Ethan Siegel

Ethan Siegel

A theoretical astrophysicist and science writer, host of popular podcast “Starts with a Bang!”

Ethan Siegel Starts with a Bang!

Ethan Siegel is a Ph.D. astrophysicist and author of "Starts with a Bang!" He is a science communicator, who professes physics and astronomy at various colleges. He has won numerous awards for science writing since 2008 for his blog, including the award for best science blog by the Institute of Physics. His two books "Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive" and "Beyond the Galaxy: How humanity looked beyond our Milky Way and discovered the entire Universe" are available for purchase at Amazon. Follow him on Twitter @startswithabang.

evolution universe cosmic history big bang
From a hot, dense, uniform state in its earliest moments, our entire known Universe arose. These unavoidable steps made it all possible.
A sky full of stars with a large central galaxy, surrounded by smaller galaxies and bright spots on a dark background.
It was barely a century ago that we thought the Milky Way encompassed the entirety of the Universe. Now? We're not even a special galaxy.
Illustration of a galactic collision, showing one galaxy colliding with the Milky Way, creating a loop of stars and cosmic material against a black background.
Even with just a momentary view of our galaxy right now, the data we collect enables us to reconstruct so much of our past history.
black hole
50 years ago, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes emit radiation and eventually decay away. That fate may now apply to everything.
Betelgeuse visualization
The closest known star that will soon undergo a core-collapse supernova is Betelgeuse, just 640 light-years away. Here's what we'll observe.
A digital visualization displays particle collision results with colored tracks and trails diverging from a central point against a black background, hinting at how B-mesons might break the standard model.
We have very specific predictions for how particles ought to decay. When we look at B-mesons all together, something vital doesn't add up.
einstein general relativity curved spacetime
Most waves need a medium to travel through. But the way that light and gravitational waves travel shows that space can't be a medium at all.