Overview Notes

The big bang theory is science's best explanation of how the universe was created. The theory is a general theory held by many astronomers that the universe may have occurred about 12 to 15 billion years ago. This theory ranks as the most widely held scientific theory of the universe's origin.

The Big Bang is a theory that explains how the universe expanded from a single point. All the matter, energy, and light; were all compacted into an infinitely dense point. The universe then expanded tremendously.

Big bang theories are actually a class of scientific models that describe the Universe as expanding from a very hot. It was first proposed by the Catholic priest Georges-Henri Lemaitre and evidence for the expansion was observed by Edwin Hubble. Later George Gamow predicted that the Big Bang would leave an observable microwave background radiation (or CMBR). This radiation was discovered by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at Bell Labs; it was found to be close to that predicted by Gamow.

Not everyone looks at the beginning of the world from a strictly scientific point of view. Then again, those who oppose the Big Bang theory (mainly those who believe in creationism) do not all agree either.

Some astronomers, who are religious, argue that the big bang theory even confirms the existence of God and the basic elements of the creation story as told in the Bible. First came light, then the heavens, then the Earth ... However, many other scientists do not. Scientists, like people in most any profession, have a vast diversity of religious beliefs.