Time Line of the Universe (Image: NASA/WMAP Science Team/Wikimedia)
Today, the scientific community is abuzz with the news that astrophysicists have detected gravitational waves or ripples in the fabric of space-time left over from the Big Bang
The detection of the gravitational waves is a landmark discovery - these waves, first proposed by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity nearly a century ago, are believed to originate from the Big Bang. "Detecting this signal is one of the most important goals in cosmology today," said lead astronomer John Kovac of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "This has been like looking for a needle in a haystack, but instead we found a crowbar," added team co-leader Clem Pryke of University of Minnesota. Many have likened the major discovery as the "smoking gun" of the Big Bang.
The details of the discovery is fascinating (like how gravitational waves actually "squeeze" space as they travel and have "handedness" just like light waves). Even though the physics of the Big Bang may be over your head, it doesn't mean that you can't chat about it intelligently with your coworkers.
Here are 4 Neat Facts About the Big Bang That'll Make You Look Smart Without Understanding Any Physics that you can use to impress other people:
1. Father of The Big Bang was Actually a Catholic Priest
The first person who proposed the theory of the expansion of the Universe wasn't Edwin Hubble, the astronomer whose name graced the space telescope orbiting the Earth today.
Rather, it was Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, astronomer, and professor of physics at the Université catholique de Louvain. (Photo: Wikimedia).
In 1927, Lemaître proposed that "the Cosmic Egg exploding at the moment of creation," but his new idea had little impact because the journal it was published in was not widely read outside of Belgium. A few years later, when Einstein read the paper, he remarked "your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious."
2. "Big Bang" Was Actually A Pejorative
Well, supposedly anyhow.
The name "Big Bang" was coined by British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle* who ridiculed the idea that the universe had a beginning (he likened it as "an irrational process, and can't be described in scientific terms," because that resembled the argument that the universe had a creator). Hoyle believed that the universe didn't have a beginning - it was always there (this "steady state" theory was later debunked). (Photo: Cardiff University/wikimedia)
On March 28, 1949, Hoyle first uttered the name "Big Bang" on a BBC radio broadcast. It was reported that he intended the name to be insulting, a claim that Hoyle later denied. He said that instead, it was a "striking image" for the radio audience meant to emphasize the difference between that, and his steady state theory.