Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang

Two world-renowned scientists present an audacious new vision of the cosmos that “steals the thunder from the Big Bang theory.” —Wall Street Journal

The Big Bang theory—widely regarded as the leading explanation for the origin of the universe—posits that space and time sprang into being about 14 billion years ago in a hot, expanding fireball of nearly infinite density. Over the last three decades the theory has been repeatedly revised to address such issues as how galaxies and stars first formed and why the expansion of the universe is speeding up today. Furthermore, an explanation has yet to be found for what caused the Big Bang in the first place.

In Endless Universe, Paul J. Steinhardt and Neil Turok, both distinguished theoretical physicists, present a bold new cosmology. Steinhardt and Turok “contend that what we think of as the moment of creation was simply part of an infinite cycle of titanic collisions between our universe and a parallel world” (Discover). They recount the remarkable developments in astronomy, particle physics, and superstring theory that form the basis for their groundbreaking “Cyclic Universe” theory. According to this theory, the Big Bang was not the beginning of time but the bridge to a past filled with endlessly repeating cycles of evolution, each accompanied by the creation of new matter and the formation of new galaxies, stars, and planets.

Endless Universe provides answers to longstanding problems with the Big Bang model, while offering a provocative new view of both the past and the future of the cosmos. It is a “theory that could solve the cosmic mystery” (USA Today).

Two leading theoretical physicists offer a bold new study of cosmic history that posits that the so-called Big Bang was simply part of an infinite cycle of colossal collisions between our known universe and a parallel world, drawing on ground-breaking developments in astronomy, particle physics, and superstring theory to illuminate their Cyclic Universe theory. 35,000 first printing.

Argues that the so-called Big Bang was part of an infinite cycle of colossal collisions between our known universe and a parallel world, drawing on developments in astronomy, particle physics, and superstring theory to illuminate the Cyclic Universe theory.

PAUL J. STEINHARDT is the Albert Einstein Professor in science and on the faculty of the departments of Physics and Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. NEIL TUROK is chair of mathematical physics in the department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University.

2001 — Act two — Two tales of one universe — From particles to the cosmos — Inflation and the tale of two cosmologists — From strings to Ekpyrosis — A cyclic model of the universe — The last question — Seeing is believing — Inflationary multiverse or cyclic universe — Back to the future.