WHAT IS THE "BIG BANG" ALL ABOUT?

Some of the other questions become even more abstract and even more wonderful. When we say we are talking not only about where did matter come from, we mean where the components of atoms came from, the protons, electrons, neutrons, nuclei ... where did they come from? But scientists are pushing the questions a step further and asking "where did space come from?" And further still: "where did time come from?" These are the issues that we are still groping with. We don't have answers to all these questions, but the amount of progress that's been made in the last 30 years is astounding.

What is the "Big Bang"? Where did it get that funny name? Well the funny name was actually invented by Fred Hoyle who invented the name to make fun of it, to make fun of the theory of his friend George Gamov, who had invented the theory.

Much of the original "Big Bang" theory turned out to be wrong, but the essence of it was right and the details are being filled in. There has been enormous progress just in the last five years; there is enormous progress being made right now. I checked with my good friend Saul Perlmutter just yesterday so I would have the most up to date information to give you on the issue. We hope to have a final answer within the next year, maybe 2 years, to one of the most intriguing questions that has ever been asked: is the universe infinite or finite? Here you are alive and teaching during a period when the size of the universe is being discussed and may be found!

So let me tell you about the "Big Bang". Addressing biology teachers is somewhat easier than addressing a group of physics teachers (I realize there may be some physics teachers in here) because you have less misinformation. There is an enormity of misunderstanding about what the "big bang" is and what we know about it, about the expansion of the universe. I'm going to go back and discuss some of the elementary things. They are things you will find your students can understand more readily than you can. Because we have trouble as adults, because we have been taught things that aren't quite true, not only facts but also conceptions. Conceptions about space, about the rigidity of space, about the rigidity of time, about the universe that children have to be taught. They don't know this, they don't that it is true, in fact a lot of it isn't true. So let me begin with a little bit of elementary astronomy.

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