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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who did Einstein encourage to begin nuclear research?

2. What did Einstein resist to admit that general relativity implied if all the stars died?

3. Where did Einstein move in 1914?

4. How does Hawking think we should try to understand the beginning of the universe?

5. Where did Einstein accept a position?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is vacuum energy?

2. How did the general relativity theory break down?

3. What paper did Einstein write with Grossman in 1913 and what happened in 1915 related to this same project?

4. What did Penrose and Hawking's theory have to say about the universe's history?

5. Who worked on quantum mechanics in the 1920s, and what discovery was made?

6. Describe imaginary time.

7. What kind of history might the universe have, according to quantum mechanics?

8. What was the bedrock of relativity theory, and what did it imply?

9. What does the E = mc2 equation show?

10. What does it mean for stars to be red-shifted or blue-shifted?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are p-branes? What are the different levels of branes? What is the role of p-branes in supersymmetry? Answer the previous questions succinctly and be sure to explore Hawking's contributions to this field of study.

Essay Topic 2

Hawking uses the word "deterministic" quite a bit in Chapter Four. Identify what determinism means in this context, and how it relates to the universe. Then, summarize and analyze the controversy over whether or not the universe is deterministic and what this might entail.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the history of the theory of curved spaces. What is this theory's relationship to the idea of space-time? Cite two examples from Chapter One that identify key participants, events, or ideas related to this topic.

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