Fine Tuning of the Universe - Lecture Series by Dr Gasser Hathout

Lecture 9: The Masses of the Fundamental Particles

In this lecture, we now study the amazing fine tuning of the masses of some of the fundamental particles. Have you ever thought what would happen if protons were just a little bit heavier, or neutrons just a little bit lighter? Who really cares, right? No big deal! Well, you’re right -- if the end of all life as we know it is no big deal ???? In this lecture, we come to understand how and why even the smallest changes in the masses of the fundamental particles would probably make life in the universe – or any complex structure – probably impossible.

Fine Tuning of the Universe

The notion of Fine Tuning of the Universe is a set of recent and profound scientific discoveries -- spanning only the last few decades -- which has had an unprecedented impact on the debate about the relationship of science and faith. It stands as the strongest set of scientific arguments supporting the existence of God, and the notion of a purposeful Creation. It is a critical counter to a mental culture which tries to paint the picture that science has rendered the notion of faith obsolete.

What is Fine Tuning? To quote Luke Barnes, an astrophysicist at the Sydney Institute of Astronomy, it is the discovery that “Even the smallest changes to the laws of physics as we know them tend to make a universe which is completely unliveable. This is called the fine-tuning of the universe, and is frankly one of the most baffling facts in all of science!”

In this lecture series, we will explore some of these discoveries together, and see how they impact the debate about the relationship of science and faith.