Once Before Time - by Martin Bojowald (Paperback)

About the Book

Bojowald recounts his discovery of loop quantum cosmology (LQC) and explains how it can illuminate the very birth of the universe.

Book Synopsis

In his introduction to a revolutionary theory of the cosmos, Martin Bojowald shows how the big bang theory may give way to the big bounce theory, which describes our universe as an eternal series of expansions and contractions, with no beginning and no end.

In 2000, Bojowald, then a twenty-seven-year-old postdoctoral student at Pennsylvania State University, used a relatively new theory called loop quantum gravity--a cunning combination of Einstein's theory of gravity with quantum mechanics--to create a simple model of the universe. Loop quantum cosmology, or LQC, was born, and with it, a theory that managed to do something even Einstein's general theory of relativity had failed to do--illuminate the very birth of the universe.

Review Quotes

"Readers will find undoubted insights into one possible explanation of the universe at its most fundamental and will experience the work of top-level science."
--The Wall Street Journal

"Once Before Time tells the story of Bojowald's discovery and its implications in fascinating, eloquent, even literary prose."
--New Scientist

"Bojowald argues precisely and meticulously."
--Providence Journal

"Bojowald manages to describe these complicated ideas without bogging down in mathematical notation. And like Stephen Hawking, he manages to help readers over the difficult spots with entertaining and literate prose."
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Bojowald's explanations are thorough and logical, and his ideas and metaphors [have] panache."
--The Columbus Dispatch

About the Author

Martin Bojowald is an associate professor of physics at Pennsylvania State University's Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos. Originally from Germany, he now resides in Pennsylvania.