shift at work" "In the light spectrum as well." "If a light source moves toward us," "The frauenhofer lines are shifted" "Towards the blue end of the spectrum." "If the light source is receding," "The lines shift towards the red." "Hawking:" "These extraordinary patterns in starlight" "Brought the dawn of a new age for cosmology." "It became possible to tell" "Not only what the universe was made of," "But also how it was moving" "The breakthrough came" "By analyzing light from deep in the universe" "Light seen through powerful new telescopes in america." "They could reveal" "Details of the universe never seen before." "Jastrow:" "Everybody knew what the milky way galaxy was" "A collection of billions of stars" "To which the sun belongs," "But nobody knew" "What these little patches of nebulous material" "That looked like spirals and pancakes and so on were." "And some people thought that the milky way galaxy" "Was the whole universe," "And these little spirals were wisps of gas in that universe." "The most famous person that worked at mount wilson" "Was edwin hubble," "Who came here when he was quite young, actually," "Right after his service in world war i," "And hubble had the golden touch." "He had a knack of picking the important problems." "Narrator:" "No problem seemed more puzzling" "Than the one posed by the earl of rosse" "And his contemporaries." "What were those strange swirls they'd sighted?" "Hubble wanted to know." "Jastrow:" "Making use of the extraordinary clarity" "Of the atmosphere over mount wilson," "Which is the best on the continent," "He was able to distinguish individual stars" "In these little clouds of gas, these so-Called nebulae," "And that told him in itself" "That they were not wisps of gas in our galaxy," "But galaxies in their own right," "Each one containing billions of stars," "And that the universe, the true universe," "Was populated with countless numbers" "Of island universes," "Each one like our milky way galaxy." "The distances that he measured" "Were absolutely stupefying to the astronomers of that time." "He found that the andromeda nebula," "Which is the closest galaxy to us like our own," "Was at least a million light years away," "And a light year is 6 trillion miles" "A very, very great distance," "Far outside the edge of our own milky way galaxy." "For the first time we knew how big the universe was" "With that discovery." "Narrator:" "Meanwhile, doppler's theory came into play" "Under the studied gaze of a colleague of hubble's" "Vesto slipher began to analyze light." "Jastrow:" "All of the galaxies that he could see around him" "Had red shifts," "Towards longer wav elengths." "And that would mean, of course, that relative to us," "They were moving away." "When slipher gave this report, everybody stood up and cheered" "They didn't know what it meant , but they had a gut feeling" "That it was something cosmic in its significance." "Narrator:" "That galaxies were speeding away from us" "Was a discovery as striking as it was baffling." "But unknown to slipher and hubble," "An explanation was being formed an obscure german physicist." "His new model of the universe would be no less radical than those of centuries past" "And among its predictions would be the revelation" "That the universe is rapidly expanding." "All the more remarkable was that this insight came" "From a man now working as a patent clerk" "Because he had shown so little academic promise" "His name Albert Einstein." "He was forced to learn" "A lot of very complicated mathematics in order to do so." "But in 1915 finally the theory was born." "The theory was called general relativity," "And it differed from the theory of gravity" "That had held sway up until then for more than 200 years," "Which was newtonian gravity." "All objects in the universe attract each o" "Einstein's theory of gravity is radically different," "In fact, that the objects don't" "Attract each other directly at all." "One object makes dents or dimples or warps" "In the fabric of space-Time itself," "And the other object, as it moves by, is actually bent by the curvature of space-Time" "By the fact that there's this dimple there." "And it looks like it's being attracted to the first object," "The object that's making the dimple," "But, in fact, it's not direct." "It's just reacting to the warpage of space-Time" "So one thing to understand about general relativity is that you can't have a whole collection of matter" "Say, of galaxies or stars," "Which are sitting in static configuration" "With respect to each other, and expect them to stay there." "They won't." "They are going to collapse in towards each other." "So this means" "That you can't have" "A static model of the universe in general relativity." "The model The universe either has to be expanding" "Or it has to be contracting" "It has to be dynamical in some way." "It can't p" "Narrator:" "Einstein imagine d that there must be" "Some unknown force keeping the cosmos" "From collapsing in on itself" "In fact, he had predicted that the universe is expanding" "Jastrow:" "The astronomers" "Looked at slipher's discovery of the motion of the galaxies," "And the prediction that the universe expands," "And they said, aha!" "These are two sides of one coin." "They fit together." "And hubble again with that golden touch" "S for working on the big problem" "Turned his attention to this question," "And he asked himself, how can i investigate it?" "And the way he did so was to start to measure" "The red shifts, as they are called" "The velocities with which" "These galaxies are moving away from us." "Narrator:" "Hubble began the painstaking process" "Of comparing the distance and redshifts" "Of dozens of galaxies." "The results were staggering." "Jastrow:" "And he found something known today as hubble's law," "Quite extraordinary, that the red shift" "Or the velocity of recession from us" "Is proportional to distance." "If a galaxy at this distance" "Is moving away from you at a certain speed," "A galaxy twice as far away will be guaranteed" "To be moving away from you at twice the speed." "Hubble actually changed" "The picture of the universe" "Because the ptolemaic picture was static," "And newton's picture" "Of the universe was static" "But hubble showed that the universe is dynamic" "Everything is moving away from everything else." "Greek astronomers thought Most of them, not all of them " "That the earth was the center of the universe" "Copernicus showed that that was not so," "And thought the sun was the center of the universe." "other later astronomers showed no, the sun was not the center of the universe" "But many of them thought" "That the center of our galaxy was the center of the universe" "Hubble showed that there is no center." "That was a tremendous scientific, theological," "And philosophical accomplishment." "E he showed that the universe as far as the telescope can se" "Is populated with countless numbers of island universes," "And there is no difference whatsoever." "There is no center." "The second implication in his finding was" "Well, to explain it," "Imagine that the picture of the expanding galaxies" "Moving away from us and one another" "Is a movie strip." "Now run that in reverse." "And all the galaxies going backward in time" "Come closer and closer together." "and finally they all meet together at one point" "Speaking loosely, because there is no one point," "There is no center in the universe." "They all come together in an infinitely dense and yet infinitely extended moment" "And beyond that, of infinite density," "One cannot go." "So that moment marks the beginning" "Or the birth of the universe" "And all of the things that we see around us" "Every star, every planet, every living thing on the earth and in the cosmos" "Owes its genesis to that moment you can call it the big bang" "But you can also call it with accuracy" "The moment of creation." "Narrator:" "Today, our expanding vision" "Is keeping pace with an expanding universe" "There are new revelations" "Of the big bang, of dark matter, of a strange breach of space" "What are called black ho" "A black hole is a gaping void in space" "That sucks in and devours anything that gets too near." "It becomes compact, massive, and therefore able to" "If it encounters something else" "Able to eat some more matter" "It becomes the eater of all things." "Narrator:" "Cosmologists are now" "Exploring a universe their predecessors" "Would hardly recognize." "Hawking:" "It seems that the kind of matter" "Of which we are made" "Constitutes only a small fraction" "Of the universe." "Over 90% is something we cannot even see" "Dark matter." "It sort of puts one in" "As a human being" "Into some perspective," "That the earth is not" "The center of the solar system" "We are not even made of particularly" "Common matter that's around," "Because most of it's dark matter." "Narrator:" "Gradually, the heavens are yielding" "Their secrets to us." "These photographs are from the orbiting telescope" "Named after hubble." "Hawking:" "From sitting at the center of the universe," "We now find ourselves orbiting an average-Sized sun," "Which is just one of millions of stars" "In our own milky way galaxy." "And our galaxy itself" "Is just one of billions of galaxies" "In a universe that is infinite and expanding." "But this is far from the end of a long history of inquiry" "Huge questions remain to be answered" "Before we can hope to have" "A complete picture of the universe we live in" "" To learn more about "Stephen Hawking's universe," "Visit pbs online at the internet address on your screen." "" " Captions by vitac:" "Burbank,Pittsburgh, Tampa and Washington, D.C. " ""Stephen Hawking's universe" was made possible" "By alfred p." "Sloan foundation, to enhance public understanding" "Of the role of science and technology," "The arthur vining davis foundations," "The corporation for public broadcasting," "And viewers like you." "Corporate funding is provided by amgen," "Unlocking the secrets of life through biotechnology." "At amgen, we produce medicines" "That improve people's lives today" "And bring hope for tomorrow." "STEPHEN HAWKING'S UNIVERSE" "THE BIG BANG" ""Stephen Hawking's Universe" is made possible... by Alfred P. Sloan foundation to enhance public understanding... of the role of science and technology." "The Arthur Vining Davis foundations." "The corporation for public broadcasting." "And viewers like you." "Corporate funding is provided by Amgen." "Unlocking the secrets of life through biotechnology." "At Amgen, we produce medicines... that improve people's lives today... and bring hope for tomorrow." "Stephen Hawking:" "For thousands of years," "People have wondered about the universe." "Did it stretch out forever, or was there a limit?" "And where did it all come from?" "A moment of creation, as the church thought" "Or had the universe existed forever," "As many philosophers believed?" "The debate between these two views" "Raged for centuries without reaching any conclusions." "But while i was growing up" "The debate was virtually settled." "One view of the universe prevailed." "Narrator:" "What sparked creation?" "For half the 20th century, the best minds of cosmology" "Were consumed with that question," "And the struggle between two conflicting theories." "It all began right here." "We're at an altitude of just over a mile," "And there's cool air coming in from the ocean," "On top of a layer that's in the los angeles basin below" "So there's a pressure lid in the atmosphere" "That keeps the warm air and the haze down below" "And keeps the smooth, cool air flowing over the mountaintop." "The images here are the crispest a" "In the north american continent." "Narrator:" "The year was 1917." "Mount wilson in los angeles was chosen for construction" "Of the largest and most optically perfect telescope the word had known" "Its observations would call into question" "Our vision of the cosmos." "But at the same time, as if on cue," "Albert Einstein was already pursuing" "Some answers of his own." "His theory of relativity held predictions" "That would ultimately bear out" "The revelations from mount wilson." "Still, he was bothered by one baffling contradiction" "The models of the universe you build" "In general relativity have to have the universe" "Either expanding or contracting." "They can't be static." "This disturbed Einstein." "His assumption that the universe is static was so strong," "He didn't see the expansion or contraction of the universe" "As a prediction of the theory." "He just thought of it as a problem" "That had to be overcome" "By changing the theory in some way." "Narrator:" "Einstein mistakenly dismissed" "The possibility of an expanding universe," "Striking it from his theory." "S he simply fudged his formula" "With what he called a cosmological constant." "But Einstein should have had more confidence." "It would take a catholic pries t to tell him so." "His name was george lemaitre" "Lemaitre believed science and religion" "Could go hand in hand" "Today, father michael heller agrees." "Heller:" "There are two ways of making dialogue" "Between science and religion" "One is a direct dialogue," "When theologians and scientists sit together," "And they try to speak to each other," "And usually it is a disaster" "But there is another way of making a dialogue" "Between science and religion," "When, for instance, a priest or a religious man" "Simply does science." "Narrator:" "Centuries ago," "The scientific world produced within the church" "Had a profound influence on the world beyond." "The vatican maintains that tradition." "Today it is hosting a cosmological conference." "Father heller has been invited to rome to attend." "Heller:" "The vatican established" "The pontifical academy" "To have scientific counsel to the pope." "I think it was an intention" "To engage the church into the dialogue with science." "And the best way of doing this dialogue" "Is just doing science within the vatican." "Narrator:" "In the early 20th century," "The burning question debated at the pontifical academy was," "?" "How did the universe begin" "For some, the scriptures held the answer." "For lemaitre, science did, as well." "Heller:" "George lemaitre" "Was elected a member of this academy." "He studied both theology and mathematics." "He was rather a mathematician by training," "But he got very early interested" "In Einstein's theory of relativity." "Narrator:" "A priest and theorist" "As devout as he was radical," "Lemaitre had a way of winning people over." "Heller:" "Unfortunately, i never met him," "But i learned a lot about him." "He was a big man." "He liked good food and good drink." "He had a very good sense of humor." "He was very often laughing in a good company," "And his laugh was contagious" "Narrator:" "Lemaitre had the gumption" "To challenge Einstein and to present the church" "With his own ideas of genesis." "The universe, he said," "Had a precise moment of creation." "He imagined everything sprang" "From a dense, primeval atom." "He invoked hard science with a flair for poetry." "Heller: "the evolution of the world" "Can be compared to a display of fireworks" "That just has ended," "Red wisps, ashes, and smoke." "E few" "Standing on a well-Chilled cinder," "We see the slow fading of the suns," "And we try to recall the vanished brilliance" "" Of the origin of the worlds." "Hawking:" "This cataclysmic beginning" "And expanding universe that lemaitre proposed" "Are what we now accept as a big bang." "Few scientists took the beginning" "Of the universe seriously." "Narrator:" "Lemaitre had to rise" "To his theory's defense." "He even won an audience with the master, himself," "To no avail." "Dowker:" "Einstein definitely rejected the model" "As something unpleasant," "And he told lemaitre" "That his physics was not very good." "Everyone assumed that the universe was static," "And Einstein was no exception." "So probably the idea that the universe was expanding" "Was just simply not something" "That he was prepared to consider." "Narrator:" "The conflict had reached a stalemate," "And there it would have remained," "Had it not been for a new marvel of technology" "Balliunas:" "The 100-Inch telescope" "Was the largest in the world" "When it was built in 1917." "It drew observers here," "The people who could use the telescopes the best" "To tickle out the details of how the cosmos operated" "Narrator:" "Edwin hubble was one" "It would take an observer" "Of his uncanny instinct," "Plus the priest and the theorist," "To resolve the ultimate riddle of creation." "Balliunas:" "Edwin hubble came to mount wilson" "In the early 1920s." "For his thesis guess," "For his thesis he had made a guess, which is unlike hubble to have done, a speculation." "He thought that some of the faint, wispy clouds" "That you could see in the nighttime sky" "And these are clouds on the sky," "Not clouds in the earth's atmosphere" "These nebulae, as they're called," "Had a spiral shape, have a spiral shape." "And he thought they might be external to our own galaxy." "Narrator:" "His conjecture was a conceptual breakthrough" "We had long imagined our galaxy" "As the whole of the universe" "Assumed to be gaseous object s within our milky way." "Now hubble trained his gaze on them." "Newly revealed by the 100-Inch telescope," "The nebulae shown at a distant frontier of space" "They were, in fact, galaxies themselves." "Hubble set out to capture them in photographs." "To track a cloud in space as the earth is turning" "Took great patience and endurance." "To take a picture of it," "Keeping thousands of stars in perfect registration," "Was a monumental feat." "Balliunas:" "Some of his exposures" "Are 30 or 40 hours," "Which means he did this for one night," "Left the plate in, came back the next night" "And re-Opened the plate and began exposing again." "Hubble would be standing on this platform" "All night long, guiding and guiding and guiding." "Narrator:" "Hubble's persistence was rewarded" "With images of breathtaking clarity." "Suddenly, he could make out the distinct presence" "Of individual stars" "Within the fold of the andromeda spiral." "By meticulous measurements of their brightness," "He could tell how far away the galaxy was." "he found that this, our nearest neighboring galaxy" "Was over a million light-Years away." "He turned around our notion of the size of the" "He increased the volume" "By something like a factor of a thousand million," "Because now all these faint smudges of light" "Were not interior to our small milky way galaxy," "But were each individual galaxies" "Holding 100 billion stars or so." "So he increased the size of the universe" "Into this vast cosmos that we know today," "And also made our place, simultaneously," "Made the universe large and own place very humble." "Narrator:" "But hubble didn't stop there" "The light from distant galaxies," "He could tell they are speeding away." "Balliunas:" "Hubble looked at galaxies," "And as he analyzed the light of the galaxies," "Within the light that he is looking at" "He could tell whether or not and how fast" "The galaxies are moving towards or away from us." "The and he found out that the more distant a galaxy was," "The faster it was moving away from us." "This is hubble's law." "Narrator:" "That galaxies were racing apart meant one thing" "The universe is expanding." "Incredible as the discovery was," "Hubble approached it with a scientist's caution" "It was the same impulse" "That had prompted Einstein" "To question the predictions of his theory." "But when george lemaitre heard of hubble's claim," "He knew this was the proof he'd been waiting for." "In 1931, while Einstein was visiting hubble," "Lemaitre seized the moment" "To pay them both a surprise call." "Balliunas:" "So imagine these three" "Incredible ideas all in the same room at the same time" "Einstein's very beautiful theory of general relativity which talks about space-Time" "Lemaitre's elegant solution, mathematical solution, that says an expansion is allowed from a primeval atom" "A primordial start," "And then hubble's evidence taken from observations" "That traced the motion of galaxies" "From this initial expansion." "Hawking:" "When theory and observation come together," "Science often takes a great leap forward." "The basis of modern cosmology" "Was established at this meeting." "Looking back, i can recognize this" "As the foundations for my own work." "Balliunas:" "Lemaitre had to work through Einstein's theory" "Through the mathematics" "Which are extraordinarily complex." "And after presenting this to Einstein" "And pressing and pressing and pressing his point," "And then having the evidence of hubble there" "To top this all off," "Einstein was beginning to be convinced" "Of the evidence for the expansion." "He begins to realize, as lemaitre presses his point," "That he had made" "A great blunder" "That is, putting in this cosmological constant" "To offset the natural expansion" "That falls out of his theories" "Einstein rose at the end of the meeting and said," ""This is the most beautiful thing i've ever seen."" "Narrator:" "From then on," "Einstein called the adjustment s he'd made to his theory" "The biggest blunder" "Of his life." "Hubble's work, lemaitre, and Einstein, i think," "Make up the big bang of cosmology." "That is, this is the origins of modern cosmology." "Hubble's work started it all" "First by investigating what these nebulae were," "And then seeing this motion, this large-Scale motion of the universe, the expansion" "How that linked to Einstein's theory," "Showing that the universe had a beginning" "And this is where cosmology has risen from." "Hawking:" "I was fascinated by the expansion of the universe" "Even when i heard of it as a boy at school." "But many scientists didn't like the idea" "That the universe had a beginning," "A moment of creation." "From cambridge university." "Fred hoyle wasn't content" "To voice his rebuttal to his students alone." "He took to the airwaves," "Delivering his message straight to the public." "The question of how the universe began," "He told them, was far from settled." "Hoyle:" "Perhaps like me you grew up with a notion" "That the whole of the matter in the universe" "G was created in one big ban" "At a particular time in the remote past." "What i'm now going to tell you is that this is wrong." "Narrator:" "Fred hoyle made it his personal mission" "To challenge what he derisively christened" ""The big bang."" "The name stuck." "It was hoyle versus the primeval atom" "The steady state theory versus the big bang." "The debate consumed young cosmologists." "Today, dennis sciama" "Teaches in italy." "As a young graduate student at cambridge," "He sided with hoyle." "You've got to remember at that time" "There were not many people working in cosmology," "So one or two rebellious characters" "Could make a very big impact on the subject." "Hoyle:" "Now this big bang idea seemed to me" "To be unsatisfactory" "Even before detailed examination," "For it's an irrational process" "That can't be described in scientific terms." "Sciama:" "So in 1948," "They proposed the famous steady state theory" "Which was a contradiction to the big bang," "Accepting the universe was expanding," "But supposing that as the galaxies move away from one another" "New matter was created between the galaxies" "Continuously on this idea." "Narrator:" "Hoyle argued that an expanding universe" "Need not necessarily have begun g." "Rather, it could simply be endlessly spreading," "Generating more and more additional matter" "To fill the voids." "if you go backwards in time, there's no increase of density" "And therefore no big bang." "So you have this rather grand picture" "Of a universe which is expanding," "But which stays the same in it's overall properties" "For all time." "I personally liked the theory" "Because i thought it had a grand architectural sweep." "It just seemed so grand to have a universe that didn't change in its large-Scale structure ever" "And had no awkward initial moment." "Narrator:" "Still, a steady state universe" "That rejects a moment of creation" "Offers no accounting for how its matter was first formed." "This was the one advantage big bang proponents had" "Over hoyle's followers." "They could explain how the elements" "That make up the cosmos were created" "In the throes of the big bang itself." "Sciama:" "Fred hoyle developed this idea" "That we wanted to do without the hot big bang." "The question was where to make" "The heavy elements." "Hoyle had to find places in the universe" "Which were hot enough for the nuclear reactions" "To make the elements we now see." "Narrator:" "The search had its beginnings" "On this planet." "Only 92 simple elements are the building blocks" "For everything on earth." "Where, then, did they come from?" "Going back to basics is a consuming pursuit" "For geologist chris halls." "To study a site, he uses traditional panning techniques" "Heavy elements don't dissolve, so they can be sifted out." "In fact, they stand up" "To any natural forces the earth can muster." "Gold isn't subject to any natural forces the earth can muster" "To chemical breakdown in the atmosphere." "And once you have gold accumulating in a river," "It's likely to stay there." "One suspects, of course," "That things which are so durable one suspects, of course," "Must themselves have had their origin" "In some place" "Of very intense physical conditions." "Narrator:" "No process on our planet" "Is extreme enough to produce the elements." "So proponents of the steady state school" "Had to turn elsewhere." "They looked to the stars." "Halls:" "The great achievement in terms of understanding the origin of the elements" "Came from the theoretical work" "Done by the astronomers of the steady state school" "And they were able to demonstrate" "What was possible in terms of putting elements together" "To synthesize new and heavier elements in stars." "Narrator: deep in space, vast clouds of hydrogen" "Roil and churn." "Gravity pulls them together." "The pressure builds and the temperature rises" "Igniting a massive fusion reaction." "The hydrogen atoms meld together to form helium," "A heavier element." "This is the process these stars burn so brightly." "They are hot, dense furnaces stoked by fusion." "as gravity exerts its relentless pull inward" "The energy of a star's nuclear reactions pushes outward." "These opposing forces are held in awesome equilibrium," "As long as there is enough hydrogen" "To keep the process going." "Once the star uses up that fuel," "Its fusion reactions begin to die down." "But gravity is unrelenting" "The star is squeezed ever tighter." "The helium atoms fuse." "In a more massive star," "Elements yet heavier begin to form," "One after another," "Until at last it hits a dead end with iron." "The process of fusion can go no further." "The fate of the star then depends on its size." "In small stars, gravity is too weak" "To crush them any further." "They cool and gently fade into oblivion." "But large stars suffer a more violent death." "Halls:" "In massive stars," "The masses draw together" "In a tremendous cataclysmic contraction," "And this produces a kind o f elastic nuclear rebound which drives all the matte r outwards in a gigantic burst" "Which we know as a supernova" "Narrator:" "It is the single most violent event" "In the present universe." "In a few short seconds," "A supernova produces more energy" "Than the sun will in its lifetime." "When astronomers analyzed the light of supernovas," "They saw the signatures" "Of the elements heavier than iron." "Supernovas scatter their seeds across the universe." "They spill into other dust clouds" "To form new stars, planets, and eventually life itself" "Halls:" "The steady state theorists" "Proceeded to build up stage by stage" "A logical explanation" "Of how these elements could originate successively" "By synthesis in the stars," "But the problem was that they had to find" "The fundamental fuel to start the process itself." "And of course that fuel is hydrogen." "And the million-Dollar question is," "Where did the hydrogen come from?" "Narrator:" "Fred hoyle thought hydrogen" "Must somehow be created continuously throughout space." "But nothing short of a new law of physics" "Would make that possible." "Just as baffling, astronomers detected" "E far more helium in space than could possibly have com" "From the fusion of hydrogen in stars." "The obvious answer was that the big bang itself" "Created hydrogen and helium in its monstrous explosion" "That was the last thing hoyle wanted to concede." "Halls:" "Fred hoyle said" "That if there had been a big bang," "There should be a trace of that event" "Preserved for us in the universe" "A kind of fossil radiation" "And this is exactly what the big bang theorists" "Went out to look for." "Narrator:" "If, indeed, the universe began" "With a great explosion," "It would have been so intense that even today" "Some faint afterglow should be in evidence across space." "Hawking:" "As a research student working for a doctorate," "I realized how significant it would be" "If the radiation could still be detected" "Some 15 billion years later." "By now, it would have cooled" "To almost the lowest temperature possible," "Minus 273 degrees centigrade" "Conceived a way to detect the big bang" "One of his students" "Was david wilkinson." "Wilkinson:" "One afternoon he came in and he was" "Seemed particularly excite d about something." "He started outlining this idea" "About proving that there's a big bang." "Well, of course, at that time" "The big bang was very controversial." "Not everybody believed it, by a long shot." "The steady state theory was very popular." "but one thing the big bang would predict" "If there were a big bang," "Is that there must have been some heat radiation in it." "Thought it was a long shot, kind of a risk," "Such a radical idea," "But it looked like it was possible" "To do an experiment and check it out." "And it wasn't going to take a lot of time," "And i didn't have anything else to do," "So i decided to pitch in" "And help on the experimental side." "Narrator:" "Wilkinson was 28 years old" "When the opportunity presented itself" "To take part in what might be the discovery of a lifetime." "You have to imagine that we are embedded in this explosion" "So if you're thinking" "Of an explosion, say, a bomb going off," "And you see this big fireball," "We're actually inside that fireball." "So the radiation is coming from all directions." "We're not outside looking at it" "And having it go by us." "We're embedded inside," "So we see the same thing looking all around." "Narrator:" "Their tools were primitive by today's standards" "But a directional horn antenna, hoisted on a rooftop," "Would hear whispers from the moment of creation." "It's purpose To detect" "The minute amounts of radiation in space" "Left in the wake of the big bang." "Wilkinson:" "We can measure the temperature up above" "If we put a good calibrator," "What's called a cold load, at this point." "If you pour a little liquid nitrogen on it," "We'll know exactly what its temperature is." "The radiation from the sky" "Comes into this horn," "With the radiation coming into this h" "Then we see a reading that's the difference" "Between the temperature of space" "And the temperature of our cold load." "Narrator:" "But while david wilkinson and his group" "Were fine tuning their equipment," "Events were conspiring against them." "Bob wilson had just started work" "At bell laboratories." "A radio astronomer by trade, he'd been recruited" "By the company's research department." "Bell, too, had a special horn-Shaped antenna." "Its purpose" "To receive satellite radio transmissions." "Wilson:" "When we were given control" "Of the horn reflector," "We saw something which we had hoped not to see." "That is that there was more noise" "Coming out of the horn than we expected." "We expected a little bit from the earth's atmosphere," "An even smaller amount" "From the walls of the horn itself," "And then we thought space would essentially zero," "So that should be it." "Narrator:" "But zero, it wasn't." "Wherever wilson's team pointed their detector," "It picked up an annoying hiss." "The radio noise didn't stop," "Even if the antenna was directed at empty space." "Wilson:" "We worried because we were living on a hill" "Which overlooks new york city," "Not the typical place that a radio astronomer would go." "So we turned our horn reflector down" "And looked at new york city," "And there was nothing unusual from there." "New york city doesn't radiate at those frequencies." "So, you know, sort of one by one" "We eliminated the sources of excess noise" "That we could think of." "We still believed in physics" "What came out had to come from somewhere." "Narrator:" "They pondered the possibilities." "Perhaps the hiss wasn't coming from space at all." "Maybe there was a problem with the horn itself." "The most obvious was" "That there was a pair of pigeons living in it," "And whenever we weren't using it, which was most of the time" "They would climb up near the cab and roost there" "S of course they covered it with white pigeon dropping" "The same as they do all sorts of things in cities." "And we knew that that could very well" "Have an effect." "Narrator:" "So bob wilson and his group" "Of highly qualified radio astronomers" "Spent two weeks cleaning pigeon droppings." "Finally the birds were trapped and sent by company mail" "Miles away to whipeny, new jersey." "But these were homing pigeons." "Well, a couple of days later, same pigeon's back." "Later on, our technician brought in a shotgun and.." "Narrator:" "That took care of the culprits," "But not the hiss." "For another year, the noise lingered." "In the spring of 1965, in desperation," "Wilson's team phoned princeton university for help." "The call was put through to bob dicke." "Wilkinson:" "We were in bob dicke's office" "Having lunch one day," "And the telephone rang." "And his phone rang a lot, so we didn't think much of it," "Until we heard him say something about "horn antenna."" "" And a few minutes later, "cold load, liquid helium." "So then we perked right up because it was pretty clear" "That he was talking to somebody who had the equipment" "That we were building." "This turned out to be arno penzias" "And bob wilson from bell labs, only 35 miles away." "And bob hung up the phone," "And i'll never forget exactly what he said." "His precise words were," ""Well, boys, we've been scooped."" ""Well, boys, for dicke and his students" "The quick drive to bob wilson's lab" "Was no doubt the longest rid e they'd ever taken." "When david wilkinson saw wilson's equipment" "And his meticulous records, he knew there was no mistake" "The big bang had revealed itself." "Hi, there." "Good to see you." "Wilkinson:" "It was quite disappointing" "To find out that another group had got there first." "T i personally was only giving i" "About a 50-50 chance of working anyway." "And then when we found out that, yes, indeed," "There was this radiation coming from space" "That might be coming from the big bang," "That of course was very exciting." "This is a paradigm shift in cosmology research," "And it would have been nice to be the first to see it." "Here you see the antenna, and this is cold load plus..." "Narrator:" "In a stroke," "A half-Century of debate was essentially settled." "Definitely hotter than the cold load." "Sure is." "Wilson:" "The discovery of the background radiation" "Along with a number of other things" "That were coming up at the same time" "Really drove the final nail in the coffin" "Of the steady state theory" "I think it would be very hard to support" "Or to understand the source of the background radiation" "In a steady state universe" "Narrator:" "It's said that lemaitre himself" "Heard of the discovery just days before he died." "In 1978, the ultimate accolade in science" "Was awarded to bob wilson" "And his colleague arno penzias." "Wilson:" "It was 13 years or something" "Before we received the nobel prize for it." "The nobel prize is given for discoveries." "It's not given for being the best physicist" "Or the best scientist," "It's given for discovering things" "That are interesting or useful to mankind." "I still have a hard time" "Putting myself in the same category as Einstein, but i do realize that this was an important discovery" "And feel that i was very lucky" "To be in the right place when that happened." "And i have enjoyed the results from it." "Hawking:" "Radiation was discovered" "While i was finishing my doctorate." "Here at last was observational evidence" "That could confirm my work" "I had gone to cambridge university" "Because i had wanted to work with hoyle on cosmology" "And the expansion of the universe." "But luckily for me," "I didn't get the supervisor i wanted." "He was hoping to work with fred hoyle," "But hoyle was not taking new students at that time," "And i was the only other person in the department" "Able to supervise students in cosmology," "Hen wanted to work on." "So i became his supervisor" "And we talked together about various projects." "Hawking:" "I made a bad start at cambridge." "I had just been diagnosed with als," "Or motor neuron disease," "And didn't know if i would live long enough" "To finish my doctorate." "And i was having difficult finding a problem for my thesis." "You have to write a thesis which contain" "A substantial original contribution to knowledge." "And that's a very heavy requirement," "And it's very unnatural in a way" "Because you are supposed to produce this particular" "Substantial original contribution to knowledge" "In a given three-Year period" "And so you're forced a bit artificially" "In a given time scale, in Stephen's particular case," "Cosmology was fallow at that time," "And he couldn't find a really good problem." "And i couldn't find one for him." "Narrator:" "Time was running out." "There was less than a year left" "When a worthy project was finally found." "Hawking set his sights on developing a theory" "To describe the precise conditions for the big bang." "His inspiration was the work" "Of a young luminary of the field." "Sciama:" "Roger penrose was by that time a good friend of mine" "And he was working on a problem" "Which led to a remarkable discovery of his," "Which i suppose was" "The most important contribution to relativity" "Since the very early days of the theory," "Around 1916 or so." "The issue involved not the whole universe" "That was Stephen's later contribution" "But a star." "Narrator:" "When a large star runs out of fuel, it collapses" "Only one star in a thousand is massive enough to collapse" "Into what's called a black hole." "At the core of a black hole," "All the star's matter would be crushed into a point" "Infinitely dense, called a singularity." "It was thought this would only happen" "If the star was exactly symmetrical," "So its collapse would be the same in all directions" "But it seemed altogether impossible" "That a star could have that quality." "Penrose's great claim was to show" "If a star is big enough it can become a singularity" "No matter what its shape." "And it so happened that, possibly at my suggestion," "Steve Hawking heard a seminar given by penrose" "In which he announced this result." "And a little later, Stephen said to me," ""But look," he said," ""We can adapt roger's argument to the whole universe."" "In a certain sense" "The universe is like a big star." "Of course the universe is expanding," "But if in your mind you reverse the sense of time," "Then the universe is collapsing." "It's a bit like a collapsing star," "Very large star." "Perhaps you can prove that in that collapse" "You again must achieve a singularity." "so going back to the ordinary direction of time" "It would mean that the big bang" "Origin of the universe would have to be singular." ""Should i work on that?"" "So i said that sounds" "Like a very good problem, Stephen, yes, i think," "Because that would be a great discovery." "So he went away, and in his last year he proved" "His first singularity theorem for the universe," "That on the basis of certain very reasonable assumptions," "The big bang had to be singular." "Hawking:" "I was awarded my ph.D." "For showing that Einstein's general theory of relativity" "Implied that the universe must have begun with a big bang" "It couldn't have" "Collapsed, bounced, and then have expanded again" "From lemaitre's primeval atom to my own work" "Had taken only a few decades" "The case for the big bang" "Was now almost complete." "Narrator:" "Almost." "For galaxies to have been able to form, the early universe had to have irregularities" "Cooler and denser pockets" "Where matter could have coalesced." "But the radiation signal" "Bob wilson had detected with his antenna" "Should have reflected that" "Instead, the hiss seemed" "The same in every direction." "If the big bang model was really right," "?" "Why weren't there slight irregularities in the signal" "A young cosmologist in california would produce" "The big bang's final confirmation." "George smoot began a quest to find temperature variations" "In the early universe, tiny imperfections" "That would mark the future birthplaces of galaxies." "Smoot:" "For the big bang to be right," "We had to look out" "And we had to see these imperfections that tell us" "How the universe formed and started expanding," "And also what were going to be the seeds" "For the large structure that we see" "That is, the stars and the galaxies" "And the clusters of galaxies" "All of those things had to be there." "When you start out, you think," "Well, we should discover i t pretty easily right away." "We'll point our antenna up here and see what the temperature is." "We'll point it over here and see what the temperature is." "We'll compare and see if we see the variations." "When you start realizing those imperfections" "Are going to be a part in a hundred thousand," "It becomes a very great experimental challenge." "Narrator:" "Using directional horns" "Like the one built by bob wilson's team," "Smoot began a series of experiments." "He set out to create a detailed map" "Of the big bang radiation," "An image that would reveal" "The cold spots where galaxies would eventually form." "One thing stood between smoot and his data" "The earth's atmosphere." "He launched giant helium balloons," "Each as long as a football field." "They had to be big." "Their payload of equipment was as heavy" "As a small car." "But balloons are hard to control." "Smoot's equipment often got lost or damaged." "He turned to something more manageable," "U-2 spy planes." "But smoot's data took time to collect." "The pilots ran out of fuel" "Before enough accurate measurements" "Could be taken in any one direction." "Smoot:" "From the beginning" "It was clear to me if we could get into space" "That was the right way to do it." "I had to wait for an opportunity," "S a chance for nasa to say, we're looking for new idea" "For experiments for satellites that could go into space." "Narrator:" "After years of waiting," "Nasa gave smoot his chance," "The first satellite ever devoted to cosmology, cobe." "Smoot:" "Finally, in 1989, they scheduled us" "For a dawn launch, and it was windy." "If you were on the team, you knew too much" "That it might go or might not go." "There was this problem and that problem." "We had a problem in the test" "There are all these things to be concerned about." "And then it became time for the launch." "We had only a few minutes left in the window, and it was okay 5, 4, 3, 2... we have main engine start." "Smoot:" "You saw suddenly a second sun," "Which was the fire out of the rocket coming out." "And i was going, "what's the matter?" "I don't hear any sound."" "then i realized light goes faster than sound" "And then suddenly your chest is shaking." "It's like you're being hit at a rock concert," "You're standing at the speaker s at the rock concert," "Just being vibrated like this." "And this thing lifts off majestically and goes up." "It's just a spectacular thing, and you're going," "Everything is crossed," ""Please make it up, please make it up."" "Was a spectacular success." "Smoot:" "At the end of that first day," "We had made a map that covered half the sky," "And it was as good a map as we'd ever had before," "But it was way less than what we eventually ended up." "It took a whole year's worth of data," "Almost 300 million observation s to be summed together," "Before we got a map that started to show" "Some interesting structure" "Narrator:" "A portrait of the universe as it was 15 billion years ago." "In its traces is the signature of star systems coalescing" "The colors represent minute temperature differences." "The blue areas are cooler, and it's here matter" "Is beginning to cluster to eventually form galaxies." "Smoot:" "Cobe really puts the big bang on a firm footing" "Not only do you know the big bang is right," "But now you have some idea" "About how structure is going to form." "But also you can learn about" "How the universe itself was created." "Narrator:" "The project has no w come to an end." "The smithsonian institution is preparing to commemorate" "Cobe's historic achievement." "A single snapshot of creation." "Smoot:" "If you're religious, it's like," "D you know, you're seeing go" "Or you're seeing the handwriting of god" "When he wrote out how he was going to make the universe." "It's like getting the 10 commandments" "In front of you and being able to read," "Except instead of the commandments these are," "Here's how the universe is put together." "S just read between the line" "And you'll know the recipe for making the universe." "Narrator:" "In this technological cathedral," "A successor to cobe called the planck surveyor" "Is being planned." "Whatever it is destined to reveal," "The big bang seems irrefutable" "In lemaitre's primeval atom, we have found consensus" "Between the claims of the scriptures" "And the rigors of science." "We are at last witness to the dawn of time." "Hawking:" "In 1975, i was awarded a medal by the pope" "For my part in proving the big bang theory." "I went back to the vatican in 1981" "For a conference on cosmology," "This time under a different pope." "He told us that it was fine" "To study the universe after the big bang," "But that we should not inquire into the big bang itself," "Because that was the moment of creation" "And the work of god." "If science and religion were now at one," "Perhaps they were still not quite seeing eye to eye." "To learn more about "Stephen Hawking's universe,"" "Visit pbs online at the internet address" "On your screen." "" " Captions by vitac:" "Burbank,Pittsburgh, Tampa and Washington, D.C. " ""Stephen Hawking's universe" was made possible" "By Alfred P. Sloan foundation to enhance public understanding" "Of the role of science and technology," "The Arthur Vining Davis foundations," "The corporation for public broadcasting," "And viewers like you." "Corporate funding is provided by Amgen," "Unlocking the secrets of life through biotechnology." "At Amgen, we produce medicines" "That improve people's lives today" "And bring hope for tomorrow." ""STEPHEN HAWKING'S UNIVERSE" IS MADE POSSIBLE" "BY ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION TO ENHANCE PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING" "OF THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY," "THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS," "THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING," "AND VIEWERS LIKE YOU." "CORPORATE FUNDING IS PROVIDED BY AMGEN," "UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF LIFE THROUGH BIOTECHNOLOGY." "AT AMGEN, WE PRODUCE MEDICINES" "THAT IMPROVE PEOPLE'S LIVES TODAY" "AND BRING HOPE FOR TOMORROW." "WHERE DO WE COME FROM?" "HOW DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN?" "WHY IS THE UNIVERSE THE WAY IT IS?" "GOOD MORNING." "WELCOME TO GONVILLE AND CAIUS," "MORE COMMONLY KNOWN AS CAIUS COLLEGE." "CAIUS COLLEGE WAS FOUNDED IN 1348" "BY EDMUND GONVILLE." "WHERE ARE WE GOING?" "NOW WE COME TO THE PORTRAIT" "OF PROBABLY OUR MOST FAMOUS CAIUSAN," "PROFESSOR STEPHEN HAWKING, THE WORLD-FAMOUS COSMOLOGIST." "LIKE PREDECESSOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON BEFORE HIM," "HE IS LUCASIAN PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS" "FOR THE UNIVERSITY," "AND HIS PARTICULAR SPHERE IS RESEARCH OF THE BLACK HOLE" "AND THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE," "CULMINATING IN HIS BOOK "THE BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME,"" "WHICH WORLDWIDE HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION COPIES." "HAWKING:" "ALL OF MY LIFE, I HAVE BEEN FASCINATED" "BY THE BIG QUESTIONS THAT FACE US," "AND HAVE TRIED TO FIND SCIENTIFIC ANSWERS TO THEM." "PERHAPS THAT'S WHY I HAVE SOLD MORE BOOKS ON PHYSICS" "THAN MADONNA HAS ON SEX." "NOW THIS IS PROFESSOR HAWKING'S STUDY," "WHICH HE WILL USE WHEN HE'S IN RESIDENCY IN COLLEGE." "HE'LL USE THIS FOR HIS TUTORIALS OR MEETINGS" "OR ANY PRIVATE WORK HE NEEDS TO DO." "IT IS VERY MUCH A PERSONAL ROOM WITH HIS BOOKS" "AND HIS PORTRAITS AND PICTURES, SO IT'S REALLY A HOME FROM HOME" "WHEN THEY'RE IN COLLEGE." "HE'S GOT AN INHERITED DISEASE, MOTOR NEURON DISEASE." "HE CAN PROJECT HIS VOICE WITH A SYNTHESIZER" "WHICH IS ATTACHED TO HIS WHEELCHAIR." "HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR VISIT." "BYE." "BYE." "IF, LIKE ME, YOU HAVE LOOKED AT THE STARS" "AND TRIED TO MAKE SENSE OF WHAT YOU SEE," "YOU TOO HAVE STARTED TO WONDER WHAT MAKES THE UNIVERSE EXIST." "THE QUESTIONS ARE CLEAR AND DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE," "BUT THE ANSWERS HAVE ALWAYS SEEMED WELL BEYOND OUR REACH" "UNTIL NOW." "NARRATOR:" "OUR VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE" "HAS LONG BEEN SHAPED SIMPLY BY WHAT WE COULD SEE." "FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, THAT MEANT WE UNDERSTOOD" "ONLY WHAT THE NAKED EYE COULD BEHOLD." "NOW, NEW BREAKTHROUGHS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY" "ARE RAPIDLY ADVANCING OUR HORIZONS." "WE ARE WITNESS TO THE VERY BRINK OF TIME AND SPACE." "HAWKING:" "I WANT YOU TO SHARE MY EXCITEMENT" "AT THE DISCOVERIES, PAST AND PRESENT," "WHICH HAVE REVOLUTIONIZED THE WAY WE THINK." "FROM THE BIG BANG TO BLACK HOLES," "FROM DARK MATTER TO A POSSIBLE BIG CRUNCH," "OUR IMAGE OF THE UNIVERSE TODAY" "IS FULL OF STRANGE-SOUNDING IDEAS" "AND REMARKABLE TRUTHS." "THE STORY OF HOW WE ARRIVED AT THIS PICTURE" "IS A STORY OF LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WE SEE." "NARRATOR:" "WITH EVERY CENTURY," "OUR EYES ON THE UNIVERSE HAVE BEEN OPENED A NEW." "ONLY 75 YEARS AGO," "AT THE MOUNT WILSON OBSERVATORY IN CALIFORNIA," "A YOUNG ASTRONOMER PEERED INTO A NOW-PRIMITIVE TELESCOPE" "AND FOREVER CHANGED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE HEAVENS." "HIS NAME -- EDWIN HUBBLE." "WE KNOW, THANKS TO HUBBLE, THAT" "ALTOGETHER WITHIN THE LIMITS" "OF THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE" "THERE'S SOMETHING LIKE 100 BILLION TRILLION STARS." "IT'S A LOT OF STARS." "AND WE NOW KNOW THANKS TO RECENT DISCOVERIES" "VERY RECENT DISCOVERIES ALSO " "WHAT WE HAD BELIEVED BUT HAD NO PROOF OF," "AND THAT IS THAT MANY OF THOSE STARS HAVE PLANETS." "SO THERE ARE COUNTLESS TRILLIONS OF PLANETS" "IN THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE." "NARRATOR:" "THIS WAS AMONG HUBBLE'S" "MOST STRIKING CONTRIBUTIONS" "EVEN AS IT WAS FOR HIS PREDECESSORS." "THE MORE WE LEARN ABOUT THE UNIVERSE," "THE HUMBLER THE ROLE WE SEEM TO PLAY IN IT." "JASTROW:" "TWO-THIRDS OF THE STARS AND PLANETS" "AND LIFE, IF IT'S THERE, IN THE UNIVERSE" "ARE BILLIONS OF YEARS OLDER THAN WE ARE." "AND IF YOU ASK WHAT A BILLION YEARS MEANS" "IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE, I MUST TELL YOU" "THAT A BILLION YEARS AGO" "THE HIGHEST FORM OF LIFE ON THE EARTH WAS A WORM." "THREE BILLION YEARS AGO," "THE HIGHEST FORM OF LIFE ON THE EARTH WERE BACTERIA." "SO WE MUST ASK OURSELVES," "WE WHO ARE SO PROUD OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS," "WHAT IS OUR PLACE IN THE COSMIC PERSPECTIVE OF LIFE" "IF MOST OF THOSE BEINGS OUT THERE," "IF THEY ARE THERE, STAND IN RELATIONSHIP TO US" "AS WE DO TO THE WORMS ON THIS PLANET?" "AND THAT IS NOT MEANT TO BE A DENIGRATING REMARK," "BUT ONLY TO SUGGEST THAT HUMANKIND'S GREATEST EXPERIENCES" "STILL LIE AHEAD OF US." "NARRATOR:" "IT WAS THE SUMERIANS AND BABYLONIANS" "WHO FIRST STUDIED THE WORKINGS OF THE HEAVENS." "TIONS LAID THE GROUNDWORK" "FOR THE ANCIENT GREEKS WHO FOLLOWED." "THEY COULD SEE THE STARS" "AND WONDER ABOUT THE SKY AND THE HEAVENS" "BUT THEY HAD VERY LITTLE INFORMATION INDEED " "JUST WHAT THEIR EYES COULD PICK UP." "THEY THOUGHT THAT EVERYTHING THEY KNEW CAME OUT OF THE WATER." "OBVIOUSLY WATER WAS A VERY IMPORTANT SUBSTANCE," "AND SO THEY GAVE WATER A SORT OF COSMIC SIGNIFICANCE." "THEY THOUGHT THAT THE HEAVENS ARE MADE OF MANY HOLES," "AND THESE HOLES REPRESENTED THE STARS," "AND JUST BEHIND THEY HAD THIS DIVINE FIRE." "NARRATOR:" "THE GREEKS HAD LONG EXPLAINED WHAT THEY SAW" "WITH MYTHS AND LEGENDS." "NOW THEY BEGAN TO USE REASON." "COTSAKIS:" "THEY THOUGHT THAT THEY HAD TO FIND" "A MORE ACCURATE WAY OF EXPRESSING" "THEIR VIEWS ABOUT THE UNIVERSE," "AND THAT WAY DRAMATICALLY TURNED OUT TO BE MATHEMATICS" "NARRATOR:" "THE SCIENCE OF LOGIC WAS BORN," "AND LONG-HELD ASSUMPTIONS WERE CALLED INTO QUESTION." "COTSAKIS:" "WHEN YOU SEE FROM THE DISTANCE" "A BOAT COMING," "YOU DON'T SEE THE WHOLE BOAT IN THE BEGINNING," "BUT YOU GRADUALLY SEE THE BOAT APPEARING" "FROM THE HORIZON AS IF IT WAS RAISING UP FROM THE SEA." "SO IN THIS WAY THEY QUESTIONED THE VIEW" "THAT THE EARTH WAS FLAT." "NARRATOR:" "PROOF THAT THE EARTH WAS ROUND" "WOULD HAVE TO BE PERSUASIVE." "A PHILOSOPHER NAMED ERATOSTHENES" "DEVISED ONE OF THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS." "IDENTICAL OBJECTS ON A FLAT EARTH" "SHOULD CAST IDENTICAL SHADOWS." "SO AT THE SAME TIME OF DAY," "IN TWO PLACES MILES APART," "HE PUT THIS TO THE TEST." "IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL WAY THAT HE DISCOVERED" "WHERE HE USED TWO STICKS." "HE NOTICED THAT THE RAYS COMING FROM THE SUN" "PRODUCED DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF SHADE" "IN EACH OF THE TWO STICKS." "NARRATOR:" "SINCE EACH PEG CAST SHADOWS OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS" "THE EARTH'S SURFACE HAD TO BE CURVED." "FROM THE ANGLE OF THE SHADOWS, ERATOSTHENES COULD ESTIMATE" "THE EARTH'S CIRCUMFERENCE AT 25,000 MILES " "LESS THAN 100 MILES OFF TODAY'S MEASUREMENTS." "TO ITS FIRST STUDENTS," "THE EARTH ITSELF SUBMITTED TO ITS LAWS." "MATHEMATICS WAS THE DISCIPLINE" "THAT ENDOWED THE GREEKS WITH ULTIMATE TRUTHS." "COTSAKIS:" "THEY REALIZED" "THAT THEY CAN USE MATHEMATICS TO DEVELOP" "THEORIES AND APPLICATIONS" "TO ALL SORTS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PHENOMENA." "HAWKING:" "BUT MATHEMATICALLY BEAUTIFUL THEORIES" "ARE NOT ALWAYS SUPPORTED BY OBSERVATION." "IN THE EARLIEST DAYS OF ASTRONOMY," "THE ANCIENT GREEKS FOUND THE HEAVENS" "LESS PERFECT THAN THEY HAD FIRST IMAGINED." "LOOKING AT THE SKIES MORE CLOSELY," "THEY BEGAN TO SEE STARS MOVE" "IN A WAY WHICH DEFINED THEIR LOGIC." "IF EVERY NIGHT YOU GO OUT" "AND YOU HAVE A CAREFUL LOOK SEEING TOWARDS SOUTH," "AFTER TWO OR THREE DAYS" "IF YOU WATCH AGAIN YOU'LL SEE FIVE STARS." "AND THIS IS SOMETHING UNUSUAL" "IN RESPECT TO THE OTHER STARS OF THE SKY" "WHICH DON'T CHANGE ANY POSITION." "THEY LOOK AS MOVING FROM WEST TOWARDS THE EAST." "SOMETIME THEY LOOK STAYING STILL." "THEN THEY BEGIN TO MOVE FROM THE EAST TOWARDS THE WEST" "NARRATOR:" "THE GREEKS HAD IDENTIFIED" "FIVE HEAVENLY BODIES THAT NEIGHBORED US." "THEY DUBBED THEM "PLANETOS" OR "WANDERERS."" "THEY BELIEVED IN A UNIVERSE IN PERFECT BALANCE." "THE PLANETS, THEY WERE CONVINCED," "WERE PRECISE GLOBES," "TRAVELING IN SUBLIME CIRCULAR ORBITS." "BUT OBSERVATION SAID OTHERWISE" "IT WAS THE ASTRONOMER PTOLEMY" "WHO TRIED TO EXPLAIN THE DISCREPANCY WITH MATH." "HE MADE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE PLANETS' ORBITS," "RETRACING THEIR PATHS AS CIRCLES WITHIN CIRCLES," "ALL NEATLY FITTING WITHIN A SPHERE OF FIXED STARS." "AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE " "THE EARTH." "PTOLEMY LIVED OVER A CENTURY AFTER THE DEATH OF CHRIST." "THE NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH" "WAS QUICK TO SEIZE UPON A MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE" "THAT IMAGINED US, GOD'S PRIDE, AT ITS CENTER." "PAPATHANASSIOU:" "THE COSMOLOGY OF THE CHURCH" "IS THE COSMOLOGY OF THE GENESIS," "AND IF SOMETHING HAS THE SAME IDEAS" "AS THEY ARE DESCRIBED IN "GENESIS," IT'S OKAY." "FOR THOSE WHO COULD UNDERSTAND" "THE MATHEMATICS OF PTOLEMY'S MODEL," "WELL, IT'S A MODEL WHICH CAN FORETELL" "THE POSITION OF THE PLANETS" "WITH AN ACCURACY WHICH IS SATISFYING." "AND ON THE OTHER HAND THERE IS NOTHING" "WHICH CAN CONTRADICT THE IDEA OF THE GENESIS." "3, 2, 1, ZERO," "LIFTOFF!" "HAWKING:" "TODAY, THE CLAIMS OF THE SCRIPTURES" "ARE BEING PUT TO THE TEST" "BY EXPERIMENTS LAUNCHED INTO THE HEAVENS." "STEADY IMPROVEMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY OVER THE YEARS" "HAVE ENABLED US TO TEST OUR THEORIES" "ABOUT THE UNIVERSE." "BUT BEFORE SUCH DETAILED" "OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE WAS AVAILABLE," "BELIEF IN ANY THEORY WAS OFTEN" "AS MUCH A MATTER OF FAITH AND CONVICTION" "PTOLEMY'S MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE" "WENT VIRTUALLY UNCHALLENGED FOR 1,500 YEARS," "SUPPORTED ALL THE TIME BY THE CHURCH," "WHICH WAS AT THAT TIME THE REPOSITORY OF LEARNING" "LORD, RECEIVE OUR GIFTS." "LET OUR OFFERINGS MAKE US HOLY" "AND BRING US SALVATION." "NARRATOR:" "PTOLEMY'S VISION PREVAILED" "OF A UNIVERSE THAT ACKNOWLEDGED OUR SUPREMACY " "OF AN EARTH THAT, AFTER ALL," "DID NOT SEEM TO MOVE." "AND IF SIMPLE EXPERIENCE WEREN'T ENOUGH" "TO LEND PTOLEMY CREDENCE," "HE HAD THE SUPPORT OF THE AUTHORITIES AS WELL" "THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, BY AND LARGE," "THROUGH THE CENTURIES, SAY, FROM PTOLEMY" "FOR 1,000 YEARS " " A BIT MORE " "WAS THE EDUCATED WORLD." "PTOLEMY THOUGHT THAT IT WASN'T REALLY SENSIBLE" "TO HAVE ANYTHING BUT THE EARTH AS THE CENTER, NOT SO MUCH" "FOR ASTRONOMICAL REASONS, BUT BECAUSE, AFTER ALL," "IF YOU'RE NOT USED TO IT, IT DOES SEEM INCREDIBLE" "THAT THE EARTH CAN BE MOVING" "AND PTOLEMY CATALOGUED" "QUITE A FEW OF THE OBVIOUS REASONS" "WHICH AFFRONT COMMON SENSE" "LIKE, WHY AREN'T WE HURLED OFF A ROTATING EARTH?" "HOW COULD THE BIRDS FLY IF THERE WAS A CONSTANT GALE BLOWING?" "AND SO ON." "SO THAT, I THINK, WEIGHED FAIRLY HEAVILY WITH PTOLEMY." "NARRATOR:" "BY THE 16TH CENTURY, PTOLEMY'S FOLLOWERS WERE FACED" "WITH INCREASINGLY CONTRADICTORY OBSERVATIONS" "THE CHURCH'S TEACHINGS WOULD SOON ENOUGH BE UNDONE" "BY ONE OF ITS OWN SCHOLAR-PRIESTS." "SHARRATT:" "NICHOLAS COPERNICUS WAS A CHURCH MAN" "NOT JUST IN THE SENSE HE WAS CATHOLIC," "BUT HE ACTUALLY HELD" "A CHURCH OFFICE AS A CANON" "OF A CATHEDRAL." "HE HAD A GREAT ADMIRATION FOR PTOLEMAIC ASTRONOMY." "LACKED A CERTAIN ELEGANCE FOR COPERNICUS" "HE FOUND HE COULD BETTER EXPLAIN OBSERVATIONS" "IF HE MADE ONE STAGGERING SHIFT." "HE PUT THE SUN," "NOT THE EARTH, THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE." "HAWKING:" "IT WAS A REVOLUTIONARY MOMENT FOR COSMOLOGY." "COPERNICUS HAD RADICALLY RE-ORGANIZED" "THE MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE WHICH HAD LASTED FOR CENTURIES." "HE BEGAN AN IRREVERSIBLE PROCESS" "THAT HAS DOWNGRADED US FROM THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE" "TO THE OUTER SUBURBS" "OF ONE AMONG BILLIONS OF GALAXIES." "NARRATOR:" "FOR THE CHURCH, THOUGH," "COPERNICUS' MODEL AMOUNTED TO HERESY." "GOD HAD PUT MAN ON EARTH," "AND THE EARTH AT THE HUB OF HIS CREATION." "COPERNICUS DIED IN 1543," "HIS LIFE'S WORK DISMISSED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN." "SOME 60 YEARS LATER," "JOHANNES KEPLER, A GERMAN MATHEMATICIAN," "TOOK UP HIS WORK." "SHARRATT:" "HE BROKE WITH 2,000 YEARS" "OF PHILOSEPHICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL TRADITION." "WHAT KEPLER FINISHED UP WITH WAS NON-CIRCULAR MOTION." "HE REALIZED THAT THE PLANETS" "ARE ACTUALLY TRAVELING IN ELLIPTICAL ORBITS." "THE GREAT THING ABOUT KEPLER'S SYSTEM" "IS HE CAN DO EVERYTHING COPERNICUS DID" ", SIMPLY WITH THE ONE CLEAR CURVE OF THE ELLIPSE" "IN A COLOSSAL ACHIEVEMENT." "NARRATOR:" "AT FIRST, THE CHURCH FAILED TO COMPREHEND" ". THE DRAMATIC CHANGE COMING" "BUT WHEN GALILEO GALILEI, AN ITALIAN SCIENTIST," "DARED TO PUBLISH" ", COPERNICUS' HERETICAL IDEA" "THE VATICAN TOOK ACTION." "MAN:" "WE ARE NOW AT THE TOP FLOOR OF THE VILLA IL JULIELLO" "IN THE PLACE WHERE GALILEO" "SPENT HIS LAST 10, 15 YEARS OF LIFE," "THE MOST DRAMATIC PART OF HIS LIFE," "AS A PRISONER BEING CONDEMNED NOT TO LEAVE THE HOUSE," "NOT TO RECEIVE GUESTS." "AND THAT'S WHY THIS WAS A PLACE AT THE BEGINNING VERY HAPPY," ". AT THE END, VERY SAD FOR HIM" "ISOLATION WAS TORMENT FOR GALILEO" "BUT, IN SOLITUDE, HIS STUDIES CAME INTO SHARP FOCUS." "THE ONLY WORK HE COULD PERFORM" "DURING THE PERIOD IN WHICH HE WAS PRISONER" "IN HIS OWN HOUSE WAS THE COMPLETION" "OF THE LAWS OF MOTION." "NARRATOR:" "KEPLER'S MODEL" "HAD RAISED SOME BOGGLING QUESTIONS." "FOR DAY TO FOLLOW NIGHT," "THE EARTH WOULD HAVE TO ROTATE AT A THOUSAND MILES AN HOUR." "WHY, THEN, DIDN'T WE FALL OFF?" "YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION " " EVERYBODY " "A KID FOR INSTANCE, 5 YEARS OLD," "NOT YET GOING TO SCHOOL," "YOU ASK HIM IF THE EARTH IS IN MOTION," "HE WILL SAY NO." "HE WILL NOT HAVE ANY IDEA, ANY POSSIBLE IDEA." "THIS IS WHAT WAS THE SITUATION , NOT JUST FOR KIDS," "BUT FOR EVERYBODY TIME OF GALILEO." "NARRATOR:" "THAT THE EARTH WAS MOVING," "GALILEO HAD NO DOUBT." "HE REALIZED WE WERE UNAWARE OF ITS MOTION" "SIMPLY BECAUSE AS IT MOVED WE MOVED WITH IT." "BUT HE COULD NOT EXPLAIN WHAT FORCE" "KEEPS US FIXED TO ITS SURFACE." "[ BELLS RING ]" "AS HE STUDIED THE LAWS OF MOTION," "GALILEO LONGED FOR A CLEARER VIEW OF THE FIRMAMENT." "GALUZZI:" "AT THE END OF 1609 HE HEARD" "THAT THERE WERE INTO THE MARKET" "SOME FUNNY OBJECTS WHICH WERE A TUBE WITH SOME GLASSES," "WERE GIVING SOME FUNNY PERFORMANCE." "THIS INSTRUMENT" "WAS COMING FROM HOLLAND" "AND WAS SOLD AS A TOY." "WHEN GALILEO TOOK IT, IT BEGAN TO BE TRANSFORMED" "FROM A TOY TO AN INSTRUMENT." "HE STARTED TO USE" "THE MAGNIFICATION POWER OF THE TELESCOPE" "TO LOOK AT THE SKIES." "THIS IS A MAJOR STEP IN HIS CAREER" "AND ALSO IN THE HISTORY OF MODERN COSMOLOGY." "NARRATOR:" "THIS NOVELTY TRINKET , REMODELED AS A SCIENTIFIC TOOL" "WAS TO REVOLUTIONIZE OUR VISION OF THE HEAVENS." ". AT ONCE GALILEO WAS WITNESS TO WORLDS WE HAD ONLY IMAGINED" "ACCORDING TO THE CHURCH," "THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT SPHERES" "ORBITING THE EARTH." "THEY WERE NOT." "GALUZZI:" "THE MOON WAS NOT SO POLISHED" "AND SO ROUND AS PEOPLE BELIEVED," "BUT THEY WERE PRESENTED" "VALLEYS AND MOUNTAINS EXACTLY AS THE EARTH." "AND HE MOVED AFTERWARDS TO OTHER BODIES." "HE STARTED TO OBSERVE MERCURY, MARS " ". BUT HE WAS CAPTURED BY JUPITER" "HE STARTED TO OBSERVE, SERIOUSLY," "JUPITER IN JANUARY 1610," "AND HIS DIARY NOTE IS VERY TOUCHING." "IT SAYS, "I HAVE DISCOVERED A FUNNY BODY," "SOMETHING LIKE THAT WHICH IS CIRCULATING AROUND JUPITER,"" "7 JANUARY, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY." "AND THE DAY AFTER," ". HE WAS IMMEDIATELY AT THE SUNSET AT THE TELESCOPE" "NARRATOR:" "STRUCK WITH DISBELIEF, HE SKETCHED WHAT HE SAW." "GALUZZI:" "IN A FEW DAYS HE BECAME AWARE" "THAT THOSE MOONS AS HE CALLED THEM WERE FOUR," "AND THEY WERE SATELLITES BECAUSE THEY WERE DOING" ". RHYTHMIC AND CYCLIC PERFORMANCES AROUND THE BODY OF JUPITER" "NARRATOR:" "SOMETHING ORBITING JUPITER" "COULD NOT BE ORBITING EARTH." "THE CHURCH'S MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE WAS SHATTERED." ", WHY GALILEO BECAME CONVINCED" "SO HE STARTED TO PUBLISH" "AND STARTED TO PRODUCE WORK SAYING, BE CAREFUL." "WE CANNOT STAY ANYMORE WITH PTOLEMY." "WHAT THE BIBLE WAS SAYING IN MANY TIMES" "ABOUT THE POSITION OF THE SUN" "AND THE MOTION OF THE SUN AROUND THE EARTH" "WAS NOT TENABLE ANYMORE." "GALILEO ENTERED A FIGHT WITH THE AUTHORITIES." "THE BOOK OF COPERNICUS WAS SUSPENDED" "AND SENT TO CORRECTION." ". GALILEO WAS CALLED TO ROME AT THE TRIBUNAL OF INQUISITION" "FINALLY HE WAS CONDEMNED." "NARRATOR:" "THREATENED WITH DEATH AT THE STAKE," ". GALILEO RETRACTED HIS CLAIMS" "HE WAS SENTENCED TO SPEND THE OF HIS LIFE" "UNDER HOUSE ARREST." "GALUZZI:" "IT'S THE BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT" ", BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION" "SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY," "AND IT'S A TENSION WHICH IS GOING TO BE" "MANY OTHER EPISODES DURING THE MODERN AGE." "NARRATOR:" "GALILEO'S VOICE COULD BE STILLED," "BUT HIS SPIRIT COULD NOT." ", THE SPARK HE LIT CAUGHT FIRE , AND FOR THOSE WHO FOLLOWED" "OBSERVING THE SKY BECAME A CONSUMING QUEST." "TO THIS DAY, WE PEER INTO SPACE" "WITH THE SAME SENSE OF WONDER HE FELT." "OBSERVING IS ALMOST MYSTICAL ." "IT'S THE ACT THAT REALLY PUTS ME IN CONTACT" "WITH THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE." "I OFTEN THINK IF SOMEBODY' S LOOKING BACK AT ME " "I WONDER IF THEIR TELESCOPE IS BIGGER THAN MINE." "NARRATOR:" "TODAY'S TELESCOPES DEPEND IN PART" "ON REFINEMENTS INTRODUCED" "BY A MAN BORN THE YEAR GALILEO DIED " "ISAAC NEWTON." "HAWKING:" "I FEEL I HAVE LINKS TO BOTH NEWTON AND GALILEO." "I NOW HOLD THE SAME PROFESSORSHIP AT CAMBRIDGE" "THAT NEWTON ONCE HELD," "AND I WAS BORN 300 YEARS TO THE DAY AFTER GALILEO DIED." "BUT AT LEAST" "HALF A MILLION OTHER BABIES" "WERE BORN THAT DAY." "MAN:" "ISAAC NEWTON" "WAS BORN HERE IN THIS HOUSE IN WOOLSTHORPE" "ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1642." "NEWTON, BY ALL ACCOUNTS, WAS A VERY DIFFICULT MAN." "HIS FATHER DIED" "BEFORE HE WAS BORN." "HIS MO" "THE RATHER RICH RECTOR IN THE NEIGHBORING VILLAGE ." "NEWTON WAS LEFT HERE IN WOOLSTHORPE" "AT THE AGE OF 3," "AND WAS BROUGHT UP FOR THE NEXT SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS" "BY HIS GRANDMOTHER." "SO I THINK HE PROBABLY HAD A SENSE OF INSECURITY." "NARRATOR:" "THE YEAR WAS 1660." "THE WORLD OF ASTRONOMY WAS FILLED WITH QUESTIONS" "AND RIPE FOR CHANGE." "BARBOUR :" "AT CAMBRIDGE, MORE OR LESS BY CHANCE," "HE PICKED UP ABOUT FOUR OR FIVE BOOKS ON MATHEMATICS," "AND HE SET TO WORK TO READ THEM." "SIX MONTHS LATER HE WAS MAKING" "IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO MATHEMATICS." "18 MONTHS LATER HE WAS" "THE GREATEST MATHEMATICIAN ALIVE." "IT'S JUST STAGGERING." ", HE TAUGHT HIMSELF, JUST FROM FOUR OR FIVE BOOKS" "AND IT ALL CAME OUT OF THAT." "NARRATOR:" "NEWTON DIDN'T LACK AMBITION." "HE SET HIS SIGHTS ON TACKLING MYSTERIES" "GALILEO HAD LEFT UNSOLVED." "HE BETTERED HIS CHANCES" "BY INCORPORATING AN INTERNAL MIRROR IN THE TELESCOPE," "DOUBLING ITS POWER." "BARBOUR:" "THE NEWS OF THIS TELESCOPE" "WAS DISTRIBUTED AROUND EUROPE," "AND THAT'S ACTUALLY WHAT MADE HIS NAME." "AND LATER ON, THAT DESIGN OF TELESCOPE" "TURNED OUT TO BE THE BEST ONE OF ALL" "FOR STUDYING THE HEAVENS," "SO IN THAT WAY HE GREATLY ADVANCED ASTRONOMY." "NEWTON HAD BEEN AT CAMBRIDGE FOR SEVERAL YEARS" "WHEN THE PLAGUE FORCED HIM" "TO COME BACK HOME HERE TO WOOLSTHORPE." "AND AT THE TIME HE'D LEFT CAMBRIDGE," "HE WAS BEGINNING TO THINK ABOUT THE LAWS OF MOTION," "HOW THINGS ARE MOVING," "AND HE HAD THE IDEA THAT BASICALLY THINGS" "WOULD ESSENTIALLY MOVE IN A STRAIGHT LINE" ". IF THEY WERE LEFT ON THEIR OWN" "HE WAS BEGINNING TO THINK ABOUT THE FORCES" "THAT MIGHT BE AT WORK," "AND ONE OF THE MOST OBVIOUS IS THE PULL OF GRAVITY," "WHICH IS PULLING AN OBJECT TOWARDS THE EARTH." "NARRATOR:" "NEWTON'S DISCOVERY BECAME THE STUFF OF MYTH.." "REMEMBER THE STORY OF THE APPLE FALLING FROM A TREE?" "I THINK IT PROBABLY IS TRUE" "S THAT HE DID START THINKING ABOUT THESE THING" "FROM SEEING APPLES FALL," "BUT I'M ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN HE DIDN'T HAVE" "THE COMPLETE THEORY OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION" ", BACK HERE IN THE PLAGUE YEAR" "AND THE FULL WORKING OUT CAME MUCH LATER." "HIS IDEA OF GRAVITY " "AND HE CALLED IT UNIVERSAL GRAVITY" "BECAUSE THAT IS A VERY IMPORTANT THING " "IS THAT EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE" "PULLS EVERY OTHER PIECE" ". OF MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE TOWARDS IT, AND VICE VERSA" "THE EARTH IS BILLIONS OF TIMES MORE MASSIVE THAN THE APPLE," "SO BASICALLY THE EARTH IS MOVING" "EVER SO SLIGHTLY TOWARDS THE APPLE," "BUT YOU JUST CAN'T SEE THAT." "THE MOTION OF THE APPLE IS MUCH MORE PRONOUNCED" "THAN THAT OF THE EARTH." "THE IMPORTANCE OF THE APPLE IS THAT IT SYMBOLIZES THE IDEA" "THAT THE LAWS OF NATURE THAT ARE WORKING ON THE EARTH" "ARE ALSO WORKING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE UNIVERSE." "NARRATOR:" "NEWTON'S CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT" "WAS TO UNITE ALL THAT HAD PRECEDED HIM." "HE APPLIED HIS THEORY OF GRAVITY" "TO THE HEAVENS KEPLER DESCRIBED," "THEN UNITED GALILEO'S LAWS WITH HIS OWN." ", HE DESCRIBED THE PATH OF THE MOON AROUND THE EARTH" "THEN LOOKED BEYOND." "BARBOUR:" "AND THAT WAS ENOUGH TO GIVE NEWTON THE HINTS" "TO THEN APPLY THOSE SAME TECHNIQUES OF GALILEO," "BUT NOW TO THE PLANETS." "AND THAT ESSENTIALLY WAS THE WHOLE OF THE UNIVERSE." "NARRATOR:" "WITH ONE SWEEPING THEORY," "NEWTON HAD REDEFINED THE COSMOS." "HE HAD SOLVED THE MYSTERY OF WHAT KEPT US ON EARTH," ". WHAT KEPT THE EARTH MOVING , WHAT SET THE STARS IN MOTION" "EVEN THE CHURCH HAD TO BOW TO THE INEVITABLE." "THE PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM" "HAD SURRENDERED TO ONE WORD " " GRAVITY." "BARBOUR:" "HE WAS THE FIRST PERSON" "WHICH MANIFESTLY WORKED." "AND THE TITLE OF HIS GREAT BOOK, THE"PRINCIPIA,"" "THAT REAL MAKES THE POINT " "HE DESCRIBED IT AS THE MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES" "OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY." "HAWKING:" "NEWTON'S EQUATIONS" "FOR GRAVITY EXPLAINED THE ELLIPTICAL ORBITS" "OF THE PLANETS PERFECTLY." "KEPLER AND COPERNICUS WERE VINDICATED." "ACCORDING TO NEWTON'S THEORY" "THE UNIVERSE RAN LIKE CLOCKWORK FOREVER." "I THINK PEOPLE WERE COMFORTED BY THE THOUGHT" "THAT EVEN THOUGH THEY GREW OLD AND DIED," "THE UNIVERSE WAS ETERNAL AND UNCHANGING." " NARRATOR:" "WITH NEW TELESCOPES BASED ON NEWTON'S DESIGN " "WITH A NEW VISION OF THE SKY BASED ON HIS THEORIES " "STARGAZING BECAME POPULAR." "IT WAS THE AGE OF GENTLEMAN ASTRONOMERS." "MAN:" "I AM WILLIAM BRENDAN, THE 7TH EARL OF ROSSE," "GREAT-GREAT-GRANDSON" ". OF THE 3RD EARL, WHO WAS ALSO ANOTHER WILLIAM" "HIS GREAT ACHIEVEMENT WAS THE BUILDING" "OF THE GREAT 6-FOOT TELESCOPE," "OR LEVIATHAN OF PARSONS TOWN , AS IT WAS CALLED," "THAT WAS THE BIGGEST AND THE MOST POWERFUL TELESCOPE" "IN THE WORLD UP TILL THE PRESENT CENTURY." "NARRATOR:" "BRENDAN'S GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER" "IN THE MARSHY COUNTRYSIDE OUTSIDE DUBLIN." "HE MADE EVERYTHING HE NEEDED HIMSELF, HERE." "HE MADE IT IN A FOUNDRY THAT HE SET UP" "AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MOAT," "THAT WAS FUELED BY THE TURF FROM THE LOCAL BOGS," "BY MAKING THE MOST OF ALL THE RESOURCES HE HAD." "I THINK HE WANTED TO SEE FARTHER" "THAN ANYONE ELSE HAD EVER BEEN ABLE TO SEE BEFORE." "HE INVITED GREAT SCIENTIST S AND ASTRONOMERS" "FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD" "TO SHOW THEM WHAT HE SAW HERE AT BIRR," "AND THAT WAS AMAZING AT THE TIME," "BECAUSE MANY OTHER OF THE EARLY ASTRONOMERS" "HAD GUARDED FAR MORE CAREFULLY," "AND HE DIDN'T WANT TO DO THAT." "HE WANTED TO SHARE WHAT HE'D DISCOVERED WITH EVERYONE." "NARRATOR:" "TODAY, A KINDRED SPIRIT" "PAYS A CALL ON THE EARL OF ROSSE'S TELESCOPE." "MAN:" "MY NAME IS FRANCISCO DIEGO." "I AM INVOLVED IN OPTICAL DESIGN IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON," "AND WE ARE PLANNING TO BUILD A NEW MIRROR FOR THIS TELESCOPE." "NARRATOR:" "THE ANTIQUE DIEGO IS RESTORING" "WORKED THE SAME WAY AS NEWTON'S TELESCOPE." "IMAGES FROM SPACE WERE CONCENTRATED" "ON A CONCAVE MIRROR." ". IN NEWTON'S DAY, THE MIRROR WAS 5 INCHES WIDE" "S 200 YEARS LATER, THE EARL'" "WAS 6 FEET IN DIAMETER." "DIEGO:" "WITH TELESCOPES LIKE GALILEO OR NEWTON," "YOU COULD ONLY SEE THE SOLAR SYSTEM " "I MEAN THE MOON, THE SUN, THE PLANETS," "AND ALMOST NOTHING ELSE." "EARL OF ROSSE:" "AND YOU SEE HERE A PLATE" "OF THE 6-FOOT TELESCOPE WITH AN OBSERVER" "HERE IN POSITION." ", REMEMBERING, OF COURSE, THAT THIS IS A REFLECTING TELESCOPE" "SO THE OBSERVERS HAD TO GET INTO POSITION AT THE TOP" "TO LOOK RIGHT DOWN THE LENGTH OF THE TUBE" "TO SEE THE IMAGE REFLECTED" "IN THE GIANT 6-FOOT MIRROR AT THE BOTTOM." "I WAS BROWSING IN YOUR LIBRARY," "AND FOUND THIS BOOK " "THIS IS "TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY,"" "1850 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT." "AND THERE IS THE 3RD EARL'S" "DRAWING OF THE WHIRLPOOL." " THE WHIRLPOOL GALAXY " "THE FIRST TIME THE WHIRLPOOL GALAXY WAS EVER SEEN." "NARRATOR:" "TELESCOPES LIKE THE EARL OF ROSSE'S" "GAVE NEW DETAIL TO DISTANT WISPS OF LIGHT," "ASSUMED TO BE STRANGE GASEOUS CLOUDS" ". ON THE FRINGES OF OUR GALAXY" "THE REALIZATION THAT THESE WERE INDEED OTHER GALAXIES" "WOULD ONLY COME AFTER ANOTHER CONCEPTUAL BREAKTHROUGH." "THE UNIVERSE WAS ONCE AGAIN ABOUT TO BE REDEFINED " "NOW BY LIGHT," "BORN ACROSS TIME AND THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE" "DISTANCES OF SPACE." "DIEGO:" "SPECTROSCOPY IS THE ANALYSIS OF LIGHT." "THE INFORMATION THAT WE GET FROM STARLIGHT OR FROM SUNLIGHT" "OR FROM LIGHT IN GENERAL IS TREMENDOUS, IS ENORMOUS ." "NARRATOR:" "IT WAS A GERMAN PHYSICIST" "WHO DISCOVERED SPECTROSCOPY IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY " "JOSEPH VON FRAUENHOFER." "DIEGO:" "HE WAS AN OPTICAL MANUFACTURER." "HE WAS WORKING IN A COMPANY WHICH WAS BUILDING" "LENSES FOR ASTRONOMERS." "HE WAS VERY METHODICAL." "HE USED TO WRITE EVERYTHING HE DID." "AND FORTUNATELY WE HAVE THESE TEXTS" "OF HIS OWN VERY WORDS" ""IN A SHUTTERED ROOM I ALLOWED SUNLIGHT TO PASS" ""THROUGH A NARROW OPENING IN THE SHUTTERS" ""ONTO A PRISM." ""I FOUND WITH THE TELESCOPE ALMOST COUNTLESS" ""STRONG AND WEAK VERTICAL LINE S CROSSING THE SPECTRUM," ""WHICH HOWEVER ARE DARKER THAN THE REMAINING PART" ""OF THE SPECTRUM OF THE COLOR IMAGE." "SOME SEEM TO BE NEARLY COMPLETELY BLACK."" "HE COULDN'T EXPLAIN THE ORIGIN OF THESE LINES." "HE JUST SAW THAT PART OF THE SPECTRUM WAS MISSING." "NARRATOR:" "IN THE CRYPTIC TRACES OF ITS LIGHT," "THE UNIVERSE REVEALS ITS TRUE COLORS." "WE CAN SEE ITS CHEMICAL STRUCTURE." ". LIGHT IS ORIGINATED IN ATOMS" "LIGHT IS ORIGINATED" "EVERY TIME THAT ELECTRONS IN THESE ATOMS" "IT'S EMITTING OR ABSORBING LIGHT AT A PARTICULAR FREQUENCY." ". SO EACH CHEMICAL ELEMENT HAS A PARTICULAR WAY OF BEHAVIOR" "THE ELECTRONS ARE JUMPING IN PARTICULAR PLACES." "SO DEPENDING ON THESE PLACES" "IS THE POSITION OF THE LINE IN THE SPECTRUM." ""AH, THIS IS HYDROGEN."" ", BUT IF THE LINE APPEARS HERE" "SO IN THE SOLAR SPECTRUM WE HAVE THE FINGER PRINTS" "OF A LOT OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS" "THAT WE CAN IDENTIFY IN OUR LABS," "BECAUSE WITH THE SAME EQUIPMENT WE TAKE A SPECTRUM OFF OUR LAMP," "SAY, FOR EXAMPLE, AN ARC OF IRON " ". AND WE CAN PRODUCE THE SAME LINES IN OUR LABS" "AND WE MATCH THE LINES FROM THE SUN" "WITH THE LINES FROM THE LAMP IN OUR LABORATORY," "AND THE MATCH IS PERFECT." "HAWKING:" "USING SPECTROSCOPY IT WAS FOUND" "THAT THE CHEMICAL CONTENT OF OUR SUN" "WAS IDENTICAL TO THAT OF ANY STAR IN THE UNIVERSE." "OUR SUN, AND OUR SOLAR SYSTEM ITSELF," "WAS JUST ONE OF AN INFINITE NUMBER OF OTHERS." "PERHAPS WE OURSELVES" "HAVE NO SPECIAL PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE." "DIEGO:" "THE CHEMISTRY OF STAR S IS MORE OR LESS THE SAME" "AS THE CHEMISTRY OF THE SUN," "SO THE SUN BECOMES A STAR OR STARS BECOME SUNS." "THIS IS A BIG REVOLUTION." "THIS IS LIKE A COPERNICAN REVOLUTION," "WHEN YOU ABANDON THE IDEA" "THAT THE EARTH IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE," "AND YOU SAY, WELL," ". IT'S NO LONGER THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE" ", NO CENTER AT LEAST OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM" "AND THAT WAS A MAJOR REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE." "NOW WE HAVE ANOTHER REVOLUTION IN WHICH WE SAY," "WELL, WE ARE NOT SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT," "BECAUSE OUR OWN BODIES, OUR OWN CHEMISTRY," "OUR BLOOD, OUR BONES, OUR SKINS " " THEY ARE MADE OF HYDROGEN, NITROGEN, OXYGEN, ETCETERA " "SODIUM, ETCETERA." "AND WE FIND HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN, ETCETERA," "IN NEBULAE, IN STARS, IN THE UNIVERSE." "SO IT IS THE SAME CHEMISTRY," "SO THERE IS NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT IT." "NARRATOR:" "LIGHT, IT TURNS OUT, IS A MESSENGER," "AS SWIFT AS IT IS INFORMATIVE." "THE NEWS IT BEARS IS NOT JUST ABOUT CHEMISTRY." "IT ALSO SIGNALS THE MOTION OF THE UNIVERSE ITSELF." "THAT DISCOVERY IS OWED IN PART TO CHRISTIAN DOPPLER." "DIEGO:" "THE DOPPLER SHIFT HAS BEEN, PERHAPS," "ONE OF THE TOOLS IN ASTROPHYSICS," ", I WOULD SAY IN COSMOLOGY NOW" "BECAUSE IT IS OUR SPEEDOMETER, IF YOU LIKE." "IT IS THE METER THAT WE US E TO MEASURE THE SPEED" "OF ALMOST EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE." "NARRATOR:" "DOPPLER SUGGESTED THAT, AS AN OBJECT MOVES," "THE LIGHT IT EMITS WILL APPEAR TO BE ALTERED." "WE CAN'T OBSERVE THIS IN EVERYDAY LIFE," "BECAUSE LIGHT MOVES TOO FAST , BUT WE HEAR THE SAME EFFECT." ". SOUND IS ALSO CARRIED IN WAVES" ".AS IT APPROACHES, SOUND IS ALSO CARRIED IN WAVES" "ITS WAVES ARE SQUASHED TOGETHER." "AS IT DEPARTS, THE SOUND WAVES ARE STRETCHED APART." ". THE CHANGE IN PITCH IS AUDIBLE AND KNOWN AS THE DOPPLER SHIFT" "[ SIREN APPROACHES ]" "[ PITCH OF SIREN DECREASES ]" "BY ANALYZING STARS," "SCIENTISTS FOUND THE DOPPLER SHIFT AT WORK" "IN THE LIGHT SPECTRUM AS WELL." "IF A LIGHT SOURCE MOVES TOWARD US," "THE FRAUENHOFER LINES ARE SHIFTED" "TOWARDS THE BLUE END OF THE SPECTRUM." "IF THE LIGHT SOURCE IS RECEDING," "THE LINES SHIFT TOWARDS THE RED." "HAWKING:" "THESE EXTRAORDINARY PATTERNS IN STARLIGHT" "BROUGHT THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE FOR COSMOLOGY." "IT BECAME POSSIBLE TO TELL" "NOT ONLY WHAT THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE OF," ". BUT ALSO HOW IT WAS MOVING" "THE BREAKTHROUGH CAME" "BY ANALYZING LIGHT FROM DEEP IN THE UNIVERSE " "LIGHT SEEN THROUGH POWERFUL NEW TELESCOPES IN AMERICA." "THEY COULD REVEAL" "DETAILS OF THE UNIVERSE NEVER SEEN BEFORE." "JASTROW:" "EVERYBODY KNEW WHAT THE MILKY WAY GALAXY WAS " "A COLLECTION OF BILLIONS OF STARS" "TO WHICH THE SUN BELONGS," "BUT NOBODY KNEW" "WHAT THESE LITTLE PATCHES OF NEBULOUS MATERIAL" "THAT LOOKED LIKE SPIRALS AND PANCAKES AND SO ON WERE." "AND SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT THE MILKY WAY GALAXY" "WAS THE WHOLE UNIVERSE," "AND THESE LITTLE SPIRALS WERE WISPS OF GAS IN THAT UNIVERSE." "THE MOST FAMOUS PERSON THAT WORKED AT MOUNT WILSON" "WAS EDWIN HUBBLE," "WHO CAME HERE WHEN HE WAS QUITE YOUNG, ACTUALLY," "RIGHT AFTER HIS SERVICE IN WORLD WAR I," "AND HUBBLE HAD THE GOLDEN TOUCH." "HE HAD A KNACK OF PICKING THE IMPORTANT PROBLEMS." "NARRATOR:" "NO PROBLEM SEEMED MORE PUZZLING" "THAN THE ONE POSED BY THE EARL OF ROSSE" "AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES." "WHAT WERE THOSE STRANGE SWIRLS THEY'D SIGHTED?" "HUBBLE WANTED TO KNOW." "JASTROW:" "MAKING USE OF THE EXTRAORDINARY CLARITY" "OF THE ATMOSPHERE OVER MOUNT WILSON," "WHICH IS THE BEST ON THE CONTINENT," "HE WAS ABLE TO DISTINGUISH INDIVIDUAL STARS" "IN THESE LITTLE CLOUDS OF GAS, THESE SO-CALLED NEBULAE," "AND THAT TOLD HIM IN ITSELF" "THAT THEY WERE NOT WISPS OF GAS IN OUR GALAXY," "BUT GALAXIES IN THEIR OWN RIGHT," "EACH ONE CONTAINING BILLIONS OF STARS," "AND THAT THE UNIVERSE, THE TRUE UNIVERSE," "WAS POPULATED WITH COUNTLESS NUMBERS" "OF ISLAND UNIVERSES," "EACH ONE LIKE OUR MILKY WAY GALAXY." "THE DISTANCES THAT HE MEASURED" "WERE ABSOLUTELY STUPEFYING TO THE ASTRONOMERS OF THAT TIME." "HE FOUND THAT THE ANDROMEDA NEBULA," "WHICH IS THE CLOSEST GALAXY TO US LIKE OUR OWN," "WAS AT LEAST A MILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY," "AND A LIGHT YEAR IS 6 TRILLION MILES " "A VERY, VERY GREAT DISTANCE," "FAR OUTSIDE THE EDGE OF OUR OWN MILKY WAY GALAXY." "FOR THE FIRST TIME WE KNEW HOW BIG THE UNIVERSE WAS" "WITH THAT DISCOVERY." "NARRATOR:" "MEANWHILE, DOPPLER'S THEORY CAME INTO PLAY" ". UNDER THE STUDIED GAZE OF A COLLEAGUE OF HUBBLE'S" "VESTO SLIPHER BEGAN TO ANALYZE LIGHT." "JASTROW:" "ALL OF THE GALAXIES THAT HE COULD SEE AROUND HIM" "HAD RED SHIFTS," "TOWARDS LONGER WAV ELENGTHS." "AND THAT WOULD MEAN, OF COURSE , THAT RELATIVE TO US," "THEY WERE MOVING AWAY." ". WHEN SLIPHER GAVE THIS REPORT, EVERYBODY STOOD UP AND CHEERED" "THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANT , BUT THEY HAD A GUT FEELING" "THAT IT WAS SOMETHING COSMIC IN ITS SIGNIFICANCE." "NARRATOR:" "THAT GALAXIES WERE SPEEDING AWAY FROM US" "WAS A DISCOVERY AS STRIKING AS IT WAS BAFFLING." "BUT UNKNOWN TO SLIPHER AND HUBBLE," "AN EXPLANATION WAS BEING FORMED AN OBSCURE GERMAN PHYSICIST." "HIS NEW MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE WOULD BE NO LESS RADICAL" ", THAN THOSE OF CENTURIES PAST" "AND AMONG ITS PREDICTIONS WOULD BE THE REVELATION" "THAT THE UNIVERSE IS RAPIDLY EXPANDING." "ALL THE MORE REMARKABLE WAS THAT THIS INSIGHT CAME" "FROM A MAN NOW WORKING AS A PATENT CLERK" ". BECAUSE HE HAD SHOWN SO LITTLE ACADEMIC PROMISE" "HIS NAME -- ALBERT EINSTEIN." "HE WAS FORCED TO LEARN" "A LOT OF VERY COMPLICATED MATHEMATICS IN ORDER TO DO SO." "BUT IN 1915 FINALLY THE THEORY WAS BORN." "THE THEORY WAS CALLED GENERAL RELATIVITY," "AND IT DIFFERED FROM THE THEORY OF GRAVITY" "THAT HAD HELD SWAY UP UNTIL THEN FOR MORE THAN 200 YEARS," "WHICH WAS NEWTONIAN GRAVITY." "ALL OBJECTS IN THE UNIVERSE ATTRACT EACH O" "EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF GRAVITY IS RADICALLY DIFFERENT," "IN FACT, THAT THE OBJECTS DON'T" "ATTRACT EACH OTHER DIRECTLY AT ALL." "ONE OBJECT MAKES DENTS OR DIMPLES OR WARPS" "IN THE FABRIC OF SPACE-TIME ITSELF," "AND THE OTHER OBJECT, AS IT MOVES BY," ", IS ACTUALLY BENT BY THE CURVATURE OF SPACE-TIME" "BY THE FACT THAT THERE'S THIS DIMPLE THERE." "AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S BEING ATTRACTED TO THE FIRST OBJECT," "THE OBJECT THAT'S MAKING THE DIMPLE," "BUT, IN FACT, IT'S NOT DIRECT." ". IT'S JUST REACTING TO THE WARPAGE OF SPACE-TIME" "SO ONE THING TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT GENERAL RELATIVITY" ", IS THAT YOU CAN'T HAVE A WHOLE COLLECTION OF MATTER" "SAY, OF GALAXIES OR STARS," "WHICH ARE SITTING IN STATIC CONFIGURATION" "WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER , AND EXPECT THEM TO STAY THERE." "THEY WON'T." "THEY ARE GOING TO COLLAPSE IN TOWARDS EACH OTHER." "SO THIS MEANS" "THAT YOU CAN'T HAVE" "A STATIC MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE IN GENERAL RELATIVITY." "THE MODEL " " THE UNIVERSE EITHER HAS TO BE EXPANDING" "OR IT HAS TO BE CONTRACTING " "IT HAS TO BE DYNAMICAL IN SOME WAY." "IT CAN'T P" "NARRATOR:" "EINSTEIN IMAGINE D THAT THERE MUST BE" "SOME UNKNOWN FORCE KEEPING THE COSMOS" ". FROM COLLAPSING IN ON ITSELF" ". IN FACT, HE HAD PREDICTED THAT THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING" "JASTROW:" "THE ASTRONOMERS" "LOOKED AT SLIPHER'S DISCOVERY OF THE MOTION OF THE GALAXIES," "AND THE PREDICTION THAT THE UNIVERSE EXPANDS," "AND THEY SAID, AHA!" "THESE ARE TWO SIDES OF ONE COIN." "THEY FIT TOGETHER." "AND HUBBLE AGAIN WITH THAT GOLDEN TOUCH" "S FOR WORKING ON THE BIG PROBLEM" "TURNED HIS ATTENTION TO THIS QUESTION," "AND HE ASKED HIMSELF, HOW CAN I INVESTIGATE IT?" "AND THE WAY HE DID SO WAS TO START TO MEASURE" "THE RED SHIFTS, AS THEY ARE CALLED " "THE VELOCITIES WITH WHICH" "THESE GALAXIES ARE MOVING AWAY FROM US." "NARRATOR:" "HUBBLE BEGAN THE PAINSTAKING PROCESS" "OF COMPARING THE DISTANCE AND REDSHIFTS" "OF DOZENS OF GALAXIES." "THE RESULTS WERE STAGGERING." "JASTROW:" "AND HE FOUND SOMETHING KNOWN TODAY AS HUBBLE'S LAW," "QUITE EXTRAORDINARY, THAT THE RED SHIFT" "OR THE VELOCITY OF RECESSION FROM US" "IS PROPORTIONAL TO DISTANCE." "IF A GALAXY AT THIS DISTANCE" "IS MOVING AWAY FROM YOU AT A CERTAIN SPEED," "A GALAXY TWICE AS FAR AWAY WILL BE GUARANTEED" "TO BE MOVING AWAY FROM YOU AT TWICE THE SPEED." "HUBBLE ACTUALLY CHANGED" "THE PICTURE OF THE UNIVERSE" "BECAUSE THE PTOLEMAIC PICTURE WAS STATIC," "AND NEWTON'S PICTURE" ". OF THE UNIVERSE WAS STATIC" ". BUT HUBBLE SHOWED THAT THE UNIVERSE IS DYNAMIC" "EVERYTHING IS MOVING AWAY FROM EVERYTHING ELSE." "GREEK ASTRONOMERS THOUGHT -- MOST OF THEM, NOT ALL OF THEM " ". THAT THE EARTH WAS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE" "COPERNICUS SHOWED THAT THAT WAS NOT SO," "AND THOUGHT THE SUN WAS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE." ", OTHER LATER ASTRONOMERS SHOWED" ", NO, THE SUN WAS NOT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE" "BUT MANY OF THEM THOUGHT" ". THAT THE CENTER OF OUR GALAXY WAS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE" "HUBBLE SHOWED THAT THERE IS NO CENTER." "THAT WAS A TREMENDOUS SCIENTIFIC, THEOLOGICAL," "AND PHILOSOPHICAL ACCOMPLISHMENT." "E HE SHOWED THAT THE UNIVERSE AS FAR AS THE TELESCOPE CAN SE" "IS POPULATED WITH COUNTLESS NUMBERS OF ISLAND UNIVERSES," "AND THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER." "THERE IS NO CENTER." "THE SECOND IMPLICATION IN HIS FINDING WAS " "WELL, TO EXPLAIN IT," "IMAGINE THAT THE PICTURE OF THE EXPANDING GALAXIES" "MOVING AWAY FROM US AND ONE ANOTHER" "IS A MOVIE STRIP." "NOW RUN THAT IN REVERSE." "AND ALL THE GALAXIES GOING BACKWARD IN TIME" "COME CLOSER AND CLOSER TOGETHER." ", AND FINALLY THEY ALL MEET TOGETHER AT ONE POINT" "SPEAKING LOOSELY, BECAUSE THERE IS NO ONE POINT," "THERE IS NO CENTER IN THE UNIVERSE." "THEY ALL COME TOGETHER IN AN INFINITELY DENSE" ", AND YET INFINITELY EXTENDED MOMENT" "AND BEYOND THAT, OF INFINITE DENSITY," "ONE CANNOT GO." "SO THAT MOMENT MARKS THE BEGINNING" ". OR THE BIRTH OF THE UNIVERSE" "AND ALL OF THE THINGS THAT WE SEE AROUND US " "EVERY STAR, EVERY PLANET," ", EVERY LIVING THING ON THE EARTH AND IN THE COSMOS" "OWES ITS GENESIS TO THAT MOMENT" ", YOU CAN CALL IT THE BIG BANG" "BUT YOU CAN ALSO CALL IT WITH ACCURACY" "THE MOMENT OF CREATION." "NARRATOR:" "TODAY, OUR EXPANDING VISION" ". IS KEEPING PACE WITH AN EXPANDING UNIVERSE" "THERE ARE NEW REVELATIONS" ". OF THE BIG BANG, OF DARK MATTER, OF A STRANGE BREACH OF SPACE" "WHAT ARE CALLED BLACK HO" "A BLACK HOLE IS A GAPING VOID IN SPACE" "THAT SUCKS IN AND DEVOURS ANYTHING THAT GETS TOO NEAR." "IT BECOMES COMPACT, MASSIVE, AND THEREFORE ABLE TO " "IF IT ENCOUNTERS SOMETHING ELSE " ". ABLE TO EAT SOME MORE MATTER" "IT BECOMES THE EATER OF ALL THINGS." "NARRATOR:" "COSMOLOGISTS ARE NOW" "EXPLORING A UNIVERSE THEIR PREDECESSORS" "WOULD HARDLY RECOGNIZE." "HAWKING:" "IT SEEMS THAT THE KIND OF MATTER" "OF WHICH WE ARE MADE" "CONSTITUTES ONLY A SMALL FRACTION" "OF THE UNIVERSE." "OVER 90% IS SOMETHING WE CANNOT EVEN SEE " "DARK MATTER." "IT SORT OF PUTS ONE IN " "AS A HUMAN BEING " "INTO SOME PERSPECTIVE," "THAT THE EARTH IS NOT" ". THE CENTER OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM" "WE ARE NOT EVEN MADE OF PARTICULARLY" "COMMON MATTER THAT'S AROUND," "BECAUSE MOST OF IT'S DARK MATTER." "NARRATOR:" "GRADUALLY, THE HEAVENS ARE YIELDING" "THEIR SECRETS TO US." "THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE FROM THE ORBITING TELESCOPE" "NAMED AFTER HUBBLE." "HAWKING:" "FROM SITTING AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE," "WE NOW FIND OURSELVES ORBITING AN AVERAGE-SIZED SUN," "WHICH IS JUST ONE OF MILLIONS OF STARS" "IN OUR OWN MILKY WAY GALAXY." "AND OUR GALAXY ITSELF" "IS JUST ONE OF BILLIONS OF GALAXIES" "IN A UNIVERSE THAT IS INFINITE AND EXPANDING." ". BUT THIS IS FAR FROM THE END OF A LONG HISTORY OF INQUIRY" "HUGE QUESTIONS REMAIN TO BE ANSWERED" "BEFORE WE CAN HOPE TO HAVE" ". A COMPLETE PICTURE OF THE UNIVERSE WE LIVE IN" "" TO LEARN MORE ABOUT "STEPHEN HAWKING'S UNIVERSE," "VISIT PBS ONLINE AT THE INTERNET ADDRESS ON YOUR SCREEN." "CAPTIONS BY VITAC" " BURBANK, PITTSBURGH, TAMPA, AND WASHINGTON, D.C." ""STEPHEN HAWKING'S UNIVERSE" WAS MADE POSSIBLE" "BY ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION, TO ENHANCE PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING" "OF THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY," "THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS," "THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING," "AND VIEWERS LIKE YOU." "CORPORATE FUNDING IS PROVIDED BY AMGEN," "UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF LIFE THROUGH BIOTECHNOLOGY." "AT AMGEN, WE PRODUCE MEDICINES" "THAT IMPROVE PEOPLE'S LIVES TODAY" "AND BRING HOPE FOR TOMORROW." ""STEPHEN HAWKING'S UNIVERSE" IS MADE POSSIBLE" "BY ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION TO ENHANCE PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING" "OF THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY," "THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS," "THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING," "AND VIEWERS LIKE YOU." "CORPORATE FUNDING IS PROVIDED BY AMGEN," "UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF LIFE THROUGH BIOTECHNOLOGY." "AT AMGEN, WE PRODUCE MEDICINES" "THAT IMPROVE PEOPLE'S LIVES TODAY" "AND BRING HOPE FOR TOMORROW." "STEPHEN HAWKING:" "FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS," "PEOPLE HAVE WONDERED ABOUT THE UNIVERSE." "DID IT STRETCH OUT FOREVER , OR WAS THERE A LIMIT?" "AND WHERE DID IT ALL COME FROM?" "A MOMENT OF CREATION, AS THE CHURCH THOUGHT" "OR HAD THE UNIVERSE EXISTED FOREVER," "AS MANY PHILOSOPHERS BELIEVED?" "THE DEBATE BETWEEN THESE TWO VIEWS" "RAGED FOR CENTURIES WITHOUT REACHING ANY CONCLUSIONS." ", BUT WHILE I WAS GROWING UP" "THE DEBATE WAS VIRTUALLY SETTLED." "ONE VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE PREVAILED." "NARRATOR:" "WHAT SPARKED CREATION?" "FOR HALF THE 20TH CENTURY, THE BEST MINDS OF COSMOLOGY" "WERE CONSUMED WITH THAT QUESTION," "AND THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN TWO CONFLICTING THEORIES." "IT ALL BEGAN RIGHT HERE." "WE'RE AT AN ALTITUDE OF JUST OVER A MILE," "AND THERE'S COOL AIR COMING IN FROM THE OCEAN," ". ON TOP OF A LAYER THAT'S IN THE LOS ANGELES BASIN BELOW" "SO THERE'S A PRESSURE LID IN THE ATMOSPHERE" "THAT KEEPS THE WARM AIR AND THE HAZE DOWN BELOW" "AND KEEPS THE SMOOTH, COOL AIR FLOWING OVER THE MOUNTAINTOP." "THE IMAGES HERE ARE THE CRISPEST A" "IN THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT." "NARRATOR:" "THE YEAR WAS 1917." "MOUNT WILSON IN LOS ANGELES WAS CHOSEN FOR CONSTRUCTION" "OF THE LARGEST AND MOST OPTICALLY PERFECT TELESCOPE THE WORD HAD KNOWN" "ITS OBSERVATIONS WOULD CALL INTO QUESTION" "OUR VISION OF THE COSMOS." "BUT AT THE SAME TIME, AS IF ON CUE," "ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS ALREADY PURSUING" "SOME ANSWERS OF HIS OWN." "HIS THEORY OF RELATIVITY HELD PREDICTIONS" "THAT WOULD ULTIMATELY BEAR OUT" "THE REVELATIONS FROM MOUNT WILSON." ". STILL, HE WAS BOTHERED BY ONE BAFFLING CONTRADICTION" "THE MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE YOU BUILD" "IN GENERAL RELATIVITY HAVE TO HAVE THE UNIVERSE" "EITHER EXPANDING OR CONTRACTING." "THEY CAN'T BE STATIC." "THIS DISTURBED EINSTEIN." "HIS ASSUMPTION THAT THE UNIVERSE IS STATIC WAS SO STRONG," "HE DIDN'T SEE THE EXPANSION OR CONTRACTION OF THE UNIVERSE" "AS A PREDICTION OF THE THEORY." "HE JUST THOUGHT OF IT AS A PROBLEM" "THAT HAD TO BE OVERCOME" "BY CHANGING THE THEORY IN SOME WAY." "NARRATOR:" "EINSTEIN MISTAKENLY DISMISSED" "THE POSSIBILITY OF AN EXPANDING UNIVERSE," "STRIKING IT FROM HIS THEORY." "S HE SIMPLY FUDGED HIS FORMULA" "WITH WHAT HE CALLED A COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT." "BUT EINSTEIN SHOULD HAVE HAD MORE CONFIDENCE." "IT WOULD TAKE A CATHOLIC PRIES T TO TELL HIM SO." ". HIS NAME WAS GEORGE LEMAITRE" "LEMAITRE BELIEVED SCIENCE AND RELIGION" "COULD GO HAND IN HAND" "TODAY, FATHER MICHAEL HELLER AGREES." "HELLER:" "THERE ARE TWO WAYS OF MAKING DIALOGUE" ". BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION" "ONE IS A DIRECT DIALOGUE," "WHEN THEOLOGIANS AND SCIENTISTS SIT TOGETHER," "AND THEY TRY TO SPEAK TO EACH OTHER," ". AND USUALLY IT IS A DISASTER" "BUT THERE IS ANOTHER WAY OF MAKING A DIALOGUE" "BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION," "WHEN, FOR INSTANCE, A PRIEST OR A RELIGIOUS MAN" "SIMPLY DOES SCIENCE." "NARRATOR:" "CENTURIES AGO," "THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD PRODUCED WITHIN THE CHURCH" "HAD A PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON THE WORLD BEYOND." "THE VATICAN MAINTAINS THAT TRADITION." "TODAY IT IS HOSTING A COSMOLOGICAL CONFERENCE." "FATHER HELLER HAS BEEN INVITED TO ROME TO ATTEND." "HELLER:" "THE VATICAN ESTABLISHED" "THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY" "TO HAVE SCIENTIFIC COUNSEL TO THE POPE." "I THINK IT WAS AN INTENTION" "TO ENGAGE THE CHURCH INTO THE DIALOGUE WITH SCIENCE." "AND THE BEST WAY OF DOING THIS DIALOGUE" "IS JUST DOING SCIENCE WITHIN THE VATICAN ." "NARRATOR:" "IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY," "THE BURNING QUESTION DEBATED AT THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY WAS," "?" "HOW DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN" "FOR SOME, THE SCRIPTURES HELD THE ANSWER." "FOR LEMAITRE, SCIENCE DID, AS WELL." "HELLER:" "GEORGE LEMAITRE" "WAS ELECTED A MEMBER OF THIS ACADEMY." "HE STUDIED BOTH THEOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS." "HE WAS RATHER A MATHEMATICIAN BY TRAINING," "BUT HE GOT VERY EARLY INTERESTED" "IN EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF RELATIVITY." "NARRATOR:" "A PRIEST AND THEORIST" "AS DEVOUT AS HE WAS RADICAL," "LEMAITRE HAD A WAY OF WINNING PEOPLE OVER." "HELLER:" "UNFORTUNATELY, I NEVER MET HIM," "BUT I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT HIM." "HE WAS A BIG MAN." "HE LIKED GOOD FOOD AND GOOD DRINK." "HE HAD A VERY GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR." "HE WAS VERY OFTEN LAUGHING IN A GOOD COMPANY," ". AND HIS LAUGH WAS CONTAGIOUS" "NARRATOR:" "LEMAITRE HAD THE GUMPTION" "TO CHALLENGE EINSTEIN AND TO PRESENT THE CHURCH" "WITH HIS OWN IDEAS OF GENESIS." "THE UNIVERSE, HE SAID," "HAD A PRECISE MOMENT OF CREATION." "HE IMAGINED EVERYTHING SPRANG" "FROM A DENSE, PRIMEVAL ATOM." "HE INVOKED HARD SCIENCE WITH A FLAIR FOR POETRY." "HELLER: "THE EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD" "CAN BE COMPARED TO A DISPLAY OF FIREWORKS" "THAT JUST HAS ENDED," "RED WISPS, ASHES, AND SMOKE." "E FEW" "STANDING ON A WELL-CHILLED CINDER," "WE SEE THE SLOW FADING OF THE SUNS," "AND WE TRY TO RECALL THE VANISHED BRILLIANCE" "" OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLDS." "HAWKING:" "THIS CATACLYSMIC BEGINNING" "AND EXPANDING UNIVERSE THAT LEMAITRE PROPOSED" "ARE WHAT WE NOW ACCEPT AS A BIG BANG." "FEW SCIENTISTS TOOK THE BEGINNING" "OF THE UNIVERSE SERIOUSLY." "NARRATOR:" "LEMAITRE HAD TO RISE" "TO HIS THEORY'S DEFENSE." "HE EVEN WON AN AUDIENCE WITH THE MASTER, HIMSELF," "TO NO AVAIL." "DOWKER:" "EINSTEIN DEFINITELY REJECTED THE MODEL" "AS SOMETHING UNPLEASANT," "AND HE TOLD LEMAITRE" "THAT HIS PHYSICS WAS NOT VERY GOOD." "EVERYONE ASSUMED THAT THE UNIVERSE WAS STATIC," "AND EINSTEIN WAS NO EXCEPTION." "SO PROBABLY THE IDEA THAT THE UNIVERSE WAS EXPANDING" "WAS JUST SIMPLY NOT SOMETHING" "THAT HE WAS PREPARED TO CONSIDER." "NARRATOR:" "THE CONFLICT HAD REACHED A STALEMATE," "AND THERE IT WOULD HAVE REMAINED," ". HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR A NEW MARVEL OF TECHNOLOGY" "BALLIUNAS:" "THE 100-INCH TELESCOPE" "WAS THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD" "WHEN IT WAS BUILT IN 1917." "IT DREW OBSERVERS HERE," "THE PEOPLE WHO COULD USE THE TELESCOPES THE BEST" ". TO TICKLE OUT THE DETAILS OF HOW THE COSMOS OPERATED" ". NARRATOR:" "EDWIN HUBBLE WAS ONE" "IT WOULD TAKE AN OBSERVER" "OF HIS UNCANNY INSTINCT," "PLUS THE PRIEST AND THE THEORIST," "TO RESOLVE THE ULTIMATE RIDDLE OF CREATION." "BALLIUNAS:" "EDWIN HUBBLE CAME TO MOUNT WILSON" "IN THE EARLY 1920S." "FOR HIS THESIS GUESS," "FOR HIS THESIS HE HAD MADE A GUESS, WHICH IS UNLIKE HUBBLE TO HAVE DONE, A SPECULATION." "HE THOUGHT THAT SOME OF THE FAINT, WISPY CLOUDS" "THAT YOU COULD SEE IN THE NIGHTTIME SKY " "AND THESE ARE CLOUDS ON THE SKY," "NOT CLOUDS IN THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE " "THESE NEBULAE, AS THEY'RE CALLED," "HAD A SPIRAL SHAPE, HAVE A SPIRAL SHAPE." "AND HE THOUGHT THEY MIGHT BE EXTERNAL TO OUR OWN GALAXY." "NARRATOR:" "HIS CONJECTURE WAS A CONCEPTUAL BREAKTHROUGH" "WE HAD LONG IMAGINED OUR GALAXY" ". AS THE WHOLE OF THE UNIVERSE" "ASSUMED TO BE GASEOUS OBJECT S WITHIN OUR MILKY WAY." "NOW HUBBLE TRAINED HIS GAZE ON THEM." "NEWLY REVEALED BY THE 100-INCH TELESCOPE," ". THE NEBULAE SHOWN AT A DISTANT FRONTIER OF SPACE" "THEY WERE, IN FACT, GALAXIES THEMSELVES." "HUBBLE SET OUT TO CAPTURE THEM IN PHOTOGRAPHS." "TO TRACK A CLOUD IN SPACE AS THE EARTH IS TURNING" "TOOK GREAT PATIENCE AND ENDURANCE." "TO TAKE A PICTURE OF IT," "KEEPING THOUSANDS OF STARS IN PERFECT REGISTRATION," "WAS A MONUMENTAL FEAT." "BALLIUNAS:" "SOME OF HIS EXPOSURES" "ARE 30 OR 40 HOURS," "WHICH MEANS HE DID THIS FOR ONE NIGHT," "LEFT THE PLATE IN, CAME BACK THE NEXT NIGHT" "AND RE-OPENED THE PLATE AND BEGAN EXPOSING AGAIN." "HUBBLE WOULD BE STANDING ON THIS PLATFORM" "ALL NIGHT LONG, GUIDING AND GUIDING AND GUIDING." "NARRATOR:" "HUBBLE'S PERSISTENCE WAS REWARDED" "WITH IMAGES OF BREATHTAKING CLARITY." "SUDDENLY, HE COULD MAKE OUT THE DISTINCT PRESENCE" "OF INDIVIDUAL STARS" "WITHIN THE FOLD OF THE ANDROMEDA SPIRAL." "BY METICULOUS MEASUREMENTS OF THEIR BRIGHTNESS," "HE COULD TELL HOW FAR AWAY THE GALAXY WAS." ", HE FOUND THAT THIS, OUR NEAREST NEIGHBORING GALAXY" "WAS OVER A MILLION LIGHT-YEARS AWAY." "HE TURNED AROUND OUR NOTION OF THE SIZE OF THE" "HE INCREASED THE VOLUME" "BY SOMETHING LIKE A FACTOR OF A THOUSAND MILLION," "BECAUSE NOW ALL THESE FAINT SMUDGES OF LIGHT" "WERE NOT INTERIOR TO OUR SMALL MILKY WAY GALAXY," "BUT WERE EACH INDIVIDUAL GALAXIES" "HOLDING 100 BILLION STARS OR SO." "SO HE INCREASED THE SIZE OF THE UNIVERSE" "INTO THIS VAST COSMOS THAT WE KNOW TODAY," "AND ALSO MADE OUR PLACE, SIMULTANEOUSLY," "MADE THE UNIVERSE LARGE AND OWN PLACE VERY HUMBLE." ". NARRATOR:" "BUT HUBBLE DIDN'T STOP THERE" "THE LIGHT FROM DISTANT GALAXIES," "HE COULD TELL THEY ARE SPEEDING AWAY." "BALLIUNAS:" "HUBBLE LOOKED AT GALAXIES," "AND AS HE ANALYZED THE LIGHT OF THE GALAXIES," "WITHIN THE LIGHT THAT HE IS LOOKING AT" "HE COULD TELL WHETHER OR NOT AND HOW FAST" "THE GALAXIES ARE MOVING TOWARDS OR AWAY FROM US." "THE AND HE FOUND OUT THAT THE MORE DISTANT A GALAXY WAS," "THE FASTER IT WAS MOVING AWAY FROM US." "THIS IS HUBBLE'S LAW." ". NARRATOR:" "THAT GALAXIES WERE RACING APART MEANT ONE THING" "THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING." "INCREDIBLE AS THE DISCOVERY WAS," ". HUBBLE APPROACHED IT WITH A SCIENTIST'S CAUTION" "IT WAS THE SAME IMPULSE" "THAT HAD PROMPTED EINSTEIN" "TO QUESTION THE PREDICTIONS OF HIS THEORY." "BUT WHEN GEORGE LEMAITRE HEARD OF HUBBLE'S CLAIM," "HE KNEW THIS WAS THE PROOF HE'D BEEN WAITING FOR." "IN 1931, WHILE EINSTEIN WAS VISITING HUBBLE," "LEMAITRE SEIZED THE MOMENT" "TO PAY THEM BOTH A SURPRISE CALL." "BALLIUNAS:" "SO IMAGINE THESE THREE" "INCREDIBLE IDEAS ALL IN THE SAME ROOM AT THE SAME TIME " ", EINSTEIN'S VERY BEAUTIFUL THEORY OF GENERAL RELATIVITY" ", WHICH TALKS ABOUT SPACE-TIME" "LEMAITRE'S ELEGANT SOLUTION, MATHEMATICAL SOLUTION," ", THAT SAYS AN EXPANSION IS ALLOWED FROM A PRIMEVAL ATOM" "A PRIMORDIAL START," "AND THEN HUBBLE'S EVIDENCE TAKEN FROM OBSERVATIONS" "THAT TRACED THE MOTION OF GALAXIES" "FROM THIS INITIAL EXPANSION." "HAWKING:" "WHEN THEORY AND OBSERVATION COME TOGETHER," "SCIENCE OFTEN TAKES A GREAT LEAP FORWARD." "THE BASIS OF MODERN COSMOLOGY" "WAS ESTABLISHED AT THIS MEETING." "LOOKING BACK, I CAN RECOGNIZE THIS" "AS THE FOUNDATIONS FOR MY OWN WORK." "[ DING ]" "BALLIUNAS:" "LEMAITRE HAD TO WORK THROUGH EINSTEIN'S THEORY" "THROUGH THE MATHEMATICS" "WHICH ARE EXTRAORDINARILY COMPLEX." "AND AFTER PRESENTING THIS TO EINSTEIN" "AND PRESSING AND PRESSING AND PRESSING HIS POINT," "AND THEN HAVING THE EVIDENCE OF HUBBLE THERE" "TO TOP THIS ALL OFF," "EINSTEIN WAS BEGINNING TO BE CONVINCED" "OF THE EVIDENCE FOR THE EXPANSION." "HE BEGINS TO REALIZE, AS LEMAITRE PRESSES HIS POINT," "THAT HE HAD MADE" "A GREAT BLUNDER " "THAT IS, PUTTING IN THIS COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT" "TO OFFSET THE NATURAL EXPANSION" ". THAT FALLS OUT OF HIS THEORIES" "EINSTEIN ROSE AT THE END OF THE MEETING AND SAID," ""THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I'VE EVER SEEN."" "NARRATOR:" "FROM THEN ON," "EINSTEIN CALLED THE ADJUSTMENT S HE'D MADE TO HIS THEORY" "THE BIGGEST BLUNDER" "OF HIS LIFE." "HUBBLE'S WORK, LEMAITRE, AND EINSTEIN, I THINK," "MAKE UP THE BIG BANG OF COSMOLOGY." "THAT IS, THIS IS THE ORIGINS OF MODERN COSMOLOGY." "HUBBLE'S WORK STARTED IT ALL" "FIRST BY INVESTIGATING WHAT THESE NEBULAE WERE," "AND THEN SEEING THIS MOTION," ", THIS LARGE-SCALE MOTION OF THE UNIVERSE, THE EXPANSION" "HOW THAT LINKED TO EINSTEIN'S THEORY," "SHOWING THAT THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING" "AND THIS IS WHERE COSMOLOGY HAS RISEN FROM." "HAWKING:" "I WAS FASCINATED BY THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE" "EVEN WHEN I HEARD OF IT AS A BOY AT SCHOOL." "BUT MANY SCIENTISTS DIDN'T LIKE THE IDEA" "THAT THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING," "A MOMENT OF CREATION." "FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY." "FRED HOYLE WASN'T CONTENT" "TO VOICE HIS REBUTTAL TO HIS STUDENTS ALONE." "HE TOOK TO THE AIRWAVES," "DELIVERING HIS MESSAGE STRAIGHT TO THE PUBLIC." "THE QUESTION OF HOW THE UNIVERSE BEGAN," "HE TOLD THEM, WAS FAR FROM SETTLED." "HOYLE:" "PERHAPS LIKE ME YOU GREW UP WITH A NOTION" "THAT THE WHOLE OF THE MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE" "G WAS CREATED IN ONE BIG BAN" "AT A PARTICULAR TIME IN THE REMOTE PAST." "WHAT I'M NOW GOING TO TELL YOU IS THAT THIS IS WRONG." "NARRATOR:" "FRED HOYLE MADE IT HIS PERSONAL MISSION" "TO CHALLENGE WHAT HE DERISIVELY CHRISTENED" ""THE BIG BANG."" "THE NAME STUCK." " IT WAS HOYLE VERSUS THE PRIMEVAL ATOM " "THE STEADY STATE THEORY VERSUS THE BIG BANG." "THE DEBATE CONSUMED YOUNG COSMOLOGISTS." "TODAY, DENNIS SCIAMA" "TEACHES IN ITALY." "AS A YOUNG GRADUATE STUDENT AT CAMBRIDGE," "HE SIDED WITH HOYLE." "YOU'VE GOT TO REMEMBER AT THAT TIME" "THERE WERE NOT MANY PEOPLE WORKING IN COSMOLOGY," "SO ONE OR TWO REBELLIOUS CHARACTERS" "COULD MAKE A VERY BIG IMPACT ON THE SUBJECT." "HOYLE:" "NOW THIS BIG BANG IDEA SEEMED TO ME" "TO BE UNSATISFACTORY" "EVEN BEFORE DETAILED EXAMINATION," "FOR IT'S AN IRRATIONAL PROCESS" "THAT CAN'T BE DESCRIBED IN SCIENTIFIC TERMS." "SCIAMA:" "SO IN 1948," "THEY PROPOSED THE FAMOUS STEADY STATE THEORY" "WHICH WAS A CONTRADICTION TO THE BIG BANG," "ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE WAS EXPANDING," "BUT SUPPOSING THAT AS THE GALAXIES" ", MOVE AWAY FROM ONE ANOTHER" "NEW MATTER WAS CREATED BETWEEN THE GALAXIES" "CONTINUOUSLY ON THIS IDEA." "NARRATOR:" "HOYLE ARGUED THAT AN EXPANDING UNIVERSE" "NEED NOT NECESSARILY HAVE BEGUN G." "RATHER, IT COULD SIMPLY BE ENDLESSLY SPREADING," "GENERATING MORE AND MORE ADDITIONAL MATTER" "TO FILL THE VOIDS." ", IF YOU GO BACKWARDS IN TIME, THERE'S NO INCREASE OF DENSITY" "AND THEREFORE NO BIG BANG." "SO YOU HAVE THIS RATHER GRAND PICTURE" "OF A UNIVERSE WHICH IS EXPANDING," "BUT WHICH STAYS THE SAME IN IT'S OVERALL PROPERTIES" "FOR ALL TIME." "I PERSONALLY LIKED THE THEORY" "BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT HAD A GRAND ARCHITECTURAL SWEEP." "IT JUST SEEMED SO GRAND TO HAVE A UNIVERSE" ", THAT DIDN'T CHANGE IN ITS LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE EVER" "AND HAD NO AWKWARD INITIAL MOMENT." "[ BELL CHIMES ]" "NARRATOR:" "STILL, A STEADY STATE UNIVERSE" "THAT REJECTS A MOMENT OF CREATION" "OFFERS NO ACCOUNTING FOR HOW ITS MATTER WAS FIRST FORMED." "THIS WAS THE ONE ADVANTAGE BIG BANG PROPONENTS HAD" "OVER HOYLE'S FOLLOWERS." "THEY COULD EXPLAIN HOW THE ELEMENTS" "THAT MAKE UP THE COSMOS WERE CREATED" "IN THE THROES OF THE BIG BANG ITSELF." "SCIAMA:" "FRED HOYLE DEVELOPED THIS IDEA" "THAT WE WANTED TO DO WITHOUT THE HOT BIG BANG." "THE QUESTION WAS WHERE TO MAKE" "THE HEAVY ELEMENTS." "HOYLE HAD TO FIND PLACES IN THE UNIVERSE" "WHICH WERE HOT ENOUGH FOR THE NUCLEAR REACTIONS" "TO MAKE THE ELEMENTS WE NOW SEE." "NARRATOR:" "THE SEARCH HAD ITS BEGINNINGS" "ON THIS PLANET." "ONLY 92 SIMPLE ELEMENTS ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS" "FOR EVERYTHING ON EARTH." "WHERE, THEN, DID THEY COME FROM?" "GOING BACK TO BASICS IS A CONSUMING PURSUIT" "FOR GEOLOGIST CHRIS HALLS." ". TO STUDY A SITE, HE USES TRADITIONAL PANNING TECHNIQUES" "HEAVY ELEMENTS DON'T DISSOLVE, SO THEY CAN BE SIFTED OUT." "IN FACT, THEY STAND UP" "TO ANY NATURAL FORCES THE EARTH CAN MUSTER." "GOLD ISN'T SUBJECT TO ANY NATURAL FORCES THE EARTH CAN MUSTER" "TO CHEMICAL BREAKDOWN IN THE ATMOSPHERE." "AND ONCE YOU HAVE GOLD ACCUMULATING IN A RIVER," "IT'S LIKELY TO STAY THERE." "ONE SUSPECTS, OF COURSE," "THAT THINGS WHICH ARE SO DURABLE ONE SUSPECTS, OF COURSE," "MUST THEMSELVES HAVE HAD THEIR ORIGIN" "IN SOME PLACE" "OF VERY INTENSE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS." "NARRATOR:" "NO PROCESS ON OUR PLANET" "IS EXTREME ENOUGH TO PRODUCE THE ELEMENTS." "SO PROPONENTS OF THE STEADY STATE SCHOOL" "HAD TO TURN ELSEWHERE." "THEY LOOKED TO THE STARS." ", HALLS:" "THE GREAT ACHIEVEMENT" ", IN TERMS OF UNDERSTANDING THE ORIGIN OF THE ELEMENTS" "CAME FROM THE THEORETICAL WORK" ". DONE BY THE ASTRONOMERS OF THE STEADY STATE SCHOOL" "AND THEY WERE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE" "WHAT WAS POSSIBLE IN TERMS OF PUTTING ELEMENTS TOGETHER" "TO SYNTHESIZE NEW AND HEAVIER ELEMENTS IN STARS." "NARRATOR:" "DEEP IN SPACE, VAST CLOUDS OF HYDROGEN" "ROIL AND CHURN." "GRAVITY PULLS THEM TOGETHER." "THE PRESSURE BUILDS AND THE TEMPERATURE RISES" "IGNITING A MASSIVE FUSION REACTION." "THE HYDROGEN ATOMS MELD TOGETHER TO FORM HELIUM," "A HEAVIER ELEMENT." "THIS IS THE PROCESS THESE STARS BURN SO BRIGHTLY." "THEY ARE HOT, DENSE FURNACES STOKED BY FUSION." ", AS GRAVITY EXERTS ITS RELENTLESS PULL INWARD" "THE ENERGY OF A STAR'S NUCLEAR REACTIONS PUSHES OUTWARD." "THESE OPPOSING FORCES ARE HELD IN AWESOME EQUILIBRIUM," "AS LONG AS THERE IS ENOUGH HYDROGEN" "TO KEEP THE PROCESS GOING." "ONCE THE STAR USES UP THAT FUEL," "ITS FUSION REACTIONS BEGIN TO DIE DOWN." ". BUT GRAVITY IS UNRELENTING" "THE STAR IS SQUEEZED EVER TIGHTER." "THE HELIUM ATOMS FUSE." "IN A MORE MASSIVE STAR," "ELEMENTS YET HEAVIER BEGIN TO FORM," "ONE AFTER ANOTHER," "UNTIL AT LAST IT HITS A DEAD END WITH IRON." "THE PROCESS OF FUSION CAN GO NO FURTHER." "THE FATE OF THE STAR THEN DEPENDS ON ITS SIZE." "IN SMALL STARS, GRAVITY IS TOO WEAK" "TO CRUSH THEM ANY FURTHER." "THEY COOL AND GENTLY FADE INTO OBLIVION." "BUT LARGE STARS SUFFER A MORE VIOLENT DEATH." "HALLS:" "IN MASSIVE STARS," "THE MASSES DRAW TOGETHER" "IN A TREMENDOUS CATACLYSMIC CONTRACTION," "AND THIS PRODUCES A KIND O F ELASTIC NUCLEAR REBOUND" ", WHICH DRIVES ALL THE MATTE R OUTWARDS IN A GIGANTIC BURST" ". WHICH WE KNOW AS A SUPERNOVA" "NARRATOR:" "IT IS THE SINGLE MOST VIOLENT EVENT" "IN THE PRESENT UNIVERSE." "IN A FEW SHORT SECONDS," "A SUPERNOVA PRODUCES MORE ENERGY" "THAN THE SUN WILL IN ITS LIFETIME." "WHEN ASTRONOMERS ANALYZED THE LIGHT OF SUPERNOVAS," "THEY SAW THE SIGNATURES" "OF THE ELEMENTS HEAVIER THAN IRON." "SUPERNOVAS SCATTER THEIR SEEDS ACROSS THE UNIVERSE." "THEY SPILL INTO OTHER DUST CLOUDS" ". TO FORM NEW STARS, PLANETS , AND EVENTUALLY LIFE ITSELF" "HALLS:" "THE STEADY STATE THEORISTS" "PROCEEDED TO BUILD UP STAGE BY STAGE" "A LOGICAL EXPLANATION" "OF HOW THESE ELEMENTS COULD ORIGINATE SUCCESSIVELY" "BY SYNTHESIS IN THE STARS," "BUT THE PROBLEM WAS THAT THEY HAD TO FIND" "THE FUNDAMENTAL FUEL TO START THE PROCESS ITSELF." "AND OF COURSE THAT FUEL IS HYDROGEN." "AND THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION IS," "WHERE DID THE HYDROGEN COME FROM?" "NARRATOR:" "FRED HOYLE THOUGHT HYDROGEN" "MUST SOMEHOW BE CREATED CONTINUOUSLY THROUGHOUT SPACE." "BUT NOTHING SHORT OF A NEW LAW OF PHYSICS" "WOULD MAKE THAT POSSIBLE." "JUST AS BAFFLING, ASTRONOMERS DETECTED" "E FAR MORE HELIUM IN SPACE THAN COULD POSSIBLY HAVE COM" "FROM THE FUSION OF HYDROGEN IN STARS." "THE OBVIOUS ANSWER WAS THAT THE BIG BANG ITSELF" ". CREATED HYDROGEN AND HELIUM IN ITS MONSTROUS EXPLOSION" "THAT WAS THE LAST THING HOYLE WANTED TO CONCEDE." "HALLS:" "FRED HOYLE SAID" "THAT IF THERE HAD BEEN A BIG BANG," "THERE SHOULD BE A TRACE OF THAT EVENT" "PRESERVED FOR US IN THE UNIVERSE " ". A KIND OF FOSSIL RADIATION" "AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE BIG BANG THEORISTS" "WENT OUT TO LOOK FOR." "NARRATOR:" "IF, INDEED, THE UNIVERSE BEGAN" "WITH A GREAT EXPLOSION," "IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO INTENSE THAT EVEN TODAY" "SOME FAINT AFTERGLOW SHOULD BE IN EVIDENCE ACROSS SPACE." "HAWKING:" "AS A RESEARCH STUDENT WORKING FOR A DOCTORATE," "I REALIZED HOW SIGNIFICANT IT WOULD BE" "IF THE RADIATION COULD STILL BE DETECTED" "SOME 15 BILLION YEARS LATER." "BY NOW, IT WOULD HAVE COOLED" "TO ALMOST THE LOWEST TEMPERATURE POSSIBLE," ". MINUS 273 DEGREES CENTIGRADE" "CONCEIVED A WAY TO DETECT THE BIG BANG" "ONE OF HIS STUDENTS" "WAS DAVID WILKINSON." "WILKINSON:" "ONE AFTERNOON HE CAME IN AND HE WAS " "SEEMED PARTICULARLY EXCITE D ABOUT SOMETHING." "HE STARTED OUTLINING THIS IDEA" "ABOUT PROVING THAT THERE'S A BIG BANG." "WELL, OF COURSE, AT THAT TIME" "THE BIG BANG WAS VERY CONTROVERSIAL." "NOT EVERYBODY BELIEVED IT, BY A LONG SHOT." "THE STEADY STATE THEORY WAS VERY POPULAR." ", BUT ONE THING THE BIG BANG WOULD PREDICT" "IF THERE WERE A BIG BANG," "IS THAT THERE MUST HAVE BEEN SOME HEAT RADIATION IN IT." "THOUGHT IT WAS A LONG SHOT , KIND OF A RISK," "SUCH A RADICAL IDEA," "BUT IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS POSSIBLE" "TO DO AN EXPERIMENT AND CHECK IT OUT." "AND IT WASN'T GOING TO TAKE A LOT OF TIME," "AND I DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO DO," "SO I DECIDED TO PITCH IN" "AND HELP ON THE EXPERIMENTAL SIDE." "NARRATOR:" "WILKINSON WAS 28 YEARS OLD" "WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTED ITSELF" "TO TAKE PART IN WHAT MIGHT BE THE DISCOVERY OF A LIFETIME." ".YOU HAVE TO IMAGINE THAT WE ARE EMBEDDED IN THIS EXPLOSION" "SO IF YOU'RE THINKING" "OF AN EXPLOSION, SAY, A BOMB GOING OFF," "AND YOU SEE THIS BIG FIREBALL," "WE'RE ACTUALLY INSIDE THAT FIREBALL." "SO THE RADIATION IS COMING FROM ALL DIRECTIONS." "WE'RE NOT OUTSIDE LOOKING AT IT" "AND HAVING IT GO BY US." "WE'RE EMBEDDED INSIDE," "SO WE SEE THE SAME THING LOOKING ALL AROUND." ", NARRATOR:" "THEIR TOOLS WERE PRIMITIVE BY TODAY'S STANDARDS" "BUT A DIRECTIONAL HORN ANTENNA , HOISTED ON A ROOFTOP," "WOULD HEAR WHISPERS FROM THE MOMENT OF CREATION." "IT'S PURPOSE " " TO DETECT" "THE MINUTE AMOUNTS OF RADIATION IN SPACE" "LEFT IN THE WAKE OF THE BIG BANG." "WILKINSON:" "WE CAN MEASURE THE TEMPERATURE UP ABOVE" "IF WE PUT A GOOD CALIBRATOR," "WHAT'S CALLED A COLD LOAD, AT THIS POINT." "IF YOU POUR A LITTLE LIQUID NITROGEN ON IT," "WE'LL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT ITS TEMPERATURE IS." "THE RADIATION FROM THE SKY" "COMES INTO THIS HORN," "WITH THE RADIATION COMING INTO THIS H" "THEN WE SEE A READING THAT'S THE DIFFERENCE" "BETWEEN THE TEMPERATURE OF SPACE" "AND THE TEMPERATURE OF OUR COLD LOAD." "NARRATOR:" "BUT WHILE DAVID WILKINSON AND HIS GROUP" "WERE FINE TUNING THEIR EQUIPMENT," "EVENTS WERE CONSPIRING AGAINST THEM." "BOB WILSON HAD JUST STARTED WORK" "AT BELL LABORATORIES." "A RADIO ASTRONOMER BY TRADE, HE'D BEEN RECRUITED" "BY THE COMPANY'S RESEARCH DEPARTMENT." "BELL, TOO, HAD A SPECIAL HORN-SHAPED ANTENNA." "ITS PURPOSE " "TO RECEIVE SATELLITE RADIO TRANSMISSIONS." "WILSON:" "WHEN WE WERE GIVEN CONTROL" "OF THE HORN REFLECTOR," "WE SAW SOMETHING WHICH WE HAD HOPED NOT TO SEE." "THAT IS THAT THERE WAS MORE NOISE" "COMING OUT OF THE HORN THAN WE EXPECTED." "WE EXPECTED A LITTLE BIT FROM THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE," "AN EVEN SMALLER AMOUNT" "FROM THE WALLS OF THE HORN ITSELF," "AND THEN WE THOUGHT SPACE WOULD ESSENTIALLY ZERO," "SO THAT SHOULD BE IT." "NARRATOR:" "BUT ZERO, IT WASN'T." "WHEREVER WILSON'S TEAM POINTED THEIR DETECTOR," "IT PICKED UP AN ANNOYING HISS." "THE RADIO NOISE DIDN'T STOP," "EVEN IF THE ANTENNA WAS DIRECTED AT EMPTY SPACE." "WILSON:" "WE WORRIED BECAUSE WE WERE LIVING ON A HILL" "WHICH OVERLOOKS NEW YORK CITY," "NOT THE TYPICAL PLACE THAT A RADIO ASTRONOMER WOULD GO." "SO WE TURNED OUR HORN REFLECTOR DOWN" "AND LOOKED AT NEW YORK CITY," "AND THERE WAS NOTHING UNUSUAL FROM THERE." "NEW YORK CITY DOESN'T RADIATE AT THOSE FREQUENCIES." "SO, YOU KNOW, SORT OF ONE BY ONE" "WE ELIMINATED THE SOURCES OF EXCESS NOISE" "THAT WE COULD THINK OF." ". WE STILL BELIEVED IN PHYSICS" "WHAT CAME OUT HAD TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE." "NARRATOR:" "THEY PONDERED THE POSSIBILITIES." "PERHAPS THE HISS WASN'T COMING FROM SPACE AT ALL." "MAYBE THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE HORN ITSELF." "THE MOST OBVIOUS WAS" "THAT THERE WAS A PAIR OF PIGEONS LIVING IN IT," "AND WHENEVER WE WEREN'T USING IT," ", WHICH WAS MOST OF THE TIME" ". THEY WOULD CLIMB UP NEAR THE CAB AND ROOST THERE" "S OF COURSE THEY COVERED IT WITH WHITE PIGEON DROPPING" "THE SAME AS THEY DO ALL SORTS OF THINGS IN CITIES." "AND WE KNEW THAT THAT COULD VERY WELL" "HAVE AN EFFECT." "NARRATOR:" "SO BOB WILSON AND HIS GROUP" "OF HIGHLY QUALIFIED RADIO ASTRONOMERS" "SPENT TWO WEEKS CLEANING PIGEON DROPPINGS." "FINALLY THE BIRDS WERE TRAPPED AND SENT BY COMPANY MAIL" "MILES AWAY TO WHIPENY, NEW JERSEY." "BUT THESE WERE HOMING PIGEONS." "WELL, A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER , SAME PIGEON'S BACK." ". LATER ON, OUR TECHNICIAN BROUGHT IN A SHOTGUN AND.." "NARRATOR:" "THAT TOOK CARE OF THE CULPRITS," "BUT NOT THE HISS." "FOR ANOTHER YEAR, THE NOISE LINGERED." "IN THE SPRING OF 1965, IN DESPERATION," "WILSON'S TEAM PHONED PRINCETON UNIVERSITY FOR HELP." "THE CALL WAS PUT THROUGH TO BOB DICKE." "WILKINSON:" "WE WERE IN BOB DICKE'S OFFICE" "HAVING LUNCH ONE DAY," "AND THE TELEPHONE RANG." "AND HIS PHONE RANG A LOT, SO WE DIDN'T THINK MUCH OF IT," "UNTIL WE HEARD HIM SAY SOMETHING ABOUT "HORN ANTENNA."" "" AND A FEW MINUTES LATER, "COLD LOAD, LIQUID HELIUM." "SO THEN WE PERKED RIGHT UP BECAUSE IT WAS PRETTY CLEAR" "THAT HE WAS TALKING TO SOMEBODY WHO HAD THE EQUIPMENT" "THAT WE WERE BUILDING." "THIS TURNED OUT TO BE ARNO PENZIAS" "AND BOB WILSON FROM BELL LABS, ONLY 35 MILES AWAY." "AND BOB HUNG UP THE PHONE," "AND I'LL NEVER FORGET EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID." "HIS PRECISE WORDS WERE," ""WELL, BOYS, WE'VE BEEN SCOOPED."" ""WELL, BOYS, FOR DICKE AND HIS STUDENTS" "THE QUICK DRIVE TO BOB WILSON'S LAB" "WAS NO DOUBT THE LONGEST RID E THEY'D EVER TAKEN." "WHEN DAVID WILKINSON SAW WILSON'S EQUIPMENT" ". AND HIS METICULOUS RECORDS , HE KNEW THERE WAS NO MISTAKE" "THE BIG BANG HAD REVEALED ITSELF." "HI, THERE." "GOOD TO SEE YOU." "WILKINSON:" "IT WAS QUITE DISAPPOINTING" "TO FIND OUT THAT ANOTHER GROUP HAD GOT THERE FIRST." "T I PERSONALLY WAS ONLY GIVING I" "ABOUT A 50-50 CHANCE OF WORKING ANYWAY." "AND THEN WHEN WE FOUND OUT THAT, YES, INDEED," "THERE WAS THIS RADIATION COMING FROM SPACE" "THAT MIGHT BE COMING FROM THE BIG BANG," "THAT OF COURSE WAS VERY EXCITING." "THIS IS A PARADIGM SHIFT IN COSMOLOGY RESEARCH," "AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO BE THE FIRST TO SEE IT." "HERE YOU SEE THE ANTENNA, AND THIS IS COLD LOAD PLUS..." "NARRATOR:" "IN A STROKE," "A HALF-CENTURY OF DEBATE WAS ESSENTIALLY SETTLED." "DEFINITELY HOTTER THAN THE COLD LOAD." "SURE IS." "WILSON:" "THE DISCOVERY OF THE BACKGROUND RADIATION" "ALONG WITH A NUMBER OF OTHER THINGS" "THAT WERE COMING UP AT THE SAME TIME" "REALLY DROVE THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN" ". OF THE STEADY STATE THEORY" "I THINK IT WOULD BE VERY HARD TO SUPPORT" "OR TO UNDERSTAND THE SOURCE OF THE BACKGROUND RADIATION" ". IN A STEADY STATE UNIVERSE" "NARRATOR:" "IT'S SAID THAT LEMAITRE HIMSELF" "HEARD OF THE DISCOVERY JUST DAYS BEFORE HE DIED." "IN 1978, THE ULTIMATE ACCOLADE IN SCIENCE" "WAS AWARDED TO BOB WILSON" "AND HIS COLLEAGUE ARNO PENZIAS." "WILSON:" "IT WAS 13 YEARS OR SOMETHING" "BEFORE WE RECEIVED THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR IT." "THE NOBEL PRIZE IS GIVEN FOR DISCOVERIES." "IT'S NOT GIVEN FOR BEING THE BEST PHYSICIST" "OR THE BEST SCIENTIST," "IT'S GIVEN FOR DISCOVERING THINGS" "THAT ARE INTERESTING OR USEFUL TO MANKIND." "I STILL HAVE A HARD TIME" "PUTTING MYSELF IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS EINSTEIN," ", BUT I DO REALIZE THAT THIS WAS AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY" "AND FEEL THAT I WAS VERY LUCKY" "TO BE IN THE RIGHT PLACE WHEN THAT HAPPENED." "AND I HAVE ENJOYED THE RESULTS FROM IT." "HAWKING:" "RADIATION WAS DISCOVERED" "WHILE I WAS FINISHING MY DOCTORATE." "HERE AT LAST WAS OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE" ". THAT COULD CONFIRM MY WORK" "I HAD GONE TO CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY" "BECAUSE I HAD WANTED TO WORK WITH HOYLE ON COSMOLOGY" "AND THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE." "BUT LUCKILY FOR ME," "I DIDN'T GET THE SUPERVISOR I WANTED." "HE WAS HOPING TO WORK WITH FRED HOYLE," "BUT HOYLE WAS NOT TAKING NEW STUDENTS AT THAT TIME," "AND I WAS THE ONLY OTHER PERSON IN THE DEPARTMENT" "ABLE TO SUPERVISE STUDENTS IN COSMOLOGY," "HEN WANTED TO WORK ON." ". SO I BECAME HIS SUPERVISOR" "AND WE TALKED TOGETHER ABOUT VARIOUS PROJECTS." "HAWKING:" "I MADE A BAD START AT CAMBRIDGE." "I HAD JUST BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ALS," "OR MOTOR NEURON DISEASE," "AND DIDN'T KNOW IF I WOULD LIVE LONG ENOUGH" "TO FINISH MY DOCTORATE." "AND I WAS HAVING DIFFICULT FINDING A PROBLEM FOR MY THESIS." "YOU HAVE TO WRITE A THESIS WHICH CONTAIN" "A SUBSTANTIAL ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE." "AND THAT'S A VERY HEAVY REQUIREMENT," "AND IT'S VERY UNNATURAL IN A WAY" "BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO PRODUCE THIS PARTICULAR" "SUBSTANTIAL ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE" ". IN A GIVEN THREE-YEAR PERIOD" "AND SO YOU'RE FORCED A BIT ARTIFICIALLY" "IN A GIVEN TIME SCALE" ",IN STEPHEN'S PARTICULAR CASE," "COSMOLOGY WAS FALLOW AT THAT TIME," "AND HE COULDN'T FIND A REALLY GOOD PROBLEM." "AND I COULDN'T FIND ONE FOR HIM." "NARRATOR:" "TIME WAS RUNNING OUT." "THERE WAS LESS THAN A YEAR LEFT" "WHEN A WORTHY PROJECT WAS FINALLY FOUND." "HAWKING SET HIS SIGHTS ON DEVELOPING A THEORY" "TO DESCRIBE THE PRECISE CONDITIONS FOR THE BIG BANG." "HIS INSPIRATION WAS THE WORK" "OF A YOUNG LUMINARY OF THE FIELD." "SCIAMA:" "ROGER PENROSE WAS BY THAT TIME A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE" "AND HE WAS WORKING ON A PROBLEM" "WHICH LED TO A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY OF HIS," "WHICH I SUPPOSE WAS" "THE MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO RELATIVITY" "SINCE THE VERY EARLY DAYS OF THE THEORY," "AROUND 1916 OR SO." "THE ISSUE INVOLVED NOT THE WHOLE UNIVERSE " "THAT WAS STEPHEN'S LATER CONTRIBUTION " "BUT A STAR." ". NARRATOR:" "WHEN A LARGE STAR RUNS OUT OF FUEL, IT COLLAPSES" "ONLY ONE STAR IN A THOUSAND IS MASSIVE ENOUGH TO COLLAPSE" "INTO WHAT'S CALLED A BLACK HOLE." "AT THE CORE OF A BLACK HOLE," "ALL THE STAR'S MATTER WOULD BE CRUSHED INTO A POINT" "INFINITELY DENSE, CALLED A SINGULARITY." "IT WAS THOUGHT THIS WOULD ONLY HAPPEN" "IF THE STAR WAS EXACTLY SYMMETRICAL," ". SO ITS COLLAPSE WOULD BE THE SAME IN ALL DIRECTIONS" "BUT IT SEEMED ALTOGETHER IMPOSSIBLE" "THAT A STAR COULD HAVE THAT QUALITY." "PENROSE'S GREAT CLAIM WAS TO SHOW" "IF A STAR IS BIG ENOUGH IT CAN BECOME A SINGULARITY" "NO MATTER WHAT ITS SHAPE." "AND IT SO HAPPENED THAT, POSSIBLY AT MY SUGGESTION," "STEVE HAWKING HEARD A SEMINAR GIVEN BY PENROSE" "IN WHICH HE ANNOUNCED THIS RESULT." "AND A LITTLE LATER, STEPHEN SAID TO ME," ""BUT LOOK," HE SAID," ""WE CAN ADAPT ROGER'S ARGUMENT TO THE WHOLE UNIVERSE."" "IN A CERTAIN SENSE" "THE UNIVERSE IS LIKE A BIG STAR." "OF COURSE THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING," "BUT IF IN YOUR MIND YOU REVERSE THE SENSE OF TIME," "THEN THE UNIVERSE IS COLLAPSING." "IT'S A BIT LIKE A COLLAPSING STAR," "VERY LARGE STAR." "PERHAPS YOU CAN PROVE THAT IN THAT COLLAPSE" "YOU AGAIN MUST ACHIEVE A SINGULARITY." ", SO GOING BACK TO THE ORDINARY DIRECTION OF TIME" "IT WOULD MEAN THAT THE BIG BANG" "ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE WOULD HAVE TO BE SINGULAR." ""SHOULD I WORK ON THAT?"" "SO I SAID THAT SOUNDS" "LIKE A VERY GOOD PROBLEM, STEPHEN, YES, I THINK," "BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE A GREAT DISCOVERY." "SO HE WENT AWAY, AND IN HIS LAST YEAR HE PROVED" "HIS FIRST SINGULARITY THEOREM FOR THE UNIVERSE," "THAT ON THE BASIS OF CERTAIN VERY REASONABLE ASSUMPTIONS," "THE BIG BANG HAD TO BE SINGULAR." "HAWKING:" "I WAS AWARDED MY PH.D." "FOR SHOWING THAT EINSTEIN'S GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY" ". IMPLIED THAT THE UNIVERSE MUST HAVE BEGUN WITH A BIG BANG" "IT COULDN'T HAVE" ". COLLAPSED, BOUNCED, AND THEN HAVE EXPANDED AGAIN" "FROM LEMAITRE'S PRIMEVAL ATOM TO MY OWN WORK" ". HAD TAKEN ONLY A FEW DECADES" "THE CASE FOR THE BIG BANG" "WAS NOW ALMOST COMPLETE." "NARRATOR:" "ALMOST." "FOR GALAXIES TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FORM," ", THE EARLY UNIVERSE HAD TO HAVE IRREGULARITIES" "COOLER AND DENSER POCKETS" "WHERE MATTER COULD HAVE COALESCED." "BUT THE RADIATION SIGNAL" "BOB WILSON HAD DETECTED WITH HIS ANTENNA" ". SHOULD HAVE REFLECTED THAT" "INSTEAD, THE HISS SEEMED" "THE SAME IN EVERY DIRECTION." "IF THE BIG BANG MODEL WAS REALLY RIGHT," "?" "WHY WEREN'T THERE SLIGHT IRREGULARITIES IN THE SIGNAL" "A YOUNG COSMOLOGIST IN CALIFORNIA WOULD PRODUCE" "THE BIG BANG'S FINAL CONFIRMATION." "GEORGE SMOOT BEGAN A QUEST TO FIND TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS" "IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE, TINY IMPERFECTIONS" "THAT WOULD MARK THE FUTURE BIRTHPLACES OF GALAXIES." "SMOOT:" "FOR THE BIG BANG TO BE RIGHT," "WE HAD TO LOOK OUT" "AND WE HAD TO SEE THESE IMPERFECTIONS THAT TELL US" "HOW THE UNIVERSE FORMED AND STARTED EXPANDING," "AND ALSO WHAT WERE GOING TO BE THE SEEDS" "FOR THE LARGE STRUCTURE THAT WE SEE " "THAT IS, THE STARS AND THE GALAXIES" ". AND THE CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES" "ALL OF THOSE THINGS HAD TO BE THERE." "WHEN YOU START OUT, YOU THINK," "WELL, WE SHOULD DISCOVER I T PRETTY EASILY RIGHT AWAY." "WE'LL POINT OUR ANTENNA UP HERE AND SEE WHAT THE TEMPERATURE IS." "WE'LL POINT IT OVER HERE AND SEE WHAT THE TEMPERATURE IS." "WE'LL COMPARE AND SEE IF WE SEE THE VARIATIONS." "WHEN YOU START REALIZING THOSE IMPERFECTIONS" "ARE GOING TO BE A PART IN A HUNDRED THOUSAND," "IT BECOMES A VERY GREAT EXPERIMENTAL CHALLENGE." "NARRATOR:" "USING DIRECTIONAL HORNS" "LIKE THE ONE BUILT BY BOB WILSON'S TEAM," "SMOOT BEGAN A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS." "HE SET OUT TO CREATE A DETAILED MAP" "OF THE BIG BANG RADIATION," "AN IMAGE THAT WOULD REVEAL" "THE COLD SPOTS WHERE GALAXIES WOULD EVENTUALLY FORM." "ONE THING STOOD BETWEEN SMOOT AND HIS DATA " "THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE." "HE LAUNCHED GIANT HELIUM BALLOONS," "EACH AS LONG AS A FOOTBALL FIELD." "THEY HAD TO BE BIG." "THEIR PAYLOAD OF EQUIPMENT WAS AS HEAVY" "AS A SMALL CAR." "BUT BALLOONS ARE HARD TO CONTROL." "SMOOT'S EQUIPMENT OFTEN GOT LOST OR DAMAGED." "HE TURNED TO SOMETHING MORE MANAGEABLE," "U-2 SPY PLANES." "BUT SMOOT'S DATA TOOK TIME TO COLLECT." "THE PILOTS RAN OUT OF FUEL" "BEFORE ENOUGH ACCURATE MEASUREMENTS" "COULD BE TAKEN IN ANY ONE DIRECTION." "SMOOT:" "FROM THE BEGINNING" "IT WAS CLEAR TO ME IF WE COULD GET INTO SPACE" "THAT WAS THE RIGHT WAY TO DO IT." "I HAD TO WAIT FOR AN OPPORTUNITY," "S A CHANCE FOR NASA TO SAY, WE'RE LOOKING FOR NEW IDEA" "FOR EXPERIMENTS FOR SATELLITES THAT COULD GO INTO SPACE." "NARRATOR:" "AFTER YEARS OF WAITING," "NASA GAVE SMOOT HIS CHANCE," "THE FIRST SATELLITE EVER DEVOTED TO COSMOLOGY, COBE." "SMOOT:" "FINALLY, IN 1989, THEY SCHEDULED US" "FOR A DAWN LAUNCH, AND IT WAS WINDY." "IF YOU WERE ON THE TEAM, YOU KNEW TOO MUCH" "THAT IT MIGHT GO OR MIGHT NOT GO." "THERE WAS THIS PROBLEM AND THAT PROBLEM." ". WE HAD A PROBLEM IN THE TEST" "THERE ARE ALL THESE THINGS TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT." "AND THEN IT BECAME TIME FOR THE LAUNCH." ". WE HAD ONLY A FEW MINUTES LEFT IN THE WINDOW, AND IT WAS OKAY 5, 4, 3, 2..." "WE HAVE MAIN ENGINE START." "SMOOT:" "YOU SAW SUDDENLY A SECOND SUN," "WHICH WAS THE FIRE OUT OF THE ROCKET COMING OUT." "AND I WAS GOING, "WHAT'S THE MATTER?" "I DON'T HEAR ANY SOUND."" ", THEN I REALIZED LIGHT GOES FASTER THAN SOUND" "AND THEN SUDDENLY YOUR CHEST IS SHAKING." "IT'S LIKE YOU'RE BEING HIT AT A ROCK CONCERT," "YOU'RE STANDING AT THE SPEAKER S AT THE ROCK CONCERT," "JUST BEING VIBRATED LIKE THIS." "AND THIS THING LIFTS OFF MAJESTICALLY AND GOES UP." "IT'S JUST A SPECTACULAR THING, AND YOU'RE GOING," "EVERYTHING IS CROSSED," ""PLEASE MAKE IT UP, PLEASE MAKE IT UP."" "WAS A SPECTACULAR SUCCESS." "SMOOT:" "AT THE END OF THAT FIRST DAY," "WE HAD MADE A MAP THAT COVERED HALF THE SKY," "AND IT WAS AS GOOD A MAP AS WE'D EVER HAD BEFORE," "BUT IT WAS WAY LESS THAN WHAT WE EVENTUALLY ENDED UP." "IT TOOK A WHOLE YEAR'S WORTH OF DATA," "ALMOST 300 MILLION OBSERVATION S TO BE SUMMED TOGETHER," "BEFORE WE GOT A MAP THAT STARTED TO SHOW" ". SOME INTERESTING STRUCTURE" "NARRATOR:" "A PORTRAIT OF THE UNIVERSE AS IT WAS 15 BILLION YEARS AGO." ". IN ITS TRACES IS THE SIGNATURE OF STAR SYSTEMS COALESCING" "THE COLORS REPRESENT MINUTE TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCES." "THE BLUE AREAS ARE COOLER, AND IT'S HERE MATTER" "IS BEGINNING TO CLUSTER TO EVENTUALLY FORM GALAXIES." ". SMOOT:" "COBE REALLY PUTS THE BIG BANG ON A FIRM FOOTING" "NOT ONLY DO YOU KNOW THE BIG BANG IS RIGHT," "BUT NOW YOU HAVE SOME IDEA" "ABOUT HOW STRUCTURE IS GOING TO FORM." "BUT ALSO YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT" "HOW THE UNIVERSE ITSELF WAS CREATED." "NARRATOR:" "THE PROJECT HAS NO W COME TO AN END." "THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION IS PREPARING TO COMMEMORATE" "COBE'S HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT." "A SINGLE SNAPSHOT OF CREATION." "SMOOT:" "IF YOU'RE RELIGIOUS , IT'S LIKE," "D YOU KNOW, YOU'RE SEEING GO" "OR YOU'RE SEEING THE HANDWRITING OF GOD" "WHEN HE WROTE OUT HOW HE WAS GOING TO MAKE THE UNIVERSE." "IT'S LIKE GETTING THE 10 COMMANDMENTS" "IN FRONT OF YOU AND BEING ABLE TO READ," "EXCEPT INSTEAD OF THE COMMANDMENTS THESE ARE," "HERE'S HOW THE UNIVERSE IS PUT TOGETHER." "S JUST READ BETWEEN THE LINE" "AND YOU'LL KNOW THE RECIPE FOR MAKING THE UNIVERSE." "NARRATOR:" "IN THIS TECHNOLOGICAL CATHEDRAL," "A SUCCESSOR TO COBE CALLED THE PLANCK SURVEYOR" "IS BEING PLANNED." "WHATEVER IT IS DESTINED TO REVEAL," "THE BIG BANG SEEMS IRREFUTABLE" "IN LEMAITRE'S PRIMEVAL ATOM, WE HAVE FOUND CONSENSUS" "BETWEEN THE CLAIMS OF THE SCRIPTURES" "AND THE RIGORS OF SCIENCE." "WE ARE AT LAST WITNESS TO THE DAWN OF TIME." "HAWKING:" "IN 1975, I WAS AWARDED A MEDAL BY THE POPE" "FOR MY PART IN PROVING THE BIG BANG THEORY." "I WENT BACK TO THE VATICAN IN 1981" "FOR A CONFERENCE ON COSMOLOGY," "THIS TIME UNDER A DIFFERENT POPE." "HE TOLD US THAT IT WAS FINE" "TO STUDY THE UNIVERSE AFTER THE BIG BANG," "BUT THAT WE SHOULD NOT INQUIRE INTO THE BIG BANG ITSELF," "BECAUSE THAT WAS THE MOMENT OF CREATION" "AND THE WORK OF GOD." "IF SCIENCE AND RELIGION WERE NOW AT ONE," "PERHAPS THEY WERE STILL NOT QUITE SEEING EYE TO EYE."