Brian May, CBE, ARCS, FRAS is a founding member of Queen, a world-renowned guitarist, songwriter, producer and performer. Brian was forced to abandon his PhD studies on interplanetary dust at Imperial College, London when Queen's popularity first exploded, but has always retained his keen interest in astronomy, and is a regular contributor to The Sky at Night.
He is patron to a number of charities including
the Mercury Phoenix Trust and the British Bone Marrow Donor Association. Brian can also be addressed as Dr May since being awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Hertfordshire.
To contact Brian and enjoy updates of his work and thoughts on various subjects from Relativity to Rock, visit his interactive website at www.brianmay.com
Sir Patrick Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS, has made a lifetime study of the Moon, the discoverer of many of its features, especially on the hard to observe limbs, and is one of the noted interpreters of modern astronomy.
His monthly BBC TV show The Sky at Night was launched in the same year as Sputnik I, 1957, and Patrick has become a household name, commentating upon space exploration and astronomy ever since. He has made countless appearances on TV and radio, has written hundreds of books and articles, performed in concert on the xylophone, and composed music for brass bands and piano, as well as a number of full-length operas.
Patrick has lectured for many years to packed venues the world over. He has inspired several generations of professional and amateur astronomers to embark on a lifetime of enthusiastic participation in this fascinating subject. Brian May and Chris Lintott are two of his close colleagues. An accomplished musician and composer, he shares his home with his two beloved cats, Jeannie and Ptolemy, who live a life of unashamed luxury.
Chris Lintott, FRAS, is best known as the co-presenter, with Patrick, of The Sky at Night, first appearing on the programme in 2000. He studied Natural Sciences at Magdalene College Cambridge, and has recently completed a PhD in Astrophysics
at University College, London.
He is now pursuing his studies of star formation from the early Universe to the Milky Way at the University of Oxford. Away from academia, his interests are theatrical, whether writing for the Royal Opera's Ring Cycle programmes to producing Patrick's comic opera, Galileo, which bemused audiences from Cambridge to Chichester and beyond.
Why BANG!? Why did three men from markedly different backgrounds come together and spend two years passionately thrashing out the text of a book about a Big Bang? Because they believe that every intelligent, inquisitive human being should have the chance to hear this astounding story, only very recently beginning to make sense - The Complete History of the Universe – in a language everyone can understand.
BANG! Space, time, matter … the Universe was born 13.7 billion years ago. Infinitely small at first, it expanded more rapidly than anyone can contemplate. Brian May, Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott explain how all this came about, from that moment when time and space came into existence, to the formation of the first stars, galaxies and planets, and to the evolution of human beings able to contemplate our own origins and ultimate destiny. Then on towards that destiny in the infinite future, long after the Earth has been consumed by the Red Giant Sun. The story is told in clear, straight forward terms, in the strict order in which the events happened, and uses no mathematics.
BANG! is an amazing story. Is it fiction? The authors hope not, since it is based upon lifetimes of work by great scientists such as Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and hundreds of other brilliant minds. Enjoy, and let your imagination run riot.
BANG! is beautifully illustrated with original artworks by UK Space Artist Brian Smallwood. Visit Brian Smallwood's website to learn more!
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