The Beginning and End of the Universe
GenreCosmology
Created byLaura Mulholland and Ben J Wilson
Directed byNigel Paterson and Ben J Wilson
Presented byJim Al-Khalili
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes2
Production
Executive producerJonathan Renouf
ProducersNigel Paterson and Ben J Wilson
Running time59 minutes
Production companyBBC
Open University
Original release
NetworkBBC Four
Release22 March (2016-03-22) –
29 March 2016 (2016-03-29)

The Beginning and End of the Universe is a two-part British television series outlining the theory of the beginning of the universe and the theories about its ending.

Episodes

Episode One: The Beginning

This episode, exploring theories of how the universe came into being, outlines the realisation of Edwin Hubble that the universe is expanding, and the discovery of the residual radiation that gave weight to the Big Bang theory.[1] It also highlights some lesser known theorists including Georges Lemaître, who first theorised that there was a big bang, Ralph Alpher, who stated that the light from this should be detectable, and Cecilia Payne, who calculated that hydrogen and helium were the dominant elements in the universe.[2] The episode concludes at the Large Hadron Collider, where physicists create matter in a similar manner to the Big Bang.[1]

Episode Two: The End

This episode explores the theories of the big crunch, the big rip and the big freeze, that are postulated by physicists as possible fates for the universe.[3] Al-Khalili indicates that the difficulty in understanding this is our limited ability to comprehend something of such immensity both physically and philosophically.[4] So, rather than suggesting an answer, he provides the historical background for how we came to know what we know, such as how elements are forged inside stars and how gravity provides the key to the fate of the universe, and what we don't know, such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy.[3]

Reception

Jack Seale, writing for The Guardian, commends the Al-Khalili for, "his usual mix of spectacular locations, clear explanations, a few gags and the stories of scientists who made crucial breakthroughs."[2] Gary Rose, writing for RadioTimes however points out that while Al-Khalili is "as watchable as ever", this series, unlike his earlier series Atom, covers well-trodden ground and while there are "oodles of graphs and stats," which he explains, "with seemingly effortless lucidity," regular viewers of Horizon, "might be immune to the barrage of cosmic stats."[1][3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rose, Gary. "The Beginning and End of the Universe: S1-E1 The Beginning". RadioTimes. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 Seale, Jack (22 May 2016). "Tuesday's best TV: The Beginning and End of the Universe". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Rose, Gary. "The Beginning and End of the Universe: S1-E2 The End". RadioTimes. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Mueller, Andrew (29 May 2016). "Tuesday's best TV: The Beginning and End of the Universe". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
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