Big Bang Theory Project

Big Bang Theory Project

By: Ashley Walters

Big Bang Theory - our current and most accepted theory explaining the beginning of the universe. It explains how the universe began with a small singularity and expanded to what we know today and it also heavily relied on due to the math and physical evidence to support it.

Einstein's Laws of gravitation

The Big Bang Theory was initially suggested by Georges LeMaitre in the 1920s. He studied Einstein's laws of gravitation and deduced that if these laws were in fact true, that would mean that the universe is expanding in all directions and has been for the past 13.8 billion years.

(Georges LeMaitre) (Albert Einstein)

Vesto Slipher's Red Shift

Astronomer Vesto Slipher examined the light from spiral galaxies that could be split onto a color spectrum and realized that light sources moving away would shift into the red part of the spectrum. He concluded that nearly all have been moving away from Earth. This provided solid evidence to back up the theory of an expanding universe.

(Vesto Slipher)

HUBBLE'S DISTANCE CALCULATIONS

Using Hentrietta Leavitt's period-luminosity scale alongside other tools, Edwin Hubble was able to calculate the distance between 23 galaxies and Earth with distances up to 20 million lightyears away. This calculation was found to be directly proportional with Slipher's Red Shift which strongly supported strong physical evidence of an expanding universe and ultimately the Big Bang theory.

(Edwin Hubble)

Fun Fact: Contrary to popular belief, the expansion of the universe is like an inflating balloon rather than an explosion.