A Nobel Prize-winning physicist explains what happened at the very beginning of the universe, and how we know, in this popular science classic. Our universe has been growing for nearly 14 billion years. But almost everything about it, from the elements that forged stars, planets, and lifeforms, to the fundamental forces of physics, can be traced back to what happened in just the first three minutes of its life. In this book, Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg describes in wonderful detail what happened in these first three minutes. It is an exhilarating journey that begins with the Planck Epoch - the earliest period of time in the history of the universe - and goes through Einstein's Theory of Relativity, the Hubble Red Shift, and the detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background. These incredible discoveries all form the foundation for what we now understand as the "standard model" of the origin of the universe. The First Three Minutes examines not only what this model looks like, but also tells the exciting story of the bold thinkers who put it together. Clearly and accessibly written, The First Three Minutes is a modern-day classic, an unsurpassed explanation of where it is we really come from.

Steven Weinberg (1933-2021) was a theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate who contributed tremendously to particle physics. Until his death, Weinberg was regarded by many as the greatest living scientist. His most well-known work was the formulation of electroweak theory for which he earned the 1979 Nobel Prize with Sheldon Glashow and Abdus Salam, but his research spanned many other fields. Examples include effective Lagrangians, quantum chromodynamics, supersymmetry, quantum gravity, and cosmology.Weinberg's publications were renowned not only for their profundity and originality but also for their devastating logic and clarity. This volume brings together 37 of his most significant papers, together with commentaries, providing today's physicists with easy access to these seminal papers. More than just a collection, this selection by editor Michael Duff places each article into a comprehensive overview, providing the reader with the scientific and historical context of Weinberg's finest papers.