Author

Simon Singh

24 key ideas across 3 books, each explained in our own words.

Big Bang

IDEA 1
Science found the universe's origin
Singh tells how scientists came to accept that the universe began in a Big Bang. He shows the slow, messy process by which evidence settled one of the biggest questions.
IDEA 2
Ideas moved Earth from the centre
Singh describes how astronomers from Copernicus onward moved Earth from the centre of the universe. Each step widened our view of the cosmos. Over time, scientists learned that humans live on an ordinary planet in a huge universe.
IDEA 3
Einstein first assumed stillness
Singh explains that Einstein's equations suggested the universe should expand or shrink. Einstein added a term to keep it still, which he later regretted. Observations later showed the universe is not still after all.

IDEA 1
A puzzle lasted 350 years
Singh tells the story of Fermat's Last Theorem, a simple-looking problem that defeated mathematicians for over three centuries. It states that a certain equation has no whole-number solutions for powers above two.
IDEA 2
Fermat left a teasing note
Singh describes how Pierre de Fermat wrote in the margin of a book that he had a proof but no room to write it. No one ever found his proof.
IDEA 3
The puzzle grew from Pythagoras
Singh explains that the theorem extends Pythagoras's famous equation about right-angled triangles. With squares there are many solutions, but with higher powers there seem to be none. The question was whether the same trick works for powers above two.

IDEA 1
Codes and codebreakers compete
Singh tells the history of secret writing as a long contest between code makers and code breakers. Each time a cipher was broken, a stronger one was invented, and each advance changed history.
IDEA 2
A broken cipher cost a queen
Singh describes how Mary Queen of Scots plotted against Queen Elizabeth I using a cipher. When codebreakers read her messages, the evidence led to her execution. The story shows how much can depend on whether a message stays secret.
IDEA 3
Letter frequencies reveal secrets
Singh explains how Arab scholars discovered frequency analysis, which breaks simple substitution ciphers by counting how often letters appear. Common letters in the code match common letters in the language.

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