What Do We Really Know About The Beginning Of Time?

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What Do We Really Know About The Beginning Of Time?

Most people take for granted important discoveries, such as the Big Bang. It is widely accepted that the Big Bang created the universe, and while most people can explain the basic theory behind it, little else is common knowledge. Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes called it “The Horrendous Space Kablooie,” but many people do not grasp the enormous concept (Milne). How exactly do you prove how time began? A writer for Scientific American put this subject into perspective: “If you’re religious, this is like looking at God” (Milne).

Cosmology is the study of the universe, its workings, how it was made, and what it will become. How the universe began has always been a wonder to humans. One of the first widely accepted theories in the 1700s, called infinite expanse, explained that the universe is infinite, with no beginning and no end. This theory had more to do with the philosophy of the time than actual science; however, there was no way to prove or disprove the theory. It was not until the 1920s that Edwin Hubble was able to study the deep sky, objects very faint and far away. In 1929, Hubble proved that stars are clumped in large galaxies, and many galaxies exist beyond our own in a universe that takes light billions of years to travel across. Not only did Hubble prove that galaxies exist, but by observing redshifts (a shift toward red in the visual spectrum of light because of the receding effect of an object) also proved that the galaxies were getting farther apart. Shortly after Hubble’s discovery, a Belgian priest and mathematics teacher by the name of Georges Lemaitre published his own theory that was based off of Hubble’s observations. He said that if the galaxies in the u...

... middle of paper ...

... as many more significant discoveries are bound to happen in the near future that will help clear up the situation (Milne). It is certainly an age for discovery, and understanding newly published discoveries does not require a doctorate. While astrophysics is not everyday, practical knowledge, it can be very impressive to undersand and explain to others how time began.

Works Cited

“Big Bang Theory.” Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2004. 2003 PC ed.

Glanz, James. “Accelerating the Cosmos.” Astronomy.com. 2001. 25 Mar. 2004.

Lacey, Jake. “Milky Way III.” http://members.cox.net/llacey14/jakestars.html. 2003.

29 Mar. 2004.

Milne, Rich. “The Origin Of The Universe.”

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/origuniv.html. 1995. 25 Mar. 2004.

Schomaker, William. “Physicists Put Brakes on Accelerating Universe Theory.”

Astronomy.com. 2002. 25 Mar. 2004.

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