Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

Following Eddington’s observation of the bending of light during an
of his general theory of relativity. Realizing that it mandated an
expanding or shrinking universe, Einstein added a term to his theory to
keep space-time stable. But Edwin Hubble showed that space is indeed
expanding, which means that it used to be smaller and something caused it
to expand. Steady-state theorists tried to develop an account of this that kept
the universe stable on a large-scale basis, but observable evidence favored a
different theory, the big bang, according to which a singular event caused the
expansion that we are still observing.
After he published his general theory of relativity, Einstein came
to the realization that the results of his theory were not stable. The
pictures of the universe painted by the solutions to his equations
showed space-time always expanding or contracting.
Einstein and a colleague, the Dutch physicist Willem de Sitter,
produced two possible approaches that would restore stability.
De Sitter’s approach to stability would work only if there were
no mass in the universe. Einstein’s solution showed that if there
be moving at absurdly fast speeds (something we don’t see) and
expanding or contracting (which wasn’t acceptable either).
According to Einstein’s theory, the presence of mass and energy
causes space-time to curve.
The universe, Einstein argues, is like the Earth. When you
look up close, there are mountains and valleys, but when you
pull back, it is a smoothly rounded surface. In the same way,
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