Bumba’s Creation Myth:
The Bishongo people’s myth describes the creation of the universe starting with darkness, water, and the god Bamba. Bamba vomits up the sun, moon, stars, and various animals, finally creating humans. Such creation myths aim to answer fundamental questions about human existence and origins.

Bishop Usher’s Biblical View:
According to Bishop Usher’s interpretation of the Book of Genesis, the world was created on October 27th, 4004 BC at 9:00 AM.

Aristotle’s Argument for an Eternal Universe:
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle believed the universe had always existed, considering it more perfect than something created. He attributed observed progress to natural disasters that reset civilization back to its शुरुआत.

Stephen Hawking’s Motivation for Studying the Universe’s Beginning:
Hawking investigated the universe’s origin to avoid invoking divine intervention as a cause. Conversely, proponents of a universe with a beginning argued for God’s existence as the universe’s prime mover.

Immanuel Kant’s Problem with a Beginning:
Kant identified logical contradictions in both cases: a universe with a beginning and an eternally existing universe. He called the former “thesis” and the latter “antithesis.” Kant’s assumptions included the concept of absolute time, flowing from an infinite past to an infinite future.

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and the Dynamical Nature of Time and Space:
Einstein’s general theory of relativity introduced a revolutionary concept of space and time. Space and time became dynamic quantities shaped by the universe’s matter and energy. Time could no longer be arbitrarily extended back; it was only defined within the universe.

Implications for the Universe’s Beginning:
If the universe were unchanging before the 1920s, any “beginning” would be artificial and extendable back in time. The universe could have been created recently with memories and evidence suggesting a longer history, raising philosophical questions.

Hawking’s Positivist Approach to Meaning and Existence:
Hawking adopted a positivist approach, interpreting sensory inputs through models of the world. The validity of a model was not tied to its representation of reality but to its simplicity, elegance, and predictive accuracy.

Comparing Models of the Universe’s Age:
Hawking compared two models: one with a universe created last year and one with a longer-existing universe. The model with a longer history better explained events like identical twins with a common cause more than a year ago.

The Expanding Universe and the End of Absolute Time:
Edwin Hubble’s observations in the 1920s revealed a non-uniform distribution of stars, grouped in galaxies. Hubble discovered that most galaxies were moving away from us, with more distant galaxies receding faster. This indicated that the universe was expanding and not unchanging as previously thought.

The Expansion of the Universe:
The expansion of the universe, discovered in the 20th century, revolutionized the understanding of its origin and evolution. If galaxies are moving apart now, they must have been closer in the past. Extrapolating this motion suggests that the universe may have had a beginning about 15 billion years ago.

Challenges to the Beginning of the Universe:
Many scientists were uncomfortable with the idea of a beginning, as it implied that physics might break down and required invoking an external agency, often referred to as God, to explain it.

Attempts to Avoid a Beginning:
To avoid the concept of a beginning, several theories were proposed, such as the steady-state theory, which suggested the continuous creation of new galaxies to maintain a constant appearance of the universe. However, observations showed a discrepancy with the predicted number of faint radio sources, indicating a higher density of sources in the past, contradicting the steady-state theory’s assumptions.

The Bouncing Universe Theory:
Another theory proposed a previous contracting phase followed by a bounce, ensuring a finite density and avoiding questions about creation. This theory, favored by Soviet scientists due to its alignment with Marxist-Leninist dialectical materialism, was eventually disproven by Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose.

Observational Evidence and the Big Bang:
In 1965, observational evidence emerged with the discovery of a faint background of microwaves throughout space. These microwaves, similar to those in microwave ovens but much weaker, are interpreted as radiation leftover from a very hot and dense early state of the universe, supporting the idea of a beginning known as the Big Bang.

The Role of General Relativity and Quantum Theory:
The singularity theorems predicted a beginning but could not explain how it occurred, as general relativity breaks down at the singularity. Combining general relativity with quantum theory, particularly Feynman’s idea of a sum over histories, is seen as a potential way to understand the origin of the universe.

The Problem of the Beginning of Time:
Stephen Hawking highlights the origin question: how did the history of the universe start, and does it require a creator to decree its beginning? This problem arises even if the histories of the universe go back to the infinite past but becomes more pressing if the universe began only 15 billion years ago.

Similarities to the Flat Earth Model:
Hawking compares the problem of the beginning of time to the question of what happened at the edge of the world when people believed it was flat. He playfully mentions his experimental test by going around the world without falling off, demonstrating that the world is not a flat plate but a curved surface.

Time as a Corridor vs. Quantum Space-Time:
Traditionally, time was seen as separate from space, like a model railway track with a beginning and end or an infinite corridor. Combining general relativity with quantum theory, Hawking and Hardell showed that time can behave like another direction in space under extreme conditions.

Eliminating the Problem of Time’s Beginning:
Hawking proposes that the beginning of the universe resembles the South Pole of the Earth, where degrees of latitude represent time. The universe starts as a point at the South Pole, and the size of the universe expands as one moves north. Asking what happened before the beginning becomes meaningless as there is nothing south of the South Pole.

Spontaneous Quantum Creation of the Universe:
Hawking and Hartle’s theory suggests that the spontaneous quantum creation of the universe resembles the formation of steam bubbles in boiling water. The most probable histories of the universe are like the surfaces of these bubbles.

Inflation and the Non-Uniform Universe:
Inflation in the early universe, unlike inflation in prices, was beneficial as it produced a large, non-uniform universe, as we observe. The theory predicts slight irregularities in the early universe, which would result in small variations in the microwave background. Observations by the MAP satellite confirm these variations, corroborating the theory.

Formation of Galaxies and Stars:
Irregularities in the early universe lead to regions with slightly higher density. The gravitational attraction slows the expansion of these regions, causing them to collapse and form galaxies and stars.

Conclusion:
Hawking’s theory of the spontaneous quantum creation of the universe challenges the notion that the beginning of time requires a creator. The universe’s origin can be explained by the laws of science, and irregularities from quantum fluctuations give rise to the structures we observe, including galaxies, stars, and ourselves.

Signature Achievements in Cosmology:
The merger of cosmology and general relativity revolutionized our understanding of the universe. Our view of a perpetual universe was shattered, and a new framework emerged, asserting the commencement of the universe with the Big Bang. Moreover, the conclusion that time would cease to exist in black holes was another significant prediction. Empirical evidence found in the cosmic microwave background and observations of black holes corroborates these notions. Quantum theory, when combined with general relativity, may potentially unveil the origins of the cosmos, from its embryonic inflationary phase to the subsequent formation of galaxies and stars. By measuring spatial differences between spacecraft, gravitational waves, and the primordial state of the universe can be scrutinized, providing a fresh perspective on the universe.

Unraveling the Cosmos: Uncharted Territories:
Despite remarkable progress, discrepancies remain. We presently lack a robust theoretical understanding for the observed acceleration in the expansion of the universe. The mysteries of inflation, the everlasting expansion of the universe, and the potential collapse of the universe loom large.

Cosmology’s Vibrant Future:
Driven by an invigorating stream of observational findings and theoretical breakthroughs, cosmology stands as a vibrant and active domain. Standing at the brink of unraveling the fundamental inquiries of existence, cosmology beckons us to explore the essence of our cosmic origins and the nature of our place within it.

Thank You and Farewell:
Stephen Hawking expresses his gratitude to the audience for listening to his lecture.

Future Opportunities:
The conference will not include a Q&A session, but attendees can find answers to their questions in Hawking’s books. The University of Geneva will host another major conference on its 450th anniversary in October.

Einstein’s Quote:
The conference concludes with a quote from Albert Einstein: “What is incomprehensible is that the world is comprehensible.”