This Changes Everything (eBook)

Few would argue that the scientific revolution that began in the early 20th century transformed virtually every facet of our everyday lives, but what has it done for us lately? Quite a lot, you might well say, but in This Changes Everything author and scientist Colin Gillespie suggests that the revolution has barely gotten off the ground. He is quick to acknowledge and celebrate the victories (notably of general relativity and quantum mechanics) but in this provocative essay he looks at what holds us back from reaching even greater accomplishments and comes up with a startling conclusion. He sets out to revisit historical advances and frame them through the lens of imagination (what Einstein called a 'thought experiment') to come up with a new take on cosmology and physics—an elegant insight that changes everything.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Colin Gillespie is a physicist turned lawyer turned author. He has an insatiable curiosity and an off-the-charts IQ. He has a passion not only for science but for literature (with an especially warm spot for fictional detectives). These are mixed with an abiding sense of personal humility and social responsibility, a wicked sense of humour, and a seemingly boundless source of energy.
Over the course of an eclectic 40-year career, he has researched, lectured, explored the world (50 countries and counting). A distinguished scientist, he has written more than 30 articles in international peer-reviewed journals on radiation biology, biophysics, neurophysiology, and physics. As a lawyer he has written on environmental law, indigenous and aboriginal law, and space law.
Since 2008 he has worked fulltime on a question he has pondered since his youth. What happened in the beginning? Due in spring of 2013, his second book, Time One: Discover How the Universe Began, answers this question in a simple way that challenges prevailing theories and attitudes about the origin of everything.

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The physicist and author investigates the 20th century scientific revolution that changed our lives—and how it can go further—in this provocative essay.Much of the modern world we experience day to day has been profoundly transformed by a scientific revolution that began in the early twentieth century. But what has science done for us lately? In This Changes Everything, author and scientist Colin Gillespie suggests that the revolution has barely gotten off the ground. In fact—it’s still stuck between two competing Theories of Everything. While celebrating the victories of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, Gillespie attempts to uncover what holds us back from reaching even greater accomplishments. Looking at the work of physicists from Albert Einstein to Stephen Hawking and beyond, Gillespie proposes a thought experiment that leads to some startling conclusions. His provocative new take on cosmology and physics offers an elegant insight that truly changes everything.