God in the Equation

Corey Powell's riveting story explores how scientists try to explain more than the material universe. The initial idea was Einstein's 'fudge factor'. He called it his 'biggest blunder' and is known by scientists as the Greek letter Lambda. It was the first rigorous expression of this quest for something beyond the tangible. Cosmology, the attempt to explain our universe, its size, shape, beginning and end, has belonged to science for a century or so. And now it has reached a plateau, possibly its end point. There is some mopping up to be done understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy. But dark matter and dark energy are now enshrined in scientific theory. Science has at last formulated a full-blown spiritual theory, a Church of Lambda. Powell contends that there is a God, the sum of the energies scattered through the universe. This god isn't so far from what Einstein called the 'Old One,' the strict Spinozan determinist who could not intervene in worldly affairs - but is inspiring and powerful. Corey Powell introduces readers to the god in the equations of modern cosmology, giving a fascinating insight into how the spiritual has guided cosmologists since Einstein.