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The First Three Minutes
The First Three Minutes
The First Three Minutes
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The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe (1977; second edition 1993) is a book by American physicist and Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg.[2]

Key Information

Summary

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The First Three Minutes attempts to explain the early stages of the universe after the Big Bang. Weinberg begins by recounting a creation myth from the Younger Edda and goes on to explain how, in the first half of the twentieth century, cosmologists have come to know something of the real history of the universe.

Early in the book, Weinberg explores the origins and implications of the Hubble constant, that the red shift of galaxies is proportional to their distance, and how this is evidence for the expansion of the Universe. He introduces the Cosmological Principle, that the universe is isotropic and homogeneous. He then tells the story behind the discovery of the cosmic microwave background by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in 1965.[3] After giving the reader a basis of understanding of astrophysics and particle physics, in chapter 5, Weinberg lays out the makeup of the Universe after its origin in a series of frozen frames. Weinberg shows how the Big Bang can account for the relative abundance of Hydrogen and Helium in the universe.

In the introduction, Weinberg explains his views on writing about physics for the nonspecialist: “When a lawyer writes for the public, he assumes that they do not know Law French or the Rule Against Perpetuities, but he does not think the worse of them for that, and he does not condescend to them… I picture the reader as a smart old attorney, who does not speak my language, but who expects nonetheless to hear some convincing arguments before he makes up his mind.”[4] The book contains a glossary and a "mathematical supplement" for readers who want to understand the mathematics behind the physics.

In the second edition, Weinberg includes "an afterword about developments in cosmology since the book's publication in 1977." In particular, he discusses the recent results from the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite, which provided further evidence for the Big Bang. He also discusses more speculative ideas like inflationary cosmology.

Reception

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In The New York Review of Books, Martin Gardner praised The First Three Minutes as "science writing at its best."[5] In The New Yorker, Jeremy Bernstein wrote that "Weinberg builds such a convincing case...that one comes away from his book feeling not only that the idea of an original cosmic explosion is not crazy but that any other theory is scientifically irrational."[6] In the acknowledgments of the first edition of A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking writes that prior to his book "There were already a considerable number of books about the early universe and black holes, ranging from the very good, such as Steven Weinberg's book, The First Three Minutes, to the very bad, which I will not identify."[7] In 1995, the physicist Paul Davies wrote a book for the Science Masters series titled The Last Three Minutes, about the possible fate of the universe. After Weinberg's passing, Scientific American mentioned his "most famous (or perhaps infamous) statement can be found on the second-to-last page of his first popular book, The First Three Minutes": "The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless."[8]

See also

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References

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The First Three Minutes

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from Grokipedia
The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe is a 1977 popular science book written by American theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg, which provides an accessible account of the hot Big Bang model and the physical processes that occurred in the universe during its first three minutes, culminating in the formation of light atomic nuclei through primordial nucleosynthesis. Published by Basic Books in New York, the book draws on contemporary observations such as the cosmic microwave background radiation—discovered in the 1960s—to explain how the universe expanded and cooled from an initial state of extreme temperature and density, where fundamental forces and particles behaved differently than today. Weinberg, who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Abdus Salam for contributions to the electroweak unification theory, structures the narrative chronologically, beginning with the Planck epoch and progressing through lepton and hadron eras to the era of nucleosynthesis, emphasizing the interplay between particle physics and cosmology. The work highlights key evidence supporting the Big Bang, including the abundance of hydrogen and helium predicted by nucleosynthesis calculations, and underscores the universe's evolution from a plasma of quarks, gluons, and electrons to a state where protons and neutrons could form stable light elements. Praised for its clarity and rigor, the book targets informed lay readers and scientists alike, bridging complex theoretical concepts with empirical data without relying on advanced mathematics. A second edition in 1993 included updates reflecting advances in cosmology, such as improved measurements of the cosmic microwave background, while maintaining the original focus on the universe's infancy. Weinberg's text remains influential for popularizing modern cosmology and demonstrating how observations of the distant past inform our understanding of fundamental physics.

Publication history

Original edition

The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe was initially published in hardcover by in New York in 1977. The first edition comprised 188 pages, including illustrations, and bore the ISBN 0-465-02435-1. , a theoretical , was motivated to author the book to convey the emerging consensus on cosmology to a general audience, amid heightened public fascination with the universe's origins following pivotal 1960s discoveries like the radiation. The work originated from a 1973 public lecture at , where Weinberg's explanations of early physics drew encouragement from publisher Erwin Glikes to expand it into a full-length text. He sought to bridge the gap between specialized research on the hot model—linking cosmology to physics—and lay understanding, sharing his own excitement over the model's testable predictions without delving into advanced . The book quickly gained traction, earning the 1977 Science Writing Award from the . In the preface, Weinberg explicitly outlines the volume's non-technical strategy, emphasizing that it employs no beyond basic arithmetic and avoids , while including a for terminology and a mathematical supplement for those with scientific backgrounds; this approach targeted intelligent readers unacquainted with physics , fostering accessibility to the standard model's narrative of cosmic evolution. Weinberg's efforts were recognized soon after, as he shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the electroweak unification theory.

Revised editions

In 1993, Basic Books published an updated edition of The First Three Minutes, featuring a major new afterword by Weinberg that addressed key cosmological advancements since the book's original 1977 release. This edition extended the original text by approximately 30 pages, bringing the total to 224 pages, and included the ISBN 978-0-465-02437-7. The afterword summarized progress in understanding the early universe, incorporating developments such as the theory of cosmic inflation, which posits a rapid expansion phase shortly after the Big Bang to explain the universe's large-scale uniformity; observational breakthroughs, including data from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which provided precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation and supported the hot Big Bang model described in the original book; and emerging evidence for dark matter as a significant component of the universe's mass-energy density, influencing galaxy formation and the overall dynamics of cosmic expansion. These updates maintained the book's focus on the first three minutes while bridging it to contemporary research, without altering the core narrative of the 1977 content. Subsequent reprints preserved the 1993 revisions with minor corrections for clarity and accuracy. In 2022, Basic Books released another edition ( 978-1-5416-0331-8), marking the book's ongoing relevance with digital formats. This version emphasized the enduring impact of Weinberg's synthesis of and cosmology, with the afterword remaining unchanged.

Author and context

Steven Weinberg

Steven Weinberg was an American theoretical physicist born on May 3, 1933, in , and he passed away on July 23, 2021, in . His early education and career were marked by a strong inclination toward , encouraged by his family, leading him to earn a PhD from in 1957. Weinberg's most prominent achievement was receiving the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with and , for their contributions to the unification of the weak nuclear force and into the electroweak theory. He held the position of Josey Regental Chair in Science and was a in the departments of physics and astronomy at the from 1982 until his death, where he continued teaching advanced courses into his late years. This work established him as a leading figure in , with profound implications for understanding fundamental forces. Throughout his career, Weinberg authored over 20 books, spanning technical treatises and works for broader audiences, including the influential multi-volume The Quantum Theory of Fields (1995–2000), which became a standard reference in quantum field theory. In his later career, he shifted focus toward cosmology, applying particle physics principles to questions about the universe's origins and evolution, as seen in his explorations of early-universe processes. Weinberg was known for his outspoken atheist views, often articulated in public writings and lectures, where he argued that scientific provided a more rigorous framework for understanding reality than religious explanations. His writing style was characterized by exceptional clarity and precision, making complex scientific ideas accessible without sacrificing depth, a trait that informed his approach to communication.

Cosmological landscape in the 1970s

In the 1970s, cosmology was dominated by the emerging consensus on the Big Bang model, which had gained significant traction following the 1965 discovery of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. This serendipitous observation of uniform microwave emission across the sky, interpreted as relic radiation from an early hot phase of the universe, provided strong empirical support for the Big Bang theory and undermined the rival Steady State model, which posited a constant density universe without a singular origin. By the mid-1970s, the Steady State theory, once prominent in the 1950s and early 1960s, had largely been abandoned by the scientific community due to this and other inconsistencies, such as the inability to explain quasar distributions. Key foundational events shaped this landscape. Edwin Hubble's 1929 observation of galaxy redshifts proportional to distance established the 's expansion, laying the groundwork for dynamic cosmological models. In 1948, and collaborators predicted a hot early that would produce light elements through and leave behind cooling radiation, now identified as the . The 1970s saw further integration of into cosmology, with the —initially proposed in 1964—gaining experimental validation through discoveries like the charm quark in 1974, enabling descriptions of hadrons as quark composites. Simultaneously, grand unified theories (GUTs) emerged, notably the SU(5) model by and in 1974, which aimed to unify the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces at high energies relevant to the early . Ongoing debates highlighted unresolved tensions in the standard framework. The questioned why distant regions of the exhibit uniform temperatures despite never having been in causal contact, a issue first emphasized by Charles Misner in 1969 and persisting through the 1970s. Similarly, the addressed the fine-tuning required for the universe's density to remain close to the critical value for a flat geometry over cosmic , as quantified in analyses by P. J. E. Peebles in 1971. (BBN) provided a success story, with 1970s calculations predicting primordial abundances of hydrogen (~75%), helium-4 (~25%), and trace lithium-7 that matched observations, constraining the baryon-to-photon ratio to about 10^{-10}. These predictions, refined in works like Robert Wagoner's 1973 study, bolstered confidence in the hot while underscoring gaps in understanding early conditions. Public fascination with cosmology grew in the , fueled by the aftermath of the Apollo landings and media coverage of breakthroughs like the . The space race's conclusion in 1972 shifted focus to fundamental questions about the universe's origins, amplified by popular articles in outlets like and emerging books that bridged technical advances with broader audiences. , a leading particle physicist who contributed to the electroweak unification in 1967, exemplified this era's interdisciplinary momentum by applying high-energy physics insights to cosmological puzzles.

Book structure and content

Preface and introduction

In the preface to The First Three Minutes, outlines his goal of elucidating the scientific understanding of the universe's earliest moments, specifically from approximately 10−4310^{-43} seconds after the —corresponding to the Planck time—up to , when the first light elements formed. He emphasizes that the book is intended for lay readers without advanced knowledge of or , relying solely on arithmetic and avoiding complex equations to make the material accessible. Weinberg candidly acknowledges the limitations of contemporary knowledge, noting that details before about 0.01 seconds remain vague due to uncertainties in and the need for specific initial conditions, such as a photon-to-nuclear-particle ratio of roughly 1,000 million to one. Chapter 1, titled "Introduction: The Giant and the Cow," employs a metaphorical drawn from in the Younger Edda to juxtapose ancient creation narratives with modern cosmology. Weinberg describes the myth in which the universe emerges from the primordial frost of and fire of , giving rise to the giant and the cosmic cow Audhumla, whose milk sustains Ymir while she licks the salty ice to reveal the god Buri. This tale serves to highlight the intricate yet arbitrary nature of mythological explanations, contrasting them with the empirical foundations of , which posits the universe's origin as a hot, dense state expanding from a singular event occurring simultaneously everywhere in space. Through this , Weinberg introduces the Big Bang not as a conventional in pre-existing space but as the rapid dispersal of matter and radiation from an initial high-temperature, high-density condition. Weinberg underscores key conceptual points, estimating the universe's age at between 10,000 and 20,000 million years based on the observed rate of galactic recession and the Hubble constant of approximately 15 kilometers per second per million light-years. He stresses the immense scale of cosmic events—spanning temperatures from 103210^{32} K in the earliest instants to billions of degrees within minutes—against the narrow scope of human perception and , portraying the as an overwhelmingly vast and hostile expanse. The writing adopts a humorous and engaging tone to draw in non-experts, as seen in lighthearted asides like the preface's reflection on the allure of the "problem of Genesis" and the chapter's playful critique of mythological complexity, fostering an accessible entry into profound scientific ideas.

Expansion and microwave background

In Chapter 2 of The First Three Minutes, presents the observational evidence for the , beginning with Edwin Hubble's seminal 1929 discovery that the recession velocities of galaxies are proportional to their distances from Earth. This relationship, known as , is expressed mathematically as v=H0dv = H_0 d, where vv is the recession velocity, dd is the distance, and H0H_0 is the Hubble constant. Weinberg notes that, based on measurements available in the , H0H_0 was estimated at approximately 50 km/s/Mpc, though values ranging from 50 to 100 km/s/Mpc were debated due to uncertainties in distance calibrations. This law implies that the is not static but dynamically expanding, with more distant galaxies receding faster, as if space itself is stretching uniformly. The observed in the spectra of distant galaxies provides the key empirical support for this expansion. Weinberg explains that the —the shift of spectral lines toward longer (redder) wavelengths—is analogous to the for sound waves from a receding source, but here it arises from the of light wavelengths as the expands. For galaxies beyond our , this effect indicates velocities proportional to distance, confirming Hubble's observations of nebulae with redshifts up to several thousand km/s. Weinberg uses the analogy of dots on a rubber sheet to illustrate how all points (galaxies) move apart without any central point of , resolving the intuition that expansion might imply motion away from a specific origin. This expanding model also resolves Olbers' paradox, the longstanding question of why the night sky is dark despite an assumed infinite, static universe filled with stars. In an infinite static cosmos, every line of sight would eventually intersect a star, filling the sky with light. However, the universe's finite age—estimated at around 10 to 20 billion years based on H0H_0—means light from distant sources has not had time to reach us, and the expansion further dims this light by stretching wavelengths, reducing its intensity. Weinberg emphasizes that these factors limit the effective volume of observable stars, explaining the observed darkness without invoking absorption or other ad hoc mechanisms. Turning to Chapter 3, Weinberg describes the (CMB) as a pivotal confirmation of the hot model, discovered serendipitously in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at Bell Laboratories. Using a sensitive tuned to a 7.35 cm wavelength, they detected an excess of about 3.5 K above expectations, uniform across the sky and independent of direction. Subsequent measurements refined this to a present-day temperature of approximately 2.7 K, with the exhibiting a near-perfect blackbody spectrum that matches for . This spectrum indicates the CMB is relic from an early hot phase of the , when temperatures were around 3000 K, cooled by the subsequent expansion that redshifts photons to microwave frequencies. The CMB's extraordinary —varying by less than 1 part in 10,000 across the sky—supports the idea of a early in , where matter and radiation were thoroughly mixed. Weinberg calculates that at the current temperature, the contains about 550,000 CMB photons per liter, vastly outnumbering baryons by a factor of around 10^9, which implies a total of S≈1088kBS \approx 10^{88} k_B (where kBk_B is Boltzmann's constant). This high reflects the disorder of the photon-dominated plasma, preserved from the initial hot conditions. The uniformity poses a puzzle, however: opposite regions of the sky today were beyond each other's causal horizon in the early , meaning they could not have interacted to achieve . Weinberg notes that the horizon size, roughly the light-travel distance over the 's age, was about 1000 times smaller in the plasma era, allowing only local equilibration within much smaller volumes. To convey these concepts accessibly, Weinberg employs the of the as a cooling —an ionized, undifferentiated mix of protons, electrons, neutrons, and photons in the first minutes after the , where rapid interactions ensured uniformity like ingredients boiling together in a pot. As expansion diluted and cooled this "soup," the decoupled from matter around 300,000 years later, streaming freely as the we observe today, a fossil record of that primordial heat.

The hot universe and first three minutes

In Chapter 4, "Recipe for a Hot Universe," Weinberg outlines the foundational assumptions of the hot model, emphasizing the state of that prevailed in the early due to the high temperatures and particle densities, which facilitated frequent interactions among photons, electrons, positrons, neutrinos, and other particles. Under these conditions, the behaved as a relativistic gas where and were related by p=13ρp = \frac{1}{3} \rho, characteristic of radiation domination, and the expansion rate was governed by the Friedmann equation with the scale factor evolving as a(t)∝t1/2a(t) \propto t^{1/2}. A crucial parameter in this framework is the baryon-to-photon ratio η≈10−9\eta \approx 10^{-9}, which quantifies the relative scarcity of s (protons and neutrons) compared to the abundant photons, remaining nearly constant throughout cosmic evolution as both numbers scale similarly with expansion. This low value, inferred from observations of the and light element abundances, implies that for every billion photons, there is roughly one , setting the stage for the matter-radiation interplay in subsequent phases. Weinberg identifies conserved quantities essential to specifying the universe's composition, including the BB, which is preserved in all known interactions and ensures that the net number of baryons minus antibaryons remains fixed. Similarly, numbers for electrons, muons, and taus are conserved, though asymmetries play a minor role at these epochs. These conservation laws dictate that the early universe's plasma must account for both and in equal proportions unless an is introduced, leading Weinberg to highlight the enduring puzzle of the observed scarcity: despite expectations of symmetric production, the present contains negligible , suggesting an unexplained violation of conservation at some fundamental level, possibly linked to weak interactions or earlier epochs. Chapter 5, "The First Three Minutes," details the chronological during the radiation-dominated from approximately 1 second to 3 minutes after the , when the universe's dropped from about 1 MeV to 0.1 MeV, approximated by the relation T≈1 MeVt (s)T \approx \frac{1 \, \mathrm{MeV}}{\sqrt{t \, (\mathrm{s})}}
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