To first page on: Tantric Devotion
The history of us and the universe
Part
of celebrating the real universe and ourselves is knowing our history.
This tells us where we came from. It shows how the "creative forces" of
the universe created the elements from which we and all of nature are
made, and it shows how we all share a common ancestor with all life -
we are related to all life!
The following time-line goes from the origin of space and time to the present day.
The following time-line goes from the origin of space and time to the present day.
Under Construction Note: This time-line is very incomplete. Most of the information comes from New Scientist. As I read each week's issue I shall add any new points that I find in that issue. So there is likely to be one or two new points added every week.
The bold numbers are how many years ago the event described happened.
Part 1: Our past is the history of the universe
13.7 billion: The Big Bang creates space and time. Asking what happened before the Big Bang is like asking "What is north of the North Pole?" You can only walk north until you get to the North Pole. As the Big Bang created time (which is part of space-time) asking "What happened before time was created?" has no answer.
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, time goes slower near mass. As mass is not distributed evenly throughout the universe, time will be running at different speed depending on where you are. We are within a large cluster of galaxies. If you take this mass into account, then the age of the universe from our point of view is 14.7 billion years. In the large voids between clusters of galaxies time will run faster, and if you were in the middle of such a void you would see a universe which is 18.6 billion years old.
Big Bang plus 10-43 seconds: Gravity emerges.
Big Bang plus 10-35 seconds: Inflation
Big Bang plus 10-4 seconds: Matter and anti-matter combine (producing energy). As there is a fraction more matter than anti-matter, the result is that the universe consists of matter, and all anti-matter has been destroyed.
Big Bang plus 1 second: Hydrogen is created.
Big Bang plus 100 seconds: Deuterium (heavy Hydrogen, ie one proton and one neutron in the nucleus) is created.
Big Bang plus 100 to 300 seconds: Helium is created, plus some Lithium.
Big Bang plus 380,000 years: The universe finally cools enough for electrons to combine with the nuclei to form atoms. This allows the excess radiation to fill the universe, and as the universe expands this radiation was stretched out to become microwaves. This is the cosmic microwave background radiation.
The universe is dark as there are no stars.
Big Bang plus 100 to 200 million years: The very first stars form. The light from these stars illuminates the dark universe.
Big Bang plus 10-35 seconds: Inflation
Big Bang plus 10-4 seconds: Matter and anti-matter combine (producing energy). As there is a fraction more matter than anti-matter, the result is that the universe consists of matter, and all anti-matter has been destroyed.
Big Bang plus 1 second: Hydrogen is created.
Big Bang plus 100 seconds: Deuterium (heavy Hydrogen, ie one proton and one neutron in the nucleus) is created.
Big Bang plus 100 to 300 seconds: Helium is created, plus some Lithium.
Big Bang plus 380,000 years: The universe finally cools enough for electrons to combine with the nuclei to form atoms. This allows the excess radiation to fill the universe, and as the universe expands this radiation was stretched out to become microwaves. This is the cosmic microwave background radiation.
The universe is dark as there are no stars.
Big Bang plus 100 to 200 million years: The very first stars form. The light from these stars illuminates the dark universe.
4.6 billion: The Earth forms from the dust and rock cloud around the Sun.
Part 2: Our past is the history of life on Earth
3.5 billion: Microbes appear, and dominate the Earth for the next 3 billion years.
2.5 billion: The sun that shone on the early earth was about 25% dimmer than today.
580 million: A glacial period ended and there was a surge in oxygen levels, probably from phytoplankton blooms in the sea. The increased oxygen levels provided an environment in which multicellular animals could evolve.
575 million: Earliest flat-bodied Ediarcara fauna.
166 million: The platypus and humans last had a common ancestor.
125 million: The first birds.
65 million: End of the Cretaceous period as a huge asteroid impact killed off the dinosaurs.
55 million: The earliest known primate (about the size of a mouse) in North America.
37 million: The ancestors of modern elephants (or close kin) are aquatic mammals.
6 million (from my memory): The chimpanzee and human had the last common ancestor. There are about 250,000 generations of humans between us and that common ancestor.
Part 3: Our past is human history
1.9 million: Homo hablis evolves into Home erectus. Homo erectus has a small brain, but is otherwise a relatively modern.
1.65 million: Homo hablis survived until at least this time. So around this time there was more than one hominid species living in Africa.
200,000: The first Homo Sapiens (us) evolve from Homo erectus. (Some think there was an intermediate species - Homo ergaster.)
60,000: The human brain is very similar to today's brains. The first signs of civilization. From now on the major changes to humans are cultural rather than biological.
14,600: People were living in Chile.
14,300: Oldest firmly dated evidence for people living in North America.
13,100: Over the next 100 years the Clovis culture spreads across North America.
10,000: People first settle into villages, plant crops, and build shrines significant enough to be found today.
From now on the bold numbers are the year
2007:
The Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji, is the first cetacean (the family of
animals which includes whales and dolphins) to become extinct as a
result of human activities.Now: The world's soil is being eroded at least 20 times as fast as it can regenerate. Good soil is crucial for about 97% of our food supply.
