title: Piecing together the biggest puzzle of all.
abstract: In this month's essay, the last in the Pathways of Discovery series, Martin J. Rees celebrates the way astronomers and cosmologists have systematically uncovered the biography of the universe. Rife with neutron stars, black holes, and multiple universes that emerge from quantum fluctuation, it's a story as grand as it is strange.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Rees