User:Chrissandra1970/sandbox

The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation for how the universe began. It was discovered by Georges Lemaitre.

What is The Big Bang in simple terms?
The Big Bang Theory is the idea that the universe began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now—and it is still stretching!

The Big Bang
Astronomers combine mathematical models with observations to develop workable theories of how the Universe came to be. The mathematical underpinnings of the Big Bang theory include Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity along with standard theories of fundamental particles. Today NASA spacecraft such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope continue measuring the expansion of the Universe. One of the goals has long been to decide whether the Universe will expand forever, or whether it will someday stop, turn around, and collapse in a "Big Crunch?"

Georges Lemaitre
Georges Lemaitre, (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.”

Lemaitre was born in 1894 in Charleroi, Belgium. As a young man he was attracted to both science and theology, but World War I interrupted his studies (he served as an artillery officer and witnessed the first poison gas attack in history). After the war, Lemaitre studied theoretical physics, and in 1923 was ordained as an abbé. The following year, he pursued his scientific studies with the distinguished English astronomer Arthur Eddington, who regarded him as “a very brilliant student, wonderfully quick and clear-sighted, and of great mathematical ability.” Lemaitre then went on to America, where he visited most of the major centers of astronomical research. Later, he received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Georges Lemaitre was inspired by Einstein's work, that led him into the Big Bang theory.