“Imaginary time is a new dimension, at right angles to ordinary, real time.”
- January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018
- British
- Theoretical physicist, science writer
- Announced the black hole singularity theorem and Hawking radiation, and contributed to the popularization of science with his book “Talking about the Universe”
Quote
“Imaginary time is a new dimension, at right angles to ordinary, real time.”
Explanation
In this quote, Stephen Hawking refers to the concept of imaginary time, a mathematical framework he proposed to address the nature of the Big Bang and the origins of the universe. In his work, particularly in his book A Brief History of Time, Hawking introduced imaginary time as a way of describing the early universe without the singularities that plagued traditional models of general relativity. Unlike real time, which we experience as moving forward from past to future, imaginary time is a mathematical construct that is used to smooth out the complexities of the universe’s beginning.
The idea that imaginary time is “at right angles to ordinary, real time” suggests that it operates in a different way from our conventional experience of time. It can be thought of as a mathematical tool that helps to resolve paradoxes in cosmology, such as those related to the origin of the universe and black holes. In this context, the use of imaginary time allows for a finite universe without the need for a beginning or an end—essentially removing the need for a singularity (a point of infinite density), which had troubled physicists for decades.
Though this concept may seem abstract, it has had significant applications in cosmology and the search for a unified theory of physics. By treating time in a non-traditional way, Hawking’s model allows for a smoother, more continuous view of the universe’s creation. This theoretical approach has shaped ongoing discussions about quantum gravity, the Big Bang, and the ultimate fate of the universe. While the notion of imaginary time is not yet fully accessible to the general public, it remains a fundamental idea in understanding the complexity of the cosmos and how it might have emerged from nothing.
