In the past decade Paul Halpern has brought readers three stunning histories of science --
Einstein's Dice and Schroedinger's Cats The Quantum Labyrinth and Synchronicity -- that
reveal the twisted bizarre and illuminating stories of physics' greatest thinkers and ideas.
In Flashes of Creation Halpern turns to what might be the biggest story of them all: the
discovery of the origins of the universe and everything in it. Today the Big Bang is so deeply
entrenched in our understanding of the universe that to doubt it would seem crazy. And that is
pretty much what has happened to the last major opponent of the theory British astronomer Fred
Hoyle. If anyone knows his name today they probably think he went off the deep end-or at least
was so very wrong for so long as to seem completely obtuse. But the hot-headed Hoyle saw
himself as a crusader for physics defending scientific progress from a band of charlatans. His
doggedness was equalled by one man alone: Russian-American physicist George Gamow who saw the
idea of the Big Bang as essential to explaining where the Universe came from and why it's full
of the matter that surrounds us. The stakes were high! And the ensuing battle waged in person
and through the media over decades was as fiery as the cosmic cataclysm the theory describes.
Most of us might guess who turned out to be right (Gamow mostly) and who noisily spun out of
control as the evidence against his position mounted (Hoyle). Unfortunately for Hoyle he is
mostly remembered for giving the theory the silliest name he could think of: The Big Bang. But
as Halpern so eloquently demonstrates even the greatest losers in physics -- including those
who seem as foolish and ornery as Fred Hoyle -- have much to teach us about boldness
imagination and even the universe itself.
