ATHENA

WORDPLAY

Gr. Myth.  the goddess of wisdom, skills, and warfare: identified with the Roman Minerva

 

FAST FACTS

Minerva, in Roman mythology, goddess of wisdom; Greek counterpart is Athena

Panathenaea, the oldest and most important of ancient Athenian festivals, in honour of Athena

 

The war goddess of the ancient Greeks was Athena often called Pallas Athena, or simply Pallas. The Romans identified her as Minerva and ranked her third among their gods, after Jupiter and Juno. Athena was also worshiped as the goddess of wisdom and of crafts, especially spinning and weaving.

 

According to mythology, Athena was the favourite daughter of Zeus (Jupiter). She was said to have sprung from his head full grown and clothed in armour. The goddess was usually shown wearing a helmet and carrying a spear and shield. Like her father, she also wore the magic aegis a goatskin breastplate, fringed with snakes, that produced thunderbolts when shaken. Athena was very different from the war god Ares. She represented the intellectual and civilized side of war she was not so much a fighter as a wise and prudent adviser.

 

Athena was regarded as the protector of all cities and states. She was wise not only in war but also in the arts of peace. She supposedly invented the plough and taught men how to yoke oxen.

 

Athens became the most important seat of the worship of Athena. Zeus had decreed that the city should be given to the god who offered the most useful gift to the people. Poseidon gave them the horse. Athena struck the bare soil with her spear and caused an olive tree to spring up. The people were so delighted with the olive that Zeus gave the city to Athena and named it after her. Athena is often shown with an olive branch, a symbol of peace and plenty.

 

On the hill of the Acropolis the Athenians built a beautiful temple to Athena called the Parthenon (from parthenos, meaning “virgin”). In the temple stood the ivory and gold statue called the Athena Parthenos, by Phidias, the greatest Greek sculptor.

 

The Athenians held their most important festival, the Panathenaea, on the day considered to be the goddess’ birthday. It was celebrated by a procession, sacrifices, and games.

 

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ZEUS

WORDPLAY

Gr. Myth.  the chief deity, son of Cronus and Rhea and husband of Hera: identified with the Roman Jupiter

 

FAST FACTS

Titans, in Greek mythology, rebellious giant children of Uranus

Hades (or Pluto), in Greek mythology, god of lower world, also name of lower world

Poseidon, in Greek mythology, god of the sea, brother of Zeus and Hades; helped Greeks during Trojan War; corresponds to Roman god Neptune

Hera, in Greek mythology, queen of the gods, wife of Zeus, identified with Roman goddess Juno

 

The greatest of the gods in classical mythology was called Zeus by the Greeks and Jupiter, or Jove, by the Romans. He was the father of gods and men, protector of kings, supporter of law and order, and avenger of broken oaths and other offences. He watched over the state and the family and over strangers and suppliants; his hand wielded lightning and guided the stars; he gathered rain clouds; he ordained the changes of the seasons and regulated the whole course of nature. Zeus, with the other gods on Mount Olympus, ruled over the affairs of humankind.

 

According to the ancient story, Zeus expelled his father, Cronus, and the older dynasties of the Titans. He withstood the attacks of the giants and the conspiracies of the other gods. Zeuswas then allotted the empire of heaven and air; Hades (called Pluto by the Romans) was given that of the infernal regions; and Poseidon (Neptune), that of the sea. The Earth was left under the joint power of the three.

 

The wife of Zeus was Hera (Juno), queen of the gods. Their union was regarded as the divine prototype of all earthly marriage, even though Zeus was not always faithful to Hera. Some authorities explain his indiscretions by saying that many adventures of the other gods were ascribed to Zeus.

 

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was said to have been a statue of Zeus by Phidias in the great temple of Zeus at Olympia. The figure stood about 40 feet (12 meters) high and was made of ivory and gold in about 430 BC. The design is known from its image stamped on certain Greek coins.

 

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BEER & BRAAI (Contents)

Having mentioned this rare out-of-print book to many times to remember … this is the first digital presentation.

 

To the best of my knowledge, there are only 7 copies in the world. Of which I may/may not be included.

 

One is located at each of the following locations:-

• KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Public Library & Information Service
• Sabinet
• University of Cape Town

There are 4 other untraceable copies scattered around the world, according to Google. Astonishing fact, maybe there were only 7 copies sold!

 

You will have to fall within my Multiply Contacts Network (On-line buddy, Friend or Friend of friend) to view the entire book.

Front cover

 

 

Copyright © Muller & Relief, Cape Town and Pretoria (Publishers). All rights reserved. Published in co-operation with The South African Breweries, Ltd..

Design by W. Reinders.

Photography by Louw Pretorius in the Picad Studio Kitchen, Cape Town.

Earthenware provided by Sonja Gerlings, Cape Town.

Lithographical positives by Photo Process, Cape Town.

Printed and bound by Gothic Printing Co Ltd, Observatory, Cape.

Publication date: 1971

Number of pages: 97

The Publishers wish to express their thanks and appreciation to the Meat Board, Pretoria, for material and recipes made available, and to the Henning brothers for kindly furnishing full details of their method of making the traditional asado.

Contents (Links will be updated at the end)

 

General information

Introduction

The fire

Fuel

Equipment

Ten golden rules for a successful braai

Beer for your braai

Suggestions for tableware

Meat for your braai

Marinades

Grilling on skewers

Burger braai

Fish and seafood braai

Chicken braai

Asado – roasting on the spit

Having a kitchen braai

Accompaniments for the braai

Bread

Cheese

Fondue

Salads

Desserts and Coffee

A permanent or portable braai

 

Postings shall commence during June 2009, thus affording you sufficient time to apply for my Multiply Network status.

It contains recipes, easy tips and even detailed plans how to build your own braai.

Braai is an Afrikaans word that has been incorporated into the South African Oxford dictionary, similar to Barbeque.

Figuratively:

1. To braai/the act of braaiing – Cooking meat or other accompaniments over hot coals without flame.
2. Meet me at the braai – Arranging to meet at the venue.

 

Thank you for your interest.

Stan.

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ISIS AND OSIRIS

WORDPLAY

Isis: Egypt. Myth.  the goddess of fertility, sister and wife of Osiris, usually represented with a cow’s horns surrounding a solar (or lunar) disk

Osiris: Egypt. Myth.  the god of the lower world and judge of the dead, brother and husband of Isis

 

FAST FACTS

Osiris, in Egyptian mythology, god of the sun, health, agriculture; son of Seb, the Earth, and Nut, the sky; married Isis; murdered by his brother Seth, became ruler of the dead

Set, in Egyptian mythology, god of evil; brother and murderer of Osiris

Apis, in Egyptian mythology, sacred bull worshiped at Memphis; represented as incarnation of the god Osiris

 

The most popular of the gods in ancient Egyptian mythology was Osiris, god of the sun, agriculture, and health. His queen was Isis, who was also his wife and sister. She represented the moon, as Osiris did the sun, and was believed to have taught Egyptians the arts of agriculture and medicine. She was also credited with instituting marriage.

 

Osiris had an evil brother, Seth, god of the desert. Seth induced Osiris to get into a large chest, which was then closed and thrown into the Nile River. Isis recovered her husband’s body, but Seth took it and cut it into pieces. Isis buried the pieces, and Osiris was thereafter regarded as god of the dead. His son, Horus, avenged the murder by conquering Seth.

 

On Earth, Osiris took the form of the sacred bull, Apis. From the combined names Osiris-Apis came Sarapis, another name for Osiris. Later Sarapis was thought of as a separate god. Osiris was often represented wrapped in mummy cloths and wearing a crown. Isis was frequently pictured with her infant son, Horus. She was also represented wearing cow’s horns, since the cow was considered sacred to her. From the 7th century BC her cult was the most popular in Egypt. In the seaport of Alexandria she was regarded as patron of seafarers, and from there her worship spread to Greece and Rome.

 

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Tracking the swine flu

By Kim Komando, Extract of Kim Komando Show Electronic Newsletter – May 2, 2009

The H1N1 flu is cropping up throughout the world. It is easy to panic at times like this. We should all be concerned. But panic never helped anything. Instead, protect yourself. I’ve pulled together some sites to help.

Swine flu is nothing new. It has long affected pigs. Human cases have been much rarer. And deaths from the virus have been uncommon.

But we have heard a lot about swine flu recently. The World Health Organization has even considered raising its pandemic threat level.

At the time of writing, several victims in Mexico have died. And new cases are being reported regularly.

First, visit the CDC’s site. You’ll learn more about the swine flu. Tips will help you avoid contracting the illness. There’s also help in identifying symptoms.

Next, map the outbreaks. You’ll see if you need to take extra precautions, such as a face mask.

At Google Maps, you’ll see a swine flu map. Cases are plotted on the map. Clicking one of the stories reveals specifics about the case.

There’s also HealthMap. It plots disease outbreaks from the past 30 days. By default, it shows a variety of different diseases.

You can use the controls to restrict the results to swine flu. Or, you can see where other diseases are arising across the world.

HealthMap – www.healthmap.org
Swine Flu Maps (Google) – maps.google.com
CDC – www.cdc.gov/swineflu

Be careful when you click any online ads that mention the flu. They are likely a scam. In fact, you’re likely to start getting swine flu spam.

SPAMMERS READ THE NEWS, TOO

Spammers are already taking advantage of fears over a possible swine flu epidemic. This week, spammers began sending messages touting flu drugs.

The messages link to sites that sell bogus drugs. Or, the sites may simply steal your credit card information. The messages already account for more than 2 percent of all spam.

Watch out for messages that mention swine flu or drugs like Tamiflu (oseltamivir). You can bet future swine flu spam will link to malicious sites.

Spammers are constantly looking for new ways to trick you. Seizing on news stories is popular.

Copyright 2009 WestStar TalkRadio Network. Reprinted with permission. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the written consent of WestStar TalkRadio Network. Visit Kim Komando and sign up for her free e-mail newsletters at: www.komando.com

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IKHNATON

WORDPLAY

died c.  1362 B.C.; king of Egypt (as Amenhotep IV , c.  1376-c.  1362) & religious reformer

 

FAST FACTS

Aton (or Aten), the sun, sole god in religion of Ikhnaton, pharaoh of Egypt

El Amarna, (ancient Akhetaton, now called Tell al-Amarna), Egypt, site of city built by Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) during his rule but soon deserted

 

In the 14th century BC the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep IV undertook a religious reform by displacing all the traditional deities with the sun-god Aton (also Aten). In the god’s honour, the pharaoh changed his name to Ikhnaton, which means “It is well with Aton.” Ikhnaton (also Akhenaton) ruled from 1379 to 1362 BC. His queen was Nofretete (also Nefertiti), one of the most famous women in Egyptian history. On his death, he was succeeded by the boy-king Tutankhamen, the discovery of whose tomb in 1922 was an archaeological sensation.

 

Ikhnaton’s reform was one of the earliest attempts to enforce monotheism, the belief in one god. Images and inscriptions of other gods were all removed. To further enforce his views, Ikhnaton moved the country’s capital from Thebes to a site 200 miles (300 kilometres) north, which he called Akhetaton (now called Tell el Amarna).

 

Ikhnaton’s reforms, and the artistic and literary revival that accompanied them, did not survive for long. So much of his time was devoted to religion that the powerful Egyptian Empire began to disintegrate. This, combined with the opposition of the priests of the displaced gods, worked to undermine the new religion. After Ikhnaton’s death the capital was moved back to Thebes and the former gods restored.

 

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HERCULES

WORDPLAY

1. the son of Zeus and Alcmene, renowned for his strength and courage, esp. as shown in his performance of twelve labours imposed on him
2. a large N constellation between Ophiuchus and Draco

 

FAST FACTS

Hera, in Greek mythology, queen of the gods, wife of Zeus, identified with Roman goddess Juno

Eurystheus, mythological figure; cousin of Hercules who made him perform the famed 12 labours

Augean stables, in classical mythology, stables of the king of Elis, whose oxen stables Hercules cleaned

Alpheus (modern Ruphia), river of Peloponnesus, Greece; drains part of Arcadia; enters Mediterranean Sea near Pyrgos; 100 mi (160 km) long

Salamvria (also called Salambria, ancient Peneus, in Greek Peneios), chief river of Thessaly, Greece; 100 mi (160 km) long

Diomedes, mythological figure, king of Thrace; had flesh-eating wild mares

Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons in Greek mythology; wore famous girdle given her by father, Ares; in Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Erytheia, in Greek mythology, island beyond the Strait of Gibraltar; home of the monster Geryon

Hesperides, in Greek mythology, nymphs who guarded the golden apples of the Tree of Life, wedding gift to his bride, Hera, from Zeus

Atlas, in Greek mythology, one of the Titans who rebelled against Zeus; as punishment he had to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders; name given to a book containing maps of the world

Hades (or Pluto), in Greek mythology, god of lower world, also name of lower world

Nessus, in Greek and Roman mythology, centaur slain by Hercules

 

The strongest and most celebrated of the heroes of classical mythology, Hercules, called Heracles by the Greeks, was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. The goddess Hera, who hated the infant Hercules, sent two serpents to destroy him in his cradle, but Hercules strangled them. As a boy Hercules was trained by the centaur Chiron.

 

When Hercules was a young man, two maidens came to him. Arete represented virtue; Kakia was vice. Kakia offered Hercules pleasure and riches if he would follow her. Arete offered him only glory for a lifelong struggle against evil. Hercules chose to be guided by Arete.

 

In a fit of frenzy caused by Hera, Hercules slew his own children. To atone he had to serve his cousin King Eurystheus, who ordered him to perform the tasks known as the 12 labours of Hercules.

 

The first was the slaying of the Nemean lion. Hercules strangled the animal and wore the lion’s skin. He then slew the Hydra, a terrible serpent with nine heads. The third and fourth labours involved the capture of two wild creatures the Ceryneian stag with golden horns and the wild Erymanthian boar.

 

For his next labour Hercules had to clean the Augean stables, which had not been cleaned for 30 years. He turned two rivers, the Alpheus and the Peneus, through the stables, finishing the work in a single day. Next he slew the fierce Stymphalian birds, after which he captured the Cretan bull. Then he captured the flesh-eating wild mares of Diomedes, king of Thrace. Hercules killed Diomedes and fed him to the horses. He then had to obtain the belt of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. He defeated the Amazons, killed the queen, and took the belt. For his tenth labour Hercules captured the oxen of the monster Geryon, which dwelt on the fabled island Erytheia.

 

The last two labours were the most difficult. One involved stealing the golden apples guarded by four sister nymphs called the Hesperides. Their father was Atlas, who supported the heavens on his back. To obtain the apples Hercules took Atlas’s place while Atlas took the apples. Finally Hercules travelled to Hades, where he captured Cerberus, the many-headed dog who guarded the gates of the underworld. He brought Cerberus to Eurystheus, but the king was so terrified that Hercules had to return to Hades to take the monster back.

 

Having completed the 12 tasks, Hercules was now free, but he performed other feats. The centaur Nessus tried to carry off Hercules’ wife, Deianeira. Hercules shot Nessus with a poisoned arrow. The dying centaur had Deianeira keep some of his blood as a love charm. When Hercules fell in love with another maiden, Deianeira sent him a robe steeped in the blood. Hercules put it on, and poison spread through his body like fire. He fled to Mount Oeta, built a funeral fire, and threw himself on it to die.

 

Hercules’ heroic strength inspired many works of art. A fine example in sculpture is the Farnese Hercules, a copy of an earlier work by the ancient sculptor Lysippus.

 

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HELL AND HADES

WORDPLAY

Hell:

1. Holy Bible.  the place where the spirits of the dead are: identified with SHEOL and HADES

Holy Theol.

2. a state or place of woe and anguish, arrived at by the wicked after death; specif., esp. in Christian theology, the state or place of total and final separation from God and so of eternal misery and suffering, arrived at by those who die unrepentant in grave sin
1. popularly, this state or place as the abode of Satan and of all other devils and of all the damned
2. those in hell
3. the powers of hell, evil, etc.
3. any place or condition of evil, pain, disorder, cruelty, etc.
4. any extremely disagreeable, unsettling, or punishing treatment or experience, or the cause or source of this
5. devilish spirits or excitement [full of hell]

Hades:

1. the home of the dead, beneath the earth
2. the god of the underworld
3. Bible  the state or resting place of the dead: name used in some modern translations of the New Testament

FAST FACTS

Hades (or Pluto), in Greek mythology, god of lower world, also name of lower world

 

“Hope not ever to see heaven: I come to lead you to the other shore; into the eternal darkness; into fire and into ice.” Dante’s ‘Inferno’, from which the quotation comes, is perhaps the most vivid depiction in literature of the place of eternal punishment for evildoers. Abodes for the dead have formed a part of the religious belief of most peoples. One reason for such belief has been the reluctance to accept the end of human life on Earth as permanent, as the extinction of individual existence.

 

The names hell and Hades have generally been understood as places of punishment, either eternal or temporary. Ancient cultures often envisioned an abode for the dead as a reward, or as neutral, rather than always as a punishment. In very ancient primitive religions, as well as among American Indians, the dead went to dwell with their ancestors or to a heavenly location with other souls. Ancient Israel conceived of a place called Sheol, a dark and gloomy place, to be sure, but no elements of punishment were attached to it.

 

The Greek Hades (originally the name of the god who presided over it) did not suggest punishment either. It was a dark subterranean realm or a distant island. The dead were conducted to Hades by the god Hermes. The way was barred, however, by the River Styx. The dead were ferried across the river by the boatman Charon. Eventually, the Greeks added a place called Tartarus, far below Hades, as a place of torment for the wicked. In time Tartarus lost its distinctness and became another name for Hades.

 

The word hell comes from an Anglo-Saxon root meaning “concealed,” and it suggests a place hidden in the hot regions at the Earth’s centre. In Norse mythology Hel was the name of the world of the dead as well as of its goddess. It was especially for evildoers and was distinguished from Valhalla, the place to which those who had fallen in battle went. The ancient Greek myth of Elysium, or the Elysian fields, was similar to Valhalla. It was a dwelling place for heroes on whom the gods had conferred immortality. Eventually it came to mean the abode for all the blessed dead, as opposed to Hades.

 

The concept of hell as a place of punishment is rooted in the idea of justice. Hell was offered as an answer to the question: If evildoers prosper throughout their lives and are never punished, when will they get what is coming to them? The answer must be: after they die.

 

The modern Western understanding of hell derives from the latest period in ancient Israel’s history, and it was more fully developed by early Christianity. The chief suggestion of such a place in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) is a brief reference in Daniel. The place reserved for the wicked dead was called Gehenna by Jews. Early references depict it as a place of temporary punishment, similar to the Roman Catholic purgatory. By the time Christianity was established, it had become a permanent abode. The torments inflicted there were largely imaginative projections of the worst tortures devised in this world. Eternal fire is the most common punishment, though perpetual cold also has been accepted.

 

There is no fully developed teaching about hell in the New Testament, though there are frequent mentions of it. Only in the course of later church history was it elaborated into official church doctrine. Today the New Testament statements and their later explanations are taken literally by some Christians, regarded as allegory or myth by some, and denied altogether by others.

 

Islam has no consistent teaching on hell. It is regarded as permanent in some passages of the Koran and temporary in others. In Hinduism, hell is accepted, but it has no permanent significance. It is but a stage in the long career of the soul. For most Buddhist schools, as well, hell is a transitory phase where sins are purged.

 

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PANDORA

WORDPLAY

Gr. Myth.  the first mortal woman: out of curiosity she opens a box, letting out all human ills into the world (or, in a later version, letting all human blessings escape and be lost, leaving only hope)

 

FAST FACTS

Prometheus, in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, a race of giants; by giving fire to mankind he saved them from annihilation by Zeus; for this Zeus bound him to a rock, where a huge bird preyed on his liver, which was devoured and renewed daily; eventually Hercules freed him; later myths say he created man; subject of ‘Prometheus Bound’, only extant part of a trilogy by Aeschylus, and ‘Prometheus Unbound’, lyrical drama by Shelley

Hephaestus, in Greek mythology, god of fire and the forge; called Vulcan by the Romans; son of Zeus and Hera; crippled by being hurled to Earth by Zeus; in some stories married Aphrodite

Hermes, in Greek mythology, messenger of gods; Roman counterpart Mercury

 

In Greek legend Pandora was the first woman on Earth. When it came time to populate the Earth, the gods delegated the task to Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus. Epimetheus (whose name means “afterthought” or “hindsight”) began with the animals to whom he gave all the best gifts strength and speed, cunning, and the protection of fur and feathers. Too late, he realized there was no quality left to make humankind a match for the beasts. After Prometheus (“foresight”) had stolen fire from heaven and given it to mortals, an angry Zeus determined to counteract this blessing. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to fashion a woman out of clay and adorned her with gifts from all the gods. Aphrodite gave her beauty, Hermes persuasion, and Athena feminine skills. She was named Pandora (“all-giving”).

 

The ancient Greek poet Hesiod, in his ‘Works and Days’, said that Zeus sent her to Earth. There, Epimetheus married her despite a warning from his brother Prometheus to accept no gifts from Zeus. Pandora either found or brought with her a mysterious jar. Epimetheus ordered Pandora never to open it. Secretly, however, she removed the lid. All human ills and evils flew out and covered the world. Hope alone was caught inside the jar.

 

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COSMOLOGY

WORDPLAY

1. the scientific study of the form, content, organization, and evolution of the universe
2. the branch of metaphysics dealing with the origin and structure of the universe

 

FAST FACTS

Edwin Powell Hubble, (1889-1953), U.S. astronomer, born in Marshfield, Mo.; at Mount Wilson Observatory 1919-53; at Mount Wilson and Palomar observatories 1948-53 (‘Realm of the Nebulae’)

Big bang theory, a general theory held by many astronomers that the universe may have originated about 12 to 15 billion years ago as the result of a violent explosion of some primordial mass; since then the universe has been expanding and evolving; a refinement of the theory states that the universe pulsates, expanding and contracting every 80 billion years

 

The joint effort of astronomers and physicists to understand the origin, evolution, and fate of the universe is the field of cosmology. The era of modern cosmology began in 1905 when the physicist Albert Einstein published his special theory of relativity. Before then space and time had been regarded as separate and unrelated. Special relativity showed that space and time must be regarded as aspects of a single entity: space-time. Einstein’s general theory of relativity, published in 1916, incorporates gravity by describing itin terms of space-time and by relating space-time to the distribution of matter in the universe. It is in the light of general relativity that modern notions of the structure, evolution, and fate of the universe are described.

 

Today there is strong evidence that the universe is homogeneous such basic properties as the average density of matter (the mass in a given very large volume of space) do not vary greatly from place to place. Similarly, the universe is isotropic, which means that the nature of what an observer sees does not depend upon the direction in space he or she looks.

 

When the concepts of homogeneity and isotropy were applied to Einstein’s equations relating space-time structure to matter distribution, it was discovered that the universe must be dynamic: It must be expanding or contracting. Einstein’s equations require that at later or earlier times the distribution of matter in the universe will remain homogeneous but the distance scale between objects will change. In effect, space itself expands or contracts. If the universe were expanding, the distance between any two points would be increasing in proportion to the distance between them. In other words, the farther apart the points are, the faster they would be moving away from each other.

 

Just as the pitch, or frequency, of a train whistle lowers as the train moves away from a listener, the frequency of light from a receding galaxy should appear lower to an observer than if the galaxy and observer were motionless relative to each other. This kind of change is called a “red shift” because visible light is shifted downward in frequency toward the long-wavelength, red end of the electromagnetic spectrum. The theory of an expanding universe was confirmed in 1929 by the astronomer Edwin Hubble of the United States, who showed from an analysis of the red shifts of distant galaxies that they are indeed receding from our galaxy and with velocity of recession that is proportional to distance. Hence, the universe is expanding.

 

The Big Bang

When a mathematical excursion into the past is made, a very striking thing happens. The farther back one goes in time, the more contracted was the universe and the more rapid was the rate of expansion. In fact, general relativity indicates that about 10 billion to 20 billion years ago the universe was infinitely contracted: The distance between any two points was zero, the density of matter was infinite, and the volume of the entire universe was zero. According to this picture the universe came into being in a highly singular state, the moment of its origin being referred to as the “big bang.”

 

A common misconception is that matter suddenly poured into an empty universe from an explosion at a point. This is not the case. Not only did matter come into existence at the big bang, but so also did the structure of the space-time. Space itself was shrunk to zero volume at the time of the big bang, and before the big bang, there was no “before.”

 

For the first second or so after the “big bang” the matter in the universe was very hot and dense. Extremely energetic elementary particles, both stable and unstable, were present in large numbers. Following that second, however, expansion and cooling of the universe proceeded so rapidly that most of the unstable particles decayed away. During the next 15 minutes nuclear reactions took place. Theory indicates that about one quarter of the original mass of protons and neutrons in the universe was converted to helium at this time. This fraction of helium is in good agreement with its observed abundance in the present universe. After 15 minutes the density and temperature of matter had dropped sufficiently that no further nuclear reactions could occur until much later in the evolution of the universe when the stars were formed.

 

All this time, matter was everywhere absorbing and emitting electromagnetic radiation and the early universe was filled with a homogeneous “soup” of matter and radiation. Just as the colour, or frequency, of thermal radiation emitted by a hot body is associated with its temperature, so also was the frequency of this cosmic radiation associated with the temperature of the early universe. As the universe expanded and cooled, the frequency of this primordial radiation lowered until by the present era it should correspond to a temperature only a few degrees above absolute zero. Thus, if the big-bang theory predicted by general relativity is correct, the universe should be filled with a uniform sea of very low temperature electromagnetic radiation.

 

Exactly such a “cosmic background radiation” was discovered in 1965 by radio astronomers Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson of the United States. It was later established that this radiation reaches the Earth equally from all directions. The existence of this radiation is very strong confirmation of the big-bang theory, which predicts it and accounts for it in the simplest way. Furthermore, the high degree of isotropy of the radiation provides strong evidence that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic, as was assumed. In 1992, after support for the big-bang theory had been declining due to the increasing support for rival theories such as the steady-state theory, further evidence of the correctness of the big-bang theory was found. The Cosmic Background Explorer satellite detected tiny temperature differences in microwave radiation coming from wispy clouds of gas surrounded by slightly less dense bands of matter arranged in a sort of rippling effect. The rippling arrangement is thought of as an after-effect of the big bang.

 

According to Einstein’s equations, if the average density of matter in the universe is equal to a certain critical value, then the universe will expand at an ever slower rate and eventually stop expanding. If the average density is below the critical value, the universe is open and will continue to expand forever. If, on the other hand, the average density is above the critical value, the universe is closed that is, it will eventually stop expanding, begin to contract, and finally come to an end, no earlier than 20 billion years from now, in a “big crunch” reversal of its origin in the big bang. Hence, one of the most important questions in modern cosmology is the determination of whether the universe is open or closed.

 

Using the most generous estimate of the mass of all the galaxies, the mass density of the universe is still about 20 times smaller than the critical density. This strongly suggests that the universe is open, but the possibility remains that significant amounts of matter may exist between galaxies.

 

A second measurement that could determine whether the universe is open or closed is that of the decrease in the expansion rate. The velocity of expansion is expressed in the equation

 

v = Hr

 

in which v is velocity, r is distance between two points, and H, called Hubble’s constant, is a proportionality value that relates velocity and distance. Although H decreases with time whether the universe is open or closed, it decreases more rapidly for a closed universe. To measure H it is necessary to measure the intrinsic brightness of distant galaxies. Unfortunately, it is quite likely that the intrinsic brightness of a galaxy varies significantly during its evolution and what astronomers see now may be misleading. If so, such methods of distance measurement break down, and the deceleration cannot be determined at least until astronomers develop a much better understanding of the evolution of galaxies.

 

A third method that astronomers use for determining whether the universe is open or closed is to measure the age of the universe that is, the time elapsed since the big bang. The amount of time from the big bang to the present assuming that the present rate of expansion holds throughout this period is called Hubble time.

 

Hubble time can be considered a measure of the time required for a galaxy to achieve its present distance from our galaxy. In other words it is the maximum time since the galaxies separated, or the maximum possible age of the universe. For a universe either open or closed whose expansion rate was higher in the past, the actual expansion time must be shorter than the Hubble time. (Hubble time is expressed as 1/H.) Einstein’s equations demonstrate that a closed universe must expand faster than an open universe. Specifically, if the actual age of the universe is less than two thirds of the Hubble time, the universe must be closed; otherwise it is open. Two thirds of the Hubble time is called the critical age of the universe.

 

By estimating the age of the oldest known star clusters and the age of long-lived radioactive elements, scientists have arrived at an estimate of 15 billion years as the present age of the universe. Because there is a large margin of error in this estimate, this number is rather uncertain; the correct age quite possibly could be as little as 10 billion or as much as 20 billion years.

 

To compare this with the critical age one needs to know the numerical value of Hubble’s constant, H. The problem of measuring H was discussed above. The best current estimate of the critical age of the universe is about 13 billion years. Although this value is in good agreement with the observed age, the uncertainties in both are too great to conclude whether the universe is open or closed.

 

Thus, the present observational evidence points to an open universe. It may well require another half-century of observational data, however, before a firm conclusion can be drawn on this question.

 

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