Whats Eating the Universe? Review: A Pocket Guide to the Cosmos – The Wall Street Journal

As the pandemic ebbed and flowed this summer, we watched the spectacle of billionaires racing to the edge of space. Shortly after reaching an altitude of 53 miles in his rocket plane, Richard Branson heralded the dawn of a new space age, while Jeff Bezoswho flew more than 10 miles higher nine days latersaid he wanted to build a road to space so our kids, and their kids, can build the future. While Mr. Branson dreams of an orbiting hotel, Mr. Bezos of a base on the moon and Elon Musk a colony on Mars, the physicist Paul Davies explores a far wider canvas in his introduction to cosmology, Whats Eating the Universe? This scientific detective story, Mr. Davies tells us, travels from the very edge of time itself, through our own epoch, into the infinite future and weaves together the vastness of space with the innermost recesses of subatomic matter.

Mr. Davies starts with the astonishing discoveries of the 20th century, discoveries now so well established that despite their extraordinary nature they are steadily making the transition into common sense. The universe is 13.8 billion years old, a vast, expanding menagerie of stars complete with exotic beasts such as quasars, supernovas and black holes. In its early history, the universe was hot and densea fact that can be read in the faint remnants that fill the skies. This cosmic microwave background, which was first mapped by the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite in 1990, shows traces of the subtle variations that seeded galaxies, stars and planets. As the missions lead scientist, George Smoot, declared: It was like looking into the face of God.

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Whats Eating the Universe? Review: A Pocket Guide to the Cosmos - The Wall Street Journal