Who first proposed the idea of the Big Bang and what causes this to be so ironic?

Senior Moments

During the second world war George Gamow was concerned with the Manhattan project, developing an atomic-bomb. Gamow among other physicists contributed with the research at Los Alamos, which finally led to the production of the Hydrogen-bomb. [Feb 02 04 5:34 PM] Senior Moments writes: George Gamow [Georgi Antonovich Gamow, "Geo" to his friends] was a great physicist, he was one of the men who "created" the theory of Big bang. http://medlem.spray.se/gamow/georgegamow.html Feb 02 04, 4:55 PM

guiscard

I believe you are referring to who coined the term "Big Bang". It was used mockingly by Fred Hoyle, the proponent of the steady state theory. Actually this is the case of a lot of ideas, that they tend to be named by their rivals. (Look at the names of heratical, and protestant groups. In fact the word Protestant was originally pejorative). I once asked a physics professor if he believed in the existence of magnetic monopoles. He outlined the evidence for each side. But when I said, "Yeah but what do you think?". He replied, "Well, Fred Hoyle thinks they exist, so I guess that they don't." Of course, Senior Moments is 100% correct about Gamow proposing the idea of the Big Bang (although I might add the contribution of Friedmann on nonstatic solutions in general relativity.) Feb 02 04, 5:37 PM

Hamlet.

In 1927 (long before the Manhattan Project) a Belgian priest named George Lemaitre claimed the universe had a definite beginning. He felt it began when a heavy and compressed atom exploded in a massive bang. Lemaitre published this idea in a Belgian journal, but it was not taken seriously until Hubble's work on the expanding universe. It was the first big step for theories dealing with the beginning of the universe... Source: The Physics Answer Book, Erik Gunderson Feb 02 04, 6:25 PM

guiscard

I hate to disagree with your claim that Lamaitre was the founder of big bang theory. His ideas were prefaced by Friedmann in 1922, who solved the expanding universe model under general relativity. For that matter you could look back into the sands of time to find persons that have proposed a creation event involving an expansion. Gamow set the big bang theory on a strong footing by proposing the existence of the cosmic background radiation (later verified). Also, I don't think there is any irony involved in a priest being one of the early advocates of an expanding universe. It is only the literalists and Luddites who see a conflict between science and religion. The "Big Bang" is a complex amalgam of general relativity and quantum meachanics. It was Gamow who first proposed it in this form, rather than just a solution to Einstein's general relativity as Freidmann and Lamaitre had done. [Edited content - McG] Feb 02 04, 7:23 PM

jbean

I must agree with guiscard, if the irony involves a priest 'inventing' a theory. From the time of the Phaorohs, until the late 17th century,the clergy were the mosy highly educated group of people in most civilizations, even more so than the wealthy. Every mother's dream in the Middle Ages was that her son be accepted in Divinity School if for no other reason that he be taught to read. Feb 02 04, 7:31 PM

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Who first proposed "the big bang theory?" Who was the first person to propose the Big Bang theory? Who came up with the term "Big Bang"? Two observations form the basis of the Big Bang theory, the first, Hubble demonstrated that the universe is expanding uniformly. What was the second observation, who discovered it, where and when?

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