The Three Big Bangs: Comet Crashes, Exploding Stars, and the Creation of
the Universe
Philip M. Dauber and Richard A. Muller, Addison-Wesley 1996
Reviewed by Bruce Sherwood <bas+@andrew.cmu.edu>,
Center for Innovation in Learning and Dept. of Physics
We are blessed to be living at a time of rapidly expanding understanding
of the universe, and additionally blessed by the high quality of current
science writing about this new understanding, aimed at an educated
public that has proven to be remarkably eager to buy the new books. "The
Three Big Bangs" by Dauber and Muller is an excellent example of a
fascinating book that should be accessible to the educated
non-scientist, yet also offers much to any scientist whose specialty
lies outside the book's topics.
The authors' three big bangs are 1) THE Big Bang thought to have given
birth to the known universe, 2) the later explosions of supernovas which
produced the heavy elements not originally present in the early
universe, which was dominated by the light elements hydrogen and helium,
and 3) the crash of a comet or asteroid near the Yucatan peninsula 65
million years ago, which destroyed the dinosaurs and gave fresh
opportunities to mammals and, eventually, to us humans. For the authors,
these diverse events are linked because they have each played an
enormous role in determining the nature of the world we now live in.
These three big bangs give us a strong sense of physical evolution,
comparable to the modern view of biological evolution. This is a new
perception. When I was a child in the 1940's I read everything about
popular astronomy I could get my hands on. The view I got at the time
was of a completely static universe, in which nothing much ever
happened. The universe was magnificent and awesome but certainly not
dynamic. Now the universe is a place of explosive evolution and is
vastly more magnificent and awesome. "The Three Big Bangs" tells this
story well.
A popular science book is often much more satisfying when written by an
expert who can write for a general audience than when written by a
journalist who is looking in from the outside. Both authors have done
significant research in the areas that they discuss, and they also write
well. Muller has been exceptionally inventive in designing and carrying
out experiments in areas that seemed off the beaten track at the time. A
few years ago the National Science Foundation gave Muller a prestigious
award recognizing his unusual and unique scientific contributions. With
what must have been enormous pleasure, he used his acceptance speech as
an occasion to point out that he had been unable to get federal funding
for much of his work because it was considered to be too risky and not
sufficiently mainstream!
"The Three Big Bangs" is a book that openly panders to our fascination
with violence, but in a way that is socially acceptable. If you are a
scientist, maybe some loved one will realize that they should buy it for
you as a gift. If you are not a scientist, buy yourself a copy!