Summary

“In the Beginning, A Bedtime Story,” tells the creation of the universe, then of Earth, then the evolution of life on earth, including humans like Chandra Prescod-Weinstein, a black, agender scientist who wants to share her love of the universe, and to challenge the structures that treat some people as lesser.

Chapter One, “I Heart Quarks,” starts out on a school bus, where ten year-old Prescod-Weinstein reads about quarks. Quarks make up everything, from a bus in smoggy L.A. to the biggest objects in the universe. The Standard Model describes how the smallest particles: leptons, photons, weak bosons, gluons, Higgs bosons, and quarks, interact with each other. Quantum physics describes how particles work together in systems to create endless possibilities. It divides all particles up into two types – bosons and fermions. Bosons have spin, and fermions obey the Pauli...