Download - Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study - Harvard University

Lawrence M. Krauss
A Universe from
Nothing
by Monica Young
Publicly, Lawrence M. Krauss, Arizona State University’s
Foundation Professor, is well known for making science
cooler than science fiction in his book The Physics of Star
Trek (Basic Books, 2007). But scientifically, Krauss is better
known for asking the ultimate question: why is there something
rather than nothing
The universe, Krauss says, sprang from nothing. That
makes us uncomfortable, in part because it’s a vast departure
from what we used to think. But “the universe doesn’t exist
to make us happy.”
So remember when you’re feeling small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray there’s intelligent life somewhere out in space
’Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth.
Where do we
come from,
and where
are we going
Lawrence M.
Krauss answers
with one word:
nothing.
TONY RINALDO
The strains of Monty Python’s “Galaxy Song,” an ironic
take on the significance of human existence, ring through the
lecture hall in Radcliffe Gymnasium. The lines make a fitting
prelude to the lecture we’re about to hear from Krauss. The
brilliant and sardonic cosmologist answers the fundamental
questions—Where do we come from Where are we going—
with one word: nothing.
Those questions and their answer are of interest to the
Harvard astronomy professor and former Radcliffe science
advisor Dimitar Sasselov. As he introduces Krauss, Sasselov
mentions their shared interest in our beginnings: both
professors direct multidisciplinary initiatives to understand
our cosmic and chemical origins—Harvard’s Origins of Life
Initiative and Arizona State’s Origins Project.
From Nothing and to Nothing
Just 100 years ago, we thought we lived in a lone galaxy
surrounded by a vast, eternal cosmic void. But the discovery
of galaxies outside our own soon showed that the universe
was expanding, suggesting an origin. And a universe with an
origin might very well have an end.
“The central question of 20th-century cosmology then
became Will the universe end with a bang or a whimper”
Krauss says. Cosmologists’ attempts to answer that question
only begot more mysteries, such as dark energy, a repulsive
force that pervades the universe and causes it to expand ever
more quickly.
Dark energy, it turns out, comes from the void. The
uncertainties of quantum mechanics turn the so-called
empty space between galaxies into a “boiling, bubbling brew
of virtual particles that pop into and out of existence on
timescales so short you never see them,” Krauss explains.
The same concept applies to the universe. From a truly
empty void, whole universes could randomly pop into and
out of existence, rendering even the fundamental laws of
physics accidental. We wouldn’t exist if we didn’t happen to
live in a universe with the right laws to support human life.
So how will it all end As it began—in nothing. Long after
its stars and galaxies have faded away, the universe will continue
to expand, cold and empty. “The answer to the question
Why is there something rather than nothing is really quite
simple,” Krauss says. “Just wait—there won’t be for long.”
With the kind of humor Monty Python fans might
appreciate, Krauss closes by looking on the bright side of life:
“Instead of being depressed by our insignificance and our
miserable future, let’s enjoy our brief moment in the Sun.”
Monica Young is the web editor of Sky &Telescope
magazine.
Summer 2013 radcliffe magazine 3