Albert Bryson Accomplishments

After describing the universe in large scale, Bryson, as we expect, drastically changes gears and goes onto explaining the most fundamental components of the universe. While some were discovering the vastness of the cosmos, other scientists, such as Richard Feynman, began to concur that everything must be made of something much smaller – smaller than anyone can imagine. The concept of atoms was first brought up by the ancient Greeks, however, any evidence of would be obsolete until Einstein published his paper on Brownian motion in 1905, proving the existence of atoms. As any avid reader of Bryson can expect, the author next digresses from Einstein’s remarkable achievement and discusses the often overlooked atomic theorist, Ernest Rutherford. Rutherford conjectured that atoms are almost completely composed of empty space, which, in turn, means that the solidity we experience is merely an illusion. After introducing us to the weird world of atoms, Bryson finally mentions that there are really two different sets of laws of physics: one for the large-scale world and an unimaginably different one for the atomic level. Einstein, though, didn’t accept this duality and sought out in search for something more unifying.

We are now introduced to the particle. Bryson describes how particle physics is an extremely expensive enterprise, which may be why the work never gets done. Every time scientists “unlock” one box, there appears to be another box. Physicist Carl Sagan notes that if you traveled down in an electron, you may discover that there was an entire universe of its own. Bryson then suddenly goes back to the world of the minute to yank us back into our known universe, through the eyes of Edwin Hubble. Although Hubble’s accomplishments are tremendous, there are still many unknowns about his work. It’s indeed humbling to know that we may never know a lot about the mysterious