Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate

by Paul Halpern

Overview

A respected physics professor and author breaks down the great debate over the Big Bang and the continuing quest to understand the fate of the universe.
 
Today, the Big Bang is so entrenched in our understanding of the cosmos that to doubt it would seem crazy. But as Paul Halpern shows in Flashes of Creation, just decades ago its mere mention caused sparks to fly. At the center of the debate were Russian American physicist George Gamow and British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. Gamow insisted that a fiery explosion explained how the elements of the universe were created. Attacking the idea as half-baked, Hoyle countered that the universe was engaged in a never-ending process of creation. The battle was fierce. In the end, Gamow turned out to be right — mostly — and Hoyle, despite his many achievements, is remembered for giving the theory the silliest possible name: "The Big Bang." Halpern captures the brilliance of both thinkers and reminds us that even those proved wrong have much to teach us about boldness, imagination, and the universe itself.
 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541673595
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	08/17/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	655,471
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Paul Halpern is a professor of physics at Saint Joseph’s University and the author of eighteen popular science books, including The Quantum Labyrinth, Einstein's Dice and Schrodinger's Cat, and Synchronicity. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Table of Contents

Introduction The Quest for the Origin of Everything 1

Chapter 1 Children of an Expanding Cosmos 17

Chapter 2 Preparing the Battlefield: Anticipations of a Cosmological Clash 47

Chapter 3 Unlocking the Nucleus 75

Chapter 4 Recurrence in the Dead of Night: The Theory of Continuous Creation 107

Chapter 5 Alpha to Omega: A Fiery Beginning 129

Chapter 6 Building the Elements 149

Chapter 7 Triumph of the Big Bang 173

Chapter 8 The Point of No Return 191

Chapter 9 Life on the Fringes 211

Conclusion The Legacies of Gamow and Hoyle 241

Acknowledgments 255

Further Reading 257

References 261

Index 277

Editorial Reviews

05/31/2021

Physics professor Halpern (The Quantum Labyrinth) explores in this uneven survey a mid-century argument about the origin of the universe. In the late 1940s, questions about how the universe began were hotly debated. One side, led by Russian American physicist George Gamow, argued in support of the big bang theory. The other, led by British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, took the position that portions of the universe are continually created. (Halpern provides an ample grounding in physics, astronomy, and quantum mechanics to allow general readers to grasp the complexities of the competing theories.) But while he shows how each scientist held a crucial missing piece for the other (“In essence, one wrote the beginning of the story of element creation, and the other wrote the ending”), he’s less successful in bringing his principle subjects to life, and offers relatively little insight into their personalities or what made them tick. For example, he writes of how Gamow and Hoyle shared two traits, taking “joy in the process of discovery” and engaging in “the search for and dissemination of truth,” though the same can be said for many scientists. Those looking for a colorful biography won’t find it here, but Halpern’s treatment of a critical period in science makes this worthwhile for readers interested in the history of physics. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2021-06-02
An expert and entertaining account of the first great controversy in cosmology.

Physics professor Halpern, who has authored many books on cosmology and the universe, has chosen irresistible material for his latest book. Unlike relativity, the origin and fate of the universe is a fairly easy topic to understand, especially for those versed in the basics of physics. Even better, both of the author’s vivid subjects wrote for a popular audience and had no inhibitions about conducting their debate in the media. George Gamow (1904-1968), born in Odessa, was a brilliant theoretical physicist who moved to the U.S. in 1934. After making important discoveries in nuclear physics, he turned his attention to cosmology, combining Einstein’s description of the existing universe with refinements by other brilliant (but less media-savvy) scientists to become the leading proponent of the Big Bang theory. Despite the popular image, this was not an explosion but the spectacular origin of everything—including time and space—from an infinitesimal point. British physicist Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) was already a leading figure in his field when the origin of the universe became a major topic of debate after World War II. Dismissing the Big Bang theory as a quasi-religious form of divine creation, he and colleagues proposed a steady-state theory in which matter appeared spontaneously as the universe expanded. Ultimately, the Big Bang theory won out due to evidence, especially the 1964 discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the cooling remnant of an ancient, dense, hot universe. While many popular histories of this debate portray Gamow and Hoyle spending their lives debating this question, Halpern’s nuanced biographies give equal space to their other accomplishments, which were not only important, but Nobel-worthy. Although they never collaborated, their work explained how all the heavier elements originated from primordial hydrogen. Gamow showed how helium emerged in the Big Bang, and Hoyle, how all the others formed from stars.

Two iconic scientists come together in an outstanding dual biography.

Kirkus Reviews

In his new book, Flashes of Creation, Paul Halpern chronicles the rise of Gamow and Hoyle…as they disputed whether everything began with a Big Bang billions of years ago… Halpern, a physicist himself at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, skillfully brings their fascinating stories to light, out of the shadow of the overlapping quantum physics debates between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr…”—Ramin Skibba, New York Times Book Review

“Paul Halpern has had the bright idea of explaining how the big-bang concept became established by weaving together the biographical stories of the larger-than-life characters who carried on the debate. Two things make the book stand out, apart from the clear and accessible writing that we have come to expect from Mr. Halpern. First, it rehabilitates the steady-state idea… The second stand-out feature of this book deals with the way ideas were developed in those simpler days, only a couple of generations ago… Such a big story.”
 —John Gribbin, Wall Street Journal

“Capturing the history of the Big Bang theory is no easy task, but Halpern pulls it off… Flashes of Creation is a treat and a worthy tribute to two scientific mavericks.”—Science News

“A scintillating account of the intellectual travails of Gamow and Hoyle, two animated, curious, provocative, and controversial figures in 20th-century physics… [Halpern] renders their contributions and clashes vividly in this expertly crafted biography…” —Science Magazine

“As a joint biography, Flashes of Creation tells much more than just the scientific work of Gamow and Hoyle. I found the description of the scientists’ early lives fascinating… It’s a tale that’s well worth discovering.”
 —Laura Hiscott, Physics World

“Halpern’s treatment of a critical period in science makes this worthwhile for readers interested in the history of physics.”—Publishers Weekly

“An expert and entertaining account of the first great controversy in cosmology. Physics professor Halpern, who has authored many books on cosmology and the universe, has chosen irresistible material for his latest book...Two iconic scientists come together in an outstanding dual biography.”—Kirkus

“If you’d like to know more about two of the leading figures in cosmology and the story of how we came to recognize the Big Bang Theory as the best interpretation of how the Universe began, then this is the book for you.”
 —BBC Sky at Night

One of Science News'  Favorite Books of 2021—Science News

"Paul Halpern’s Flashes of Creation introduces us to the human side of the Big Bang: the debate about whether it happened and the effort to develop a consistent mathematical description of the early universe. Flashes of Creation is an engaging look at an important moment in the history of cosmology, and in the era of big data and large, diverse collaborations, it is a valuable retrospective of a distinctly 20th century approach to fundamental physics."
 —Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, author of, The Disordered Cosmos

"Cosmology today is an established and exciting science, but in the mid-twentieth century it was looked at as somewhat disreputable. This engrossing book tells the story of the two audacious physicists who had the courage to envision the universe as a whole, disagreeing with each other but shaping our modern view of the cosmos."—Sean Carroll, author of, Something Deeply Hidden

"An astute and deeply researched account of the argument between two of the most colorful characters in twentieth-century science, about the true nature of literally everything in existence. Flashes of Creation shows scientists at their most human, as they struggle to unravel riddles of cosmic importance."—Philip Ball, author of, Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew About Quantum Physics is Different

"Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, Flashes of Creation offers a fresh look at the mid-20th century debate—sometimes playful, mostly contentious—on the origin of our universe. Paul Halpern’s engaging narrative and rich portrayals of the key participants adds a new and reverberating bang to the story of the Big Bang theory’s triumph."—Marcia Bartusiak, author of, The Day We Found the Universe and Black Hole

"A vivid and gripping tale of the origins of today's cosmology, Flashes of Creation weaves together the extraordinary personalities and their scientific disputes that gave birth to the theory of the Big Bang. Informative and enjoyable."—Ian Stewart, author of, Calculating the Cosmos

"Paul Halpern adroitly weaves together the careers of two maverick scientists in this illuminating history of the competing theories of the universe."—Frank Close, University of Oxford and author of, The Infinity Puzzle

"Before The Big Bang Theory was a TV show, it first was a putdown. Flashes of Creation relates the fascinating history of the two competing theories for how the universe came to be, promoted by two larger-than-life physicists who clashed in science journals and popular media. Highly readable, entertaining and informative, Paul Halpern’s latest book shows that even when grappling with some of the biggest questions, science is a human activity and all the better for it."—James Kakalios, University of Minnesota and author of, The Physics of Everyday Things

From the Publisher