CLICK ON ANY LABEL BELOW TO JUMP TO THAT TOPIC FROM HERE.
1. Scientific Theories and Laws
2. The First Decade (1936-1946)
4. The Second Decade (1946-1956)
6. The Third Decade (1956-1966)
8. The Fourth Decade (1966-1976)
10. The Fifth Decade (1976-1986)
12. The Sixth Decade (1986-1996)
14. The Seventh Decade (1996-2006)
15. The Theory of More than Everything
16. The Eighth Decade (2006-2016)
18. The Ninth Decade (2016-2026)
Appendix A Paintings
Appendix B Caps and Bunnies
Appendix C Musical Compositions
Appendix E A Googolplex Universe
Appendix F Acknowledgements
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Congratulations to us. We've covered three tough theories of the universe so far.
Our species has gotten some good use out of the first two: Relativity and quantum mechanics. Because of them, we've developed the computer, laser surgery, nanotechnology, and nuclear energy, but you may wonder why we spent a whole chapter on the Big Bang. That chapter seems kind of worthless compared to the other two. In fact, what does any study of distant outer-space do for us?
That's a good question. Suppose we didn't know anything outside our atmosphere; we could have gotten along just as well with our local theories and experiments. After all, we discovered how to turn matter into energy in a laboratory. Only afterwards did we look at the sun and say, "Aha, so that's why it keeps burning so long." If it had happened the other way around, we'd have said, "Hmm, if we can learn how the sun works, we won't have to drag all this wood to our caves." Even the byproducts of going to the moon are rather skimpy: a boost to our pride, better insulation for refrigerators, and big diapers.
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