The Book of Universes, By John D Barrow
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The latest work from Cambridge's Professor of Mathematical Science is reminiscent of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities in variety – though not, perhaps, comprehensibility.
The 60-odd universes described here include Ptolemy's Heath Robinson version ("it wasn't right but it had so many ways of being tweaked"), the Swiss cheese of 1945 ("it had spherical regions removed... each had a mass placed at its centre equal in magnitude to what had been excavated"), the Mixmaster of 1969 ("its highly contorted geometry could... homogenise light") and others characterised as hot, electric, fractal, turbulent, chaotic, magnetic, singular and fake.
By 2012, we have reached the runway: "We may have to accept that our universe may not even be at the centre of the Universe."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments