Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking's first book on the nature of the universe, "A Brief History of Time," often is described as the most purchased, but least read of any recent bestseller. His newest publishing success, "A Grand Design," poses two grand questions: Why is there something rather than nothing? And, does the universe need a creator?" This time Hawking provides text in language that for the most part can be understood by readers without a background in physics and chemistry. So "A Grand Design" should achieve a higher percentage of actual readers.
But the logic of Hawking's answers to the two questions is a challenge -- even to those of us with some background in the sciences.
Hawking takes us on a readable tour of the science involved in the way that countless stars and galaxies are formed, from primordial masses of hydrogen. He argues that for the universe's beginnings, this original material emerged spontaneously from quantum fluctuations like tiny expanding bubbles, some of which grew to form stars and galaxies. This spontaneous creation is apparently possible because the law of gravity requires a lot of negative energy, the something needed to oppose gravity's positive force. All this then is the substance for the matter in the universe, obviating the need for God.
I'm sure that I have missed the most subtle elements in Hawking's theory, but it still seems like some of our legislative laws which often decree nonexistent savings or revenue.
Another explanation for something rather than nothing comes from the scholar scribes who wrote the biblical book of Genesis. They probably meant longer times for each of the momentous events involved in creation than the 24 hours it takes for the Earth to make a revolution. If we translate that time from days to a word like era or epoch, those first 24 verses of the book of Genesis read as an oversimplified, but rather elegant, geology text -- perhaps as convincing an explanation for the beginning as Professor Hawking's grand design.
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Rolf Westgard is a professional member of the Geological Society of America and is a guest faculty on energy subjects for the University of Minnesota College of Continuing Education. He wrote this exclusively for the News Tribune.
