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The universe,
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rather beautiful, isn't it?
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It's quite literally got everything,
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from the very big
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to the very small.
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Sure, there are some less than savory elements in there,
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but on the whole, scholars agree that its existence
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is probably a good thing.
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Such a good thing, that an entire field
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of scientific endeavor is devoted to its study.
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This is known as cosmology.
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Cosmologists look at what's out there in space
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and piece together the tale of how our universe evolved:
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what it's doing now,
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what it's going to be doing,
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and how it all began in the first place.
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It was Edwin Hubble who first noticed
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that our universe is expanding
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by noting that galaxies seem to be flying
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further and further apart.
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This implied that everything should have started
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with the monumental explosion
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of an infinitely hot,
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infinitely small point.
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This idea was jokingly referred to at the time
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as the "Big Bang,"
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but as the evidence piled up,
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the notion
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and the name
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actually stuck.
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We know that after the Big Bang,
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the universe cooled down
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to form the stars and galaxies that we see today.
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Cosmologist have plenty of ideas
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about how this happened.
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But we can also probe the origins of the universe
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by recreating the hot, dense conditions that existed
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at the beginning of time in the laboratory.
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This is done by particle physicists.
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Over the past century,
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particle physicists have been studying
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matter and forces at higher and higher energies.
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Firstly with cosmic rays,
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and then with particle accelerators,
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machines that smash together
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subatomic particles at great energies.
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The greater the energy of accelerator,
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the further back in time they can effectively peek.
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Today, things are largely made up of atoms,
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but a hundreds of seconds after the Big Bang,
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it was too hot for electrons to join
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atomic nuclei to make atoms.
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Instead, the universe consisted of
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a swirling sea of subatomic matter.
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A few seconds after the Big Bang,
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it was hotter still,
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hot enough to overpower the forces
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that usually hold protons and neutrons together
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in atomic nuclei.
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Further back, microseconds after the Big Bang,
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and the protons and neutrons were only just beginning
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to form from quarks,
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one of the fundamental building blocks
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of the standard model of particle physics.
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Further back still,
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and the energy was too great even
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for the quarks to stick together.
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Physicists hope that by going to even greater energies,
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they can see back to a time
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when all the forces were one in the same,
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which would make understanding
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the origins of the universe a lot easier.
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To do that, they'll not only need to build bigger colliders,
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but also work hard to combine our knowledge
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of the very, very big
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with the very, very small
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and share these fascinating insights
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with each other and with,
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well, you.
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And that's how it should be!
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Because, after all,
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when it comes to our universe,
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we're all in this one together.
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 2/13/2015.
Natsuhiko Mizutani
The link to full lesson should be
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-beginning-of-the-universe-for-beginners-tom-whyntie