Evidence · Case 08 · Science
Georges Lemaitre and the primeval atom
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Lemaitre independently derived an expanding universe solution in 1927 (after Friedmann had done so mathematically in 1922) and connected it to real astronomical observation. In 1931 he proposed that the cosmos began from a single dense state he called the primeval atom, the seed of what became Big Bang cosmology. He did this work while serving as a Catholic priest.
Sources
- American Museum of Natural History, “Georges Lemaitre, Father of the Big Bang.” (opens in a new tab)
Georges Lemaitre, “The Beginning of the World from the Point of View of Quantum Theory,” Nature, 1931. - American Museum of Natural History, “Georges Lemaitre, Father of the Big Bang.”
Objections & responses
- The primeval atom was speculative and in some respects wrong. The modern Big Bang model owes as much to Gamow, Alpher, and Herman. Doesn’t calling Lemaitre the father of the Big Bang overstate his role?
The 1931 proposal was qualitative, and later work by Gamow and his colleagues gave it physical content, including the prediction of the microwave background. Lemaitre remains the first to propose that the universe began from a single primeval state and to connect the expansion law to observation, which is what is claimed here. The father title is conventional; a founder is safer, and nothing in the claim depends on which word you use.