Within microseconds of this Big Bang, the greatest of all bangs, and certainly the last word in bangs, quarks huddled together like nervous undergraduates at a Christmas Party, promptly condensing into protons and neutrons. Minutes later, the simplest of atoms appeared: hydrogen, helium, and a trace of lithium, the lightest of lightweights in the elemental hierarchy. And it was hydrogen, that most unassuming fellow, that proved the real star of the show. With just a single proton and a solitary electron, an Adam and Eve scenario, hydrogen stood at the beginning of everything. From this most minimal of arrangements would…