The First Three Minutes
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1977 |
| Founder | Steven Weinberg |
| Products | Popular science book on cosmology and the Big Bang |
Summary
The First Three Minutes explores the universe's initial moments following the Big Bang. Weinberg begins by contrasting ancient creation myths with the scientific insights that emerged during the twentieth century.
He examines the Hubble constant and explains how the redshift of galaxies provides evidence for an Expanding universe. By introducing the Cosmological principle, he emphasizes the universe’s uniformity and isotropy. Weinberg recounts the 1965 detection of the cosmic microwave background by Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson, a pivotal confirmation of Big Bang theory. After outlining key concepts from astrophysics and particle physics, he describes the universe’s composition shortly after its inception, detailing how the Big Bang theory accounts for observed cosmic proportions of Hydrogen and Helium.
Targeting intelligent readers without specialized backgrounds, Weinberg compares his audience to “a smart old attorney” who expects straightforward, persuasive reasoning delivered respectfully. The book also offers a glossary and mathematical appendix for readers seeking deeper understanding.
The second edition, released in 1993, features an afterword discussing cosmological progress since 1977, including results from the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite that further supported Big Bang evidence, as well as introducing new ideas like inflationary cosmology.
Reception
Martin Gardner, writing in The New York Review of Books, lauded The First Three Minutes as exemplary science writing. In The New Yorker, Jeremy Bernstein observed that Weinberg persuasively presents the concept of a primordial cosmic explosion as both plausible and scientifically sound. Stephen Hawking referenced Weinberg’s work in the first edition of A Brief History of Time, recognizing it among notable publications on early universe research and black holes. Inspired by Weinberg’s book, physicist Paul Davies published The Last Three Minutes in 1995, which investigates potential scenarios for the universe's ultimate fate. Following Weinberg’s death, Scientific American highlighted a memorable quote from The First Three Minutes: "The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless."
See also
- A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
- The Inflationary Universe by Alan Guth
- Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh