See more: An illustrated version of this article will be published within the next two weeks on our CultureLab books and arts blog
ASTRONOMER Chris Impey isn’t quite sure whether he’d bet more than the tip of his little finger on the big bang theory being right. He reckons his whole forearm would be a lot to put up for a bet on science, with all its uncertainties. Losing the tip of his pinkie seems about right: he would at least be able to wear the disfigurement as an astronomer’s badge of honour, a mark of his trust in the four independent strands of evidence that support our best theory of how…
