Big history
2022-2023
Lecture slides & Chapters “Maps of time” about topics 1-4:
- Birth of universe - Stars and planets - Earth system - origins of life
Contents
Lecture 1:...............................................................................................................................................3
Birth of the universe..........................................................................................................................3
Complexity: ...................................................................................................................................3
Thresholds:....................................................................................................................................3
Threshold 1: the big bang..................................................................................................................4
Evidence for big bang cosmology ..................................................................................................6
Lecture 2:...............................................................................................................................................7
Threshold 2: Stars light up.................................................................................................................7
Formation & functioning of stars...................................................................................................7
Threshold 3: New chemical elements................................................................................................8
What do stars give us?...................................................................................................................8
Threshold 4: Earth and the solar system............................................................................................8
Formation of the earth..................................................................................................................9
Lecture 3..............................................................................................................................................12
Earth’s Formation............................................................................................................................12
Electromagnetic field...................................................................................................................13
The early atmosphere..................................................................................................................13
Earth systems...............................................................................................................................14
Gaia Hypothesis...............................................................................................................................16
Guest lecture Jerry van Dijk: Biogeochemical nutrient cycles, Nitrogen, Phosphorus.....................16
Lecture 4:.............................................................................................................................................18
Threshold 5: Life on earth................................................................................................................18
Life’s Unity...................................................................................................................................19
Building blocks.................................................................................................................................20
1. Water.......................................................................................................................................20
2. Macro molecules......................................................................................................................22
Cells.................................................................................................................................................23
Table of thresholds: Summary.............................................................................................................27
Recap questions tutorials................................................................................................................28
1
,Big history overview:
Course aims
1. Are familiar with the cosmic timeline from the Big Bang to today.
2. Can characterize the thresholds of complexity under which the contemporary universe developed.
3. Have basic knowledge on natural scientific principles underlying the development of the solar
system, elements, earth, life and society.
4. Can discuss the role of entropy, evolution and complexity in these developments.
5. Can develop and execute an interdisciplinary approach to understand a current-day topic.
6. Can distinguish and apply different styles of scientific thinking.
7. Can reflect critically on the complex and interdisciplinary nature of phenomena
2
, Lecture 1:
Threshold 1: The Big Bang (13.7 billion years ago)
The big bang remains a mystery in many ways. We have a lot of evidence for what happened just
after the event but can only guess what existed before it, if anything, and what conditions made it
possible. Even so, we know the big bang is an important threshold because it created time, space and
the “building blocks” for everything in the known universe.
Birth of the universe
Complexity:
• Diverse ingredients
• Precise arrangements
• Emergent properties: When the right combination of ingredients are arranged in a precise way,
together they have properties that the individual ingredients did not.
• Complexity is rarer than simplicity in the Universe.
• When the Universe experiences a significant increase in complexity, we call it a threshold of
increasing complexity
Thresholds:
→ Thresholds of increasing complexity are critical events in the story of Big History and are
fundamental to an understanding of the story of the Universe.
Throughout the universe’s long history, more and more complex things have appeared in
some surprising ways. Each new form built upon existing ones when conditions were just
right. We call these events “thresholds of increasing complexity”.
→ Entropy is the natural tendency of all things in the Universe to move from order to disorder, from
organization to chaos, from the complexity to the simplicity. This tendency is considered a
fundamental law of the Universe.
→ Threshold moments seem to defy this law because at these moments the Universe moves to a
more complex state rather than to a simpler one.
→ Big History is organized around eight thresholds when the Universe showed a significant increase
in complexity.
→ Gravity has played an important role in these threshold moments, helping bring about the formation
of stars and planets, which allowed for the evolution of life. As this succession of thresholds suggests,
each threshold builds upon previous ones.
3
2022-2023
Lecture slides & Chapters “Maps of time” about topics 1-4:
- Birth of universe - Stars and planets - Earth system - origins of life
Contents
Lecture 1:...............................................................................................................................................3
Birth of the universe..........................................................................................................................3
Complexity: ...................................................................................................................................3
Thresholds:....................................................................................................................................3
Threshold 1: the big bang..................................................................................................................4
Evidence for big bang cosmology ..................................................................................................6
Lecture 2:...............................................................................................................................................7
Threshold 2: Stars light up.................................................................................................................7
Formation & functioning of stars...................................................................................................7
Threshold 3: New chemical elements................................................................................................8
What do stars give us?...................................................................................................................8
Threshold 4: Earth and the solar system............................................................................................8
Formation of the earth..................................................................................................................9
Lecture 3..............................................................................................................................................12
Earth’s Formation............................................................................................................................12
Electromagnetic field...................................................................................................................13
The early atmosphere..................................................................................................................13
Earth systems...............................................................................................................................14
Gaia Hypothesis...............................................................................................................................16
Guest lecture Jerry van Dijk: Biogeochemical nutrient cycles, Nitrogen, Phosphorus.....................16
Lecture 4:.............................................................................................................................................18
Threshold 5: Life on earth................................................................................................................18
Life’s Unity...................................................................................................................................19
Building blocks.................................................................................................................................20
1. Water.......................................................................................................................................20
2. Macro molecules......................................................................................................................22
Cells.................................................................................................................................................23
Table of thresholds: Summary.............................................................................................................27
Recap questions tutorials................................................................................................................28
1
,Big history overview:
Course aims
1. Are familiar with the cosmic timeline from the Big Bang to today.
2. Can characterize the thresholds of complexity under which the contemporary universe developed.
3. Have basic knowledge on natural scientific principles underlying the development of the solar
system, elements, earth, life and society.
4. Can discuss the role of entropy, evolution and complexity in these developments.
5. Can develop and execute an interdisciplinary approach to understand a current-day topic.
6. Can distinguish and apply different styles of scientific thinking.
7. Can reflect critically on the complex and interdisciplinary nature of phenomena
2
, Lecture 1:
Threshold 1: The Big Bang (13.7 billion years ago)
The big bang remains a mystery in many ways. We have a lot of evidence for what happened just
after the event but can only guess what existed before it, if anything, and what conditions made it
possible. Even so, we know the big bang is an important threshold because it created time, space and
the “building blocks” for everything in the known universe.
Birth of the universe
Complexity:
• Diverse ingredients
• Precise arrangements
• Emergent properties: When the right combination of ingredients are arranged in a precise way,
together they have properties that the individual ingredients did not.
• Complexity is rarer than simplicity in the Universe.
• When the Universe experiences a significant increase in complexity, we call it a threshold of
increasing complexity
Thresholds:
→ Thresholds of increasing complexity are critical events in the story of Big History and are
fundamental to an understanding of the story of the Universe.
Throughout the universe’s long history, more and more complex things have appeared in
some surprising ways. Each new form built upon existing ones when conditions were just
right. We call these events “thresholds of increasing complexity”.
→ Entropy is the natural tendency of all things in the Universe to move from order to disorder, from
organization to chaos, from the complexity to the simplicity. This tendency is considered a
fundamental law of the Universe.
→ Threshold moments seem to defy this law because at these moments the Universe moves to a
more complex state rather than to a simpler one.
→ Big History is organized around eight thresholds when the Universe showed a significant increase
in complexity.
→ Gravity has played an important role in these threshold moments, helping bring about the formation
of stars and planets, which allowed for the evolution of life. As this succession of thresholds suggests,
each threshold builds upon previous ones.
3
