Michel Cassé is an astrophysicist. He is a research director at the Atomic Energy Commission and an associate fellow at the Astrophysics Institute, in Paris. His works include Du vide et de la création, Energie noire, matière noire, Les Trous noirs en pleine lumière and Généalogie de la matière, all published by Editions Odile Jacob.

Twenty years ago, Michel Cassé’s Du Vide et de la création was enthusiastically received by readers interested in cosmology. In the intervening years, cosmology has developed at an amazing pace, and the strange void described by physicists in the past now propels us toward eternity, which has become an essential subject of study since it determines both the origin and the fate of the universe. Newton’s and Einstein’s void did not provide answers to the questions raised by the observable universe, particularly by its homogeneity and apparently flat geometry.
So the traditional void has been turned into a quantic void, a transformation brought about by chance and uncertainty, both of which enabled the expression of the void’s immense energy: matter and antimatter appeared, suddenly and spontaneously, and the Big Bang was followed by a phenomenal expansion, which, in an instant, multiplied the dimensions of the universe, rendering it as flat and homogeneous as it is today.
Quantic cosmology — black holes, the great unification of forces, superstrings, the Higgs field — is recounted here as a gripping adventure story, leading to the marriage of the void with matter. The new cosmology has replaced the traditional static universe with the ‘Pluriverse’.
‘A champagne universe for all!’ concludes the author, with his characteristic wit and inimitable style, as he offers us an equally indispensable marriage — that of science and poetry.

• A book that will enthral science lovers as much as philosophers.
• Besides exploring the quantic void, this book offers a fascinating overview of cosmological theories.