The Beginning of the Universe: How It All Started

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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How did the universe begin? And how do we know that the universe had a beginning in the first place?

The beginning of the universe has been debated by philosophers and theologians since the beginning of recorded history. But there’s no more need to continue the debates on the subject. We now know that the universe had a beginning.

Without further ado, here is a simple explanation of how our universe began.

Did the Universe Have a Beginning?

In 1823, the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers noted that if the universe were infinite, static, and eternal, as was believed at the time, the sky would be blinding white light—because in an infinite universe, there would be an infinite number of stars. Every line of sight would end at a star. This paradox pointed the way toward an understanding of the universe as finite, expanding, and with a definite beginning point in time. The reason we aren’t blinded by light when we gaze at the sky is that the light from some stars hasn’t reached Earth yet. And if this is the case, then the universe must be finite and there must have been some point at which the stars “turned on” and the universe began. The beginning of the universe is what we now know as the Big Bang. 

In 1929, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble confirmed this theory through observation. Hubble discovered that the universe was expanding by observing the “red-shifting” of distant galaxies—the movement of their light toward longer, red wavelengths, indicating movement away from us.

Moreover, the galaxies were not moving at a constant rate. The further away they were, the greater the red-shift. The furthest galaxies were moving the fastest! The universe could not be static and infinite—it had to be finite and expanding (because if it’s expanding, there has to be some boundary at the edge of expansion, something that lies beyond the universe).

The Beginning of the Universe: How It All Started

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Here's what you'll find in our full A Brief History of Time summary :

  • The search for a theory that explains the history and evolution of our universe
  • Stephen Hawking's discussions about time, space, dimensions, and quantum theory
  • How time travel would theoretically work

Darya Sinusoid

Darya’s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain/mind/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.

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