A brief history of time

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Brief History of Time ( A Brief History of Time ) is a popular science book published in 1988 by the physicist Stephen Hawking . It quickly became a bestseller; by 2002 more than nine million copies had been sold. It was number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list for 41 weeks in 1988 and 1989 .

The book deals with questions about cosmology and highlights the role of time in particular. It contains considerations about the Big Bang and tries to explain properties of black holes with the help of string theory .

Overview of the chapters

  1. Our idea of ​​the universe
  2. space and time
  3. The expanding universe
  4. The uncertainty relation
  5. Elementary particles and natural forces
  6. Black holes
  7. Black holes aren't all that black
  8. Origin and Destiny of the Universe
  9. The arrow of time
  10. Wormholes and time travel
  11. The unification of physics
  12. Enough
  13. Albert Einstein
  14. Galileo Galilei
  15. Isaac Newton

Further implementations

A biographical documentary on Stephen Hawking bears the same title.

A brief history of time stayed on the Sunday Times bestseller list for 237 weeks , longer than any other book. It's translated into about forty languages. In the meantime this book has been revised and brought up to date with the latest scientific findings.

Another revised edition of the book is called The Illustrated Brief History of Time . With many additional pictures and illustrations, an attempt is made to present the content in a more understandable and clearer way.

In October 2005 Stephen Hawking published a simplified version of his book entitled The Shortest History of Time . Hawking's book The Universe in a Nutshell also contains a short version of the Brief History of Time in the first chapters .

Reviews

  • “A speedy ghost train ride through the labyrinth of cosmological models of thought” - Der Spiegel
  • “The physicist Stephen Hawking is about to find the formula that explains the universe.” - Zeit-Magazin

literature

  • with Leonard Mlodinow : A Brief History of Time (original title: " A Brief History of Time ", 1988, translated by Hainer Kober ), Rowohlt , Reinbek bei Hamburg 1991, ISBN 3-499-60555-4
  • with Leonard Mlodinow: The illustrated short history of time , updated and expanded new edition, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-61968-7 .
  • with Leonard Mlodinow: The Shortest History of Time , Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-498-02986-X .