Cosmosapiens: human evolutionfrom the origin of the universe

John Hands

The three decades after the Second World War were arguably the most productive in the long history of science. A string of fundamental insights into the nature of the universe came in rapid succession: the Big Bang Theory of its origin, an understanding of how the chemical elements were created within the fiery interior of the stars, how our Earth and its atmosphere were formed, the “universal code” of genetic inheritance and the physical characteristics of our earliest ancestors, among many others.

Astonishingly, by the late 1970s it had become possible for the first time to hold in the mind’s eye the entire history of the universe from the moment of its inception to the present day. This overarching historical narrative linking our existence back to the moment when energy, time and space appeared – apparently out of nothing – ranks among the greatest of all intellectual achievements.