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The classic big bang theory is great at describing what happened after the bang. Yet until recently, particle physicists and cosmologists were stuck on many questions that the big bang theory couldn't answer, including: What made the big bang BANG in the first place? If matter can be neither created nor destroyed, how could so much matter arise from nothing at all? Why can we only see a minute part of the mega-universe?
In 1979, a young particle physicist named Alan Guth answered these questions and made front-page news with one of the greatest discoveries in modern cosmology: cosmic inflation. This is the compelling, first-hand account of Guth's paradigm-breaking discovery of the origins of the universe; and it is a fascinating chronicle of his dramatic struggle to justify it.
Guth's startling theory states that in the billion-trillion-trillionth of a second before the big bang, there was a period of hyper-rapid "inflation" that got the big bang started. Inflation modifies our picture of only the first small fraction of a second in the history of the universe, and then it joins onto the standard big bang theory, preserving all of the successes of the older theory.
But because inflation explains the bang itself, it is a much richer theory than the older versions of the big bang.
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Previews available in: English
Showing 5 featured editions. View all 5 editions?
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1
The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins
March 1998, Perseus Books Group
in English
0201328402 9780201328400
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2
The inflationary universe: the quest for a new theory of cosmic origins
1997, Perseus Books
in English
0201328402 9780201328400
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3
The inflationary universe: the quest for a new theory of cosmic origins
1997, Addison-Wesley Publishing
in English
0201149427 9780201149425
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4
The inflationary universe: the quest for a new theory of cosmic origins
1997, Jonathan Cape
in English
0224044486 9780224044486
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5
The inflationary universe: the quest for a new theory of cosmic origins
Publisher unknown
0201328402 9780201328400
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Book Details
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"The universe is big."
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- Created April 29, 2008
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August 5, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
April 14, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Linked existing covers to the edition. |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |