A Short History of Nearly Everything: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

In the mid-20th century, a British scientist named C. T. R. Wilson is trying to build an artificial cloud formation machine and discovers that subatomic particles leave visible trails in the cloud chamber—meaning he’s just accidentally invented the particle detector. Using Wilson’s model, physicists start building increasingly advanced and expensive particle colliders, though a number of efforts are halted midway by the U.S. Congress pulling funding. Physicists begin to discover a host of subatomic particles, including the building blocks for atomic particles, the building blocks for those, and so on. These discoveries prompt Carl Sagan to speculate that electrons might themselves contain an infinite regress of mini-universes full of galaxies of subatomic particles.

In the 1960s, American physicist Murray Gell-Man attempts to render the 150 or so known subatomic particles a bit more comprehensible. Gell-Man hypothesizes that all atomic particles are made of “quarks,” which are divided into six categories and three colors. Gell-Man’s system prompts the development of the “Standard Model” of sub-atomic particles and forces needed to build protons, neutrons, and electrons. Finding the Standard Model too unwieldy, physicists develop “superstring theory” to help simplify the picture. Superstring theory postulates that subatomic particles are actually strings that oscillate in 11 dimensions—the three that humans know, plus time and seven others that we don’t know. Hypothesizing multiple dimensions helps physicists bring together quantum and gravitational laws into one picture. 

Bryson thinks that efforts to simplify particle physics cause more problems than solutions, as superstring theory formulates convoluted descriptions of the universe. “M Theory,” superstring theory with membrane-like surfaces added, is similarly obtuse. For Bryson, physics has reached the point of becoming indecipherable because it’s nearly impossible to discriminate between genius and hoax theories—even among physicists. Matters in astronomy become similarly unwieldy. Hubble formulates an equation for estimating the universe’s age, but it yields an answer of two billion years, which is problematically younger than the Earth’s true age. Astronomers also discover that “standard candles” are more variable than anticipated. Additional challenges include the costly nature of telescope use (especially for distant objects), the difficulty of assessing distance from light readings, and a scarcity of evidence.

Physicists also question the universe’s size. One recent theory suggests that distant images telescopes capture are illusions—reflections of closer objects. Also, physicsts can also only account for a fraction of the universe’s matter, meaning most of it is held together by dark matter, which is invisible to humans. Debates also abound among WIMPs (who factor in invisible particles from the Big Gang) and MACHOs (who factor in black holes), others who factor in dark energy as well as dark matter, and others still who factor in subatomic particles that appear and disappear in infinitesimal components of a second. Bryson notes that when it comes to the universe, the most we know is how little we actually know.