DETAILS

“Journey of the Universe” invites viewers to become travelers on a journey through the origins of the universe, the emergence of life, and the rise of humans. Journey of the Universe narrates the 14 billion year story of the universe's development, from the great flaring forth at the universe's inception to the emergence of simple molecules and atoms to the evolution of galaxies, stars, solar systems, and planetary life of greater complexity and consciousness. This is a story that inspires wonder as we begin to understand such complexity through science and appreciate such beauty through poetry, art, history, religion, and philosophy. It also awakens us to the dynamic processes of evolution that are chaotic and destructive, as well as creative and life-generating. The Journey of the Universe is a cosmology, although not just in the scientific sense of the study of the early universe. Rather, it is a cosmology in the sense of being an integrated story that explains where both humans and life forms have come from. All cultures have had such stories. We now have the capacity to tell a comprehensive story drawing on astronomy and physics to explain the emergence of galaxies and stars, geology and chemistry to understand the formation of Earth, biology and botany to trace life's evolution, and anthropology and history to see the rise of humans. Journey draws on all these disciplines to narrate a story of universe, Earth, and human evolution that is accessible to everyone. This is the first such telling of the story in film form and no doubt there will be other expressions, both scientific and artistic.