This stabilizes the ball enough that, over a score of millennia (the wizards can skip over vast periods of Roundworld time, allowing them to view the history of the universe in less than a month), blobs of life emerge, ready to begin evolving into more complex forms. The wizards create a series of balls of matter in space, and give one of them a Moon (accidentally). They decide to appoint Rincewind, whom they dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning, the Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, and send him down (against his will) to investigate this strange world. They call it the Roundworld (the Earth), because in it, matter seems to accrete into balls in space (instead of discs on the backs of turtles). The wizards soon discover that they can move things around in the universe, using Hex. The Dean sticks his fingers in the space and 'twiddles' them, inadvertently creating the universe. The university's thinking engine, Hex, decides to divert all the magic into creating a space containing nothing-no matter, no energy, no reality, and, importantly, no magic.

However, the wizards' new reactor produces vastly more magical energy than planned and threatens to explode, destroying the University, the Discworld, and the entire universe. The new 'reactor' is capable of splitting the thaum (the basic particle of magic), in homage to the Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor, which was housed in a rackets court at the University of Chicago. The Discworld part of the book begins when a new experimental power source for the Unseen University is commissioned in the university's squash court. The cover of the book, designed by Paul Kidby, is a parody of the 1768 painting ' An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump' by Joseph Wright of Derby. The book alternates between a typically absurd Discworld story and serious scientific exposition after each chapter. Three sequels, The Science of Discworld II: The Globe, The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch, and The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day, have been written by the same authors.įollowing publication of the first book in 1999 Terry Pratchett made both Jack Cohen and Professor Ian Stewart 'Honorary Wizards of the Unseen University' at the same ceremony at which the University of Warwick gave Terry Pratchett an honorary degree. The Science of Discworld is a 1999 book by novelist Terry Pratchett and popular science writers (and University of Warwick science researchers) Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack CohenĮvolution Characters Rincewind, Unseen University Staff Locations Unseen University, Roundworld 1999 book by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen

The magic of terry pratchett