First created by Albert Einstein to make his theory of relativity work within a static universe, this was considered a kind of anti-gravity force that would hold everything together. When the theory of a cosmological constant was proven to be defunct, Einstein considered it the worst mistake of his life.
Cosmological constant Quotes in A Brief History of Time
The A Brief History of Time quotes below are all either spoken by Cosmological constant or refer to Cosmological constant. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
It is an interesting reflection on the general climate of thought before the twentieth century that no one had suggested that the universe was expanding or contracting. [...] this may have been due to people’s tendency to believe in eternal truths, as well as the comfort they found in the thought that even though they may grow old and die, the universe is eternal and unchanging.
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Cosmological constant Term Timeline in A Brief History of Time
The timeline below shows where the term Cosmological constant appears in A Brief History of Time. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...theory of relativity. Instead he thought up a kind of anti-gravitational force he called the cosmological constant.
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Chapter 8
...had broken. This extra energy has anti-gravitational effects due to strong repulsion, acting like Einstein’s cosmological constant. These areas would increasingly expand, with the space between particles expanding and smoothing out the...
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...of the early universe.” The energy in those fields would have anti-gravity effects, like a cosmological constant , increasing the rate of expansion. The energy would slowly decrease to the rate we...
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Chapter 9
...and pretend it never happened. But Einstein gave a better example when he called the cosmological constant the greatest regret of his life.
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Chapter 11
...uncertainty principle and general relativity one can either adjust the strength of gravity or the cosmological constant. But this still will not remove all the infinities from the predictions, which do not...
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