from When
At the beginning of the 20th century there were two competing theories as to how the universe came about. Did it have a beginning at some point in time, the Expansion Theory or was it always in existence, the Steady State Theory?
As noted above, Hubble’s measurements showed the universe was indeed expanding. A supporting theory of that expansion was suggested by a physicist of great renown, George Gamow from the Soviet Union. He was an early advocate of the Expansion Theory. Gamow calculated that, if that theory was correct and there was a moment way back in time when the universe started, there should remain today, in all of space, a detectable background radiation. This radiation was eventually detected, exactly as Gamow had predicted, and is now called the “Cosmic Microwave Background” - the CMB. With the Hubble measurements and the Gamow prediction, the Expansion Theory was firmly validated. Later calculations indicated that moment in time, i.e., the beginning, had occurred 13.7 billion years ago and is now commonly referred to as the “Big Bang.“
The universe was born with the generation of an incalculable burst of energy at a enormous temperature such that it took 380,000 years to cool down and allow the particles within to coalesce into the components that make up the world we know today. Gravity pulled these components together to form galaxies. The stars formed, again by gravitation attraction, into furnaces that lit up via the nuclear reactions within them.
Our sun was born 4.6 billion years ago, so the universe existed for more than 9 billion years before our beloved sun and it’s family of planets even came about.
As shown below, our earth depends upon the sun for it’s very being and survival. The climate of the earth is regulated by the sun with the variations in our climate due to the tilt of the earth relative to it’s orbital plane.
As noted above, Hubble’s measurements showed the universe was indeed expanding. A supporting theory of that expansion was suggested by a physicist of great renown, George Gamow from the Soviet Union. He was an early advocate of the Expansion Theory. Gamow calculated that, if that theory was correct and there was a moment way back in time when the universe started, there should remain today, in all of space, a detectable background radiation. This radiation was eventually detected, exactly as Gamow had predicted, and is now called the “Cosmic Microwave Background” - the CMB. With the Hubble measurements and the Gamow prediction, the Expansion Theory was firmly validated. Later calculations indicated that moment in time, i.e., the beginning, had occurred 13.7 billion years ago and is now commonly referred to as the “Big Bang.“
The universe was born with the generation of an incalculable burst of energy at a enormous temperature such that it took 380,000 years to cool down and allow the particles within to coalesce into the components that make up the world we know today. Gravity pulled these components together to form galaxies. The stars formed, again by gravitation attraction, into furnaces that lit up via the nuclear reactions within them.
Our sun was born 4.6 billion years ago, so the universe existed for more than 9 billion years before our beloved sun and it’s family of planets even came about.
As shown below, our earth depends upon the sun for it’s very being and survival. The climate of the earth is regulated by the sun with the variations in our climate due to the tilt of the earth relative to it’s orbital plane.
From the times of Galileo continuing progress in science became more and more understandable and was driven by those geniuses who led the way. First and foremost was Isaac Newton who was born in 1642. Newton was the first to formulate into mathematical form the fundamental parameters of physics, i.e., force, displacement, velocity, acceleration, gravity, energy and other such elements. With these formulas in hand engineering was born and with it the creation of our modern world. Newton’s life was not easy. His widowed mother remarried when Isaac was three and he had an intense dislike of his step father which led to a sour attitude which he carried throughout his life. However he was acknowledged as the greatest scientific genius for the centuries following his death until Albert Einstein rivaled him for that title some 250 later.
Isaac Newton at the height of his powers
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany. He was an excellent student contrary to rumors because he only paid much attention to subjects that really interested him. But his habit of questioning his teachers caused him much grief as he could not gain entrance to universities to obtain his PhD because he needed a recommendation from his teachers. In what turned out to be an unexpected advantage he had to settle for a position as a patent clerk - class III, in Switzerland. But then he could complete his patent work quickly which gave him time to develop out some of his fundamental ideas in physics. Those ideas were so far reaching they influenced science even to this day. He published 4 papers in 1905 at the age of 26, while still a patent clerk, which were so original that 1905 has become known as “annus mirabilis” the year of miracles.
Albert Einstein in 1905, 26 years old
Einstein described a new way of understanding relative motion, now known as the “Special Theory of Relativity” and 10 years later, the “General Theory of Relativity.” which resulted in a new insight to understand gravity. He is also a contributor to the just emerging theory now known as Quantum Mechanics.
Although our understanding of the all around us was increasing at a greater and greater pace there were still some results in the atomic world that just defied explanations. In the 1920’s a new theory was advanced via a series of experiments that were promoted that did explain those results. But that explanation, which became known as Quantum Mechanics proposed an atomic world so very different from our macro-world we still puzzle over what that theory describes about that tiny world. Quantum Mechanics proposes that atomic particles like electrons, photons, etc. really exist in several positions at the same time. And furthermore, those positions can be known only by calculable probabilities of where they are in that world. An equation was developed in those years which provided calculations for the probabilities which is now known as Schrödinger’ s wave equation. Although Quantum Mechanics turns out to be the most successful theory in physics today, a major problem remains. That is how to integrate Quantum Mechanics, a probability theory proclaiming that atomic particles lie in a ethereal, multi-positional state, with our substantial, stable and real macro-world where all we see is stable and not “maybe this, or maybe that”. This concern is now labeled as the “Collapse of the Wave Equation” - i.e., how does that probabilistic atomic world become our solid world?
Although our understanding of the all around us was increasing at a greater and greater pace there were still some results in the atomic world that just defied explanations. In the 1920’s a new theory was advanced via a series of experiments that were promoted that did explain those results. But that explanation, which became known as Quantum Mechanics proposed an atomic world so very different from our macro-world we still puzzle over what that theory describes about that tiny world. Quantum Mechanics proposes that atomic particles like electrons, photons, etc. really exist in several positions at the same time. And furthermore, those positions can be known only by calculable probabilities of where they are in that world. An equation was developed in those years which provided calculations for the probabilities which is now known as Schrödinger’ s wave equation. Although Quantum Mechanics turns out to be the most successful theory in physics today, a major problem remains. That is how to integrate Quantum Mechanics, a probability theory proclaiming that atomic particles lie in a ethereal, multi-positional state, with our substantial, stable and real macro-world where all we see is stable and not “maybe this, or maybe that”. This concern is now labeled as the “Collapse of the Wave Equation” - i.e., how does that probabilistic atomic world become our solid world?
