A touch of awe: crafting meaning from the wonder of the cosmos

Journal article

From the birth of galaxies to the self-organizing dynamics of our planet to the ongoing expansion of the universe, the more we discover about the evolution of the cosmos, the more acutely we realize the enormity of what remains to be known. Just this year astrophysicists at the University of Nottingham confirmed that there are at least two trillion galaxies in the cosmos, 10 times more than had been previously thought. What guidance or wisdom can the study of cosmology and astrophysics offer us in our search for meaning and purpose? In conversation with Steve Paulson, executive producer and host of To the Best of Our Knowledge, theoretical physicists Paul Davies and Ard Louis, and astrophysicist Lucianne Walkowicz share their perceptions based on years of gazing upward and beyond our own intimate planet.

Authors: Paulson, S; Davies, P; Louis, A; Walkowicz, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Not peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Volume: 1432
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 46-62
• Publication date: 2018-08-18
• Acceptance date: 2018-05-14
• DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13875
• EISSN: 1749-6632
• ISSN: 0077-8923
• Pmid: 30120888
• Language: English
• Keywords: space travel; astrobiology; Christianity; multiverse; cosmos; anthropology; quantum mechanics; universe; evolution; meaning