The Big Bang

Theory
Popa Bianca-Maria
Bratu Nicholas Sebastian
Timoftescu Filip Costin
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

01 02
INTRODUCTION WAS THE BIG BANG AN
EXPLOSION?

03 04
GEORGES LEMAÎTRE THE BIG BANG THEORY:
BECOMING A HOUSEHOLD
NAME
 01
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
The Big Bang Theory is the leading
explanation for how the universe began.
Simply put, it says the universe as we
know it started with an infinitely hot and
dense single point that inflated and
stretched — first at unimaginable speeds,
and then at a more measurable rate —
over the next 13.7 billion years to the
still-expanding cosmos that we know
today.
Existing technology doesn't yet allow astronomers to literally peer back at the
universe's birth, much of what we understand about the Big Bang comes from
mathematical formulas and models. Astronomers can, however, see the "echo"
of the expansion through a phenomenon known as the cosmic microwave
background.
While the majority of the astronomical community accepts the theory, there are
some theorists who have alternative explanations such as:
1. eternal inflation - The theory of eternal inflation says that once inflation
starts, it never completely stops. Rather, it ends in places, and universes form
there. We call them pocket universes because they're not everything that exists.
2. oscillating universe - the Oscillating-Universe Theory states that the universe
undergoes periods of expansion and contraction. Eventually, all the matter in
the universe would get hotter and brighter and eventually collapse together in
an event called the “Big Crunch,” then a new Big Bang would occur resulting in
a new universe.
 02
WAS THE BIG BANG AN
EXPLOSION?
WAS THE BIG BANG AN
EXPLOSION?
Although the Big Bang is often described as an "explosion", that's a
misleading image. In an explosion, fragments are flung out from a central
point into a pre-existing space. If you were at the central point, you'd see all
the fragments moving away from you at roughly the same speed.
But the Big Bang wasn't like that. It was an expansion of space itself – a
concept that comes out of Einstein's equations of general relativity but has
no counterpart in the classical physics of everyday life. It means that all the
distances in the universe are stretching out at the same rate. Any two
galaxies separated by distance X are receding from each other at the same
speed, while a galaxy at distance 2X recedes at twice that speed.
The universe is not only expanding, but expanding faster. This means
that with time, nobody will be able to spot other galaxies from Earth
or any other vantage point within our galaxy.
"We will see distant galaxies moving away from us, but their speed is
increasing with time," Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb said in
a March 2014 Space.com article.
"So, if you wait long enough, eventually, a distant galaxy will reach the
speed of light. What that means is that even light won't be able to
bridge the gap that's being opened between that galaxy and us. There's
no way for extraterrestrials on that galaxy to communicate with us, to
send any signals that will reach us, once their galaxy is moving faster
than light relative to us."
 03
GEORGES LEMAÎTRE
GEORGES LEMAÎTRE
Georges Lemaître, (born July 17, 1894, Charleroi, Belgium—died
June 20, 1966, Leuven), Belgian astronomer and cosmologist who
formulated the modern big-bang theory, which holds that
the universe began in a cataclysmic explosion of a small, primeval
“super-atom.”
A civil engineer, Lemaître served as an artillery officer in the
Belgian Army during World War I. After the war he entered a
seminary and in 1923 was ordained a priest. He studied at
the University of Cambridge’s solar physics laboratory (1923–24)
and then at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge (1925–27), where he became acquainted
with the findings of the American astronomers Edwin P.
Hubble and Harlow Shapley on the expanding universe.
In 1927, the year he became professor of astrophysics at
the Catholic University of Leuven (Louvain), he proposed his big-
bang theory, which explained the recession of the galaxies within
the framework of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
Although expanding models of the universe had been considered
earlier, notably by the Dutch astronomer Willem de Sitter,
Lemaître’s theory, as modified by George Gamow, has become the
leading theory of cosmology.
Lemaître also did research on cosmic rays and on the three-body
problem, which concerns the mathematical description of the
motion of three mutually attracting bodies in space. His works
include Discussion sur l’évolution de l’univers (1933; “Discussion on
the Evolution of the Universe”) and L’Hypothèse de l’atome
primitif (1946; The Primeval Atom: An Essay on Cosmogony).
 04
THE BIG BANG THEORY:
BECOMING A HOUSEHOLD
NAME
THE BIG BANG THEORY: BECOMING A HOUSEHOLD NAME
The name "Big Bang Theory" has been a popular way to talk about the
concept among astrophysicists for decades, but it hit the mainstream in
2007 when a comedy T.V. show with the same name premiered on CBS.
Running for 279 episodes over 12 seasons, the show "The Big Bang Theory"
followed the lives of a group of scientists, which included physicists,
astrophysicists and aerospace engineers. The show explores the group's
nerdy friendships, romances and squabbles. Its first season premiered on
Sept. 24, 2007, and the show officially ended on May 16, 2019.
Although the show itself didn't dive too much into actual science, the
showrunners did hire UCLA astrophysicist David Saltzberg as a science
consultant for the entire run of the show, according to Science
magazine(opens in new tab). Science consultants are often hired for sci-fi
and science-related shows and movies to help keep certain aspects
realistic.
Thanks to Saltzberg, the characters' vocabulary included a host of science
jargon and the whiteboards in the background of labs, offices and
apartments throughout the show were filled with a variety of equations
and information.
Over the course of the show, Saltzberg said, those whiteboards became
coveted space as researchers sent him new work that they hoped might be
featured there. In one episode, Saltzberg recalled, new evidence of
gravitational waves was scrawled across a whiteboard that ostensibly
belonged to famed physicist Steven Hawking, who also approved the text.
The show took some liberties, as it was fictional. This included fabricating
some new scientific concepts and fictionalizing the politics of Nobel prizes
and academia, according to Fermilab physicist Don Lincoln.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.slideshare.net/VishnuRaaya
n1/presentation-big-bang1
https://www.slideshare.net/viraj9055/the
ory-of-everything-ppt
https://www.space.com/25126-big-bang-
theory.html#section-additional-
resources
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-
environment-51669384
https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration
/big-bang-explosion.html