''On the Origin of Time'' is a 2023 book by physicist

Thomas Hertog Thomas Hertog is a Belgian cosmologist at KU Leuven university and a key collaborator of Professor Stephen Hawking. Early life Thomas Hertog was born on 27 May 1975. He graduated Summa cum laude from KU Leuven in 1997 with an MSc degree in phys ...

about the theories of Stephen Hawking. Hertog is a Belgian cosmologist working at

KU Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

university, who worked extensively with Hawking. He wrote the book at Hawking's request to popularize the

top-down Top-down may refer to: Arts and entertainment * " Top Down", a 2007 song by Swizz Beatz * "Top Down", a song by Lil Yachty from ''Lil Boat 3'' * "Top Down", a song by Fifth Harmony from ''Reflection'' Science * Top-down reading, is a part of ...

cosmological theory that they had developed together.

Synopsis

The cosmological theory that Hawking developed with his PhD student is that the origin of time is the

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

and that the laws of physics do not precede the Big Bang, but were born with it. The main hypothesis of their work is that physics laws evolve with time, at least during the very first moment of the

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...

and are not transcendent and immutable at the scale of the birth of our Universe as supposed by the theories of

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

and

Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

. The book's epigraph is "The question of origin hides the origin of the question", a sentence borrowed by Hertog from the Belgian poet François Jacquemin from

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

References

2023 non-fiction books Cosmology books Penguin Books books Popular physics books Quantum mechanics Stephen Hawking {{physics-book-stub