Back to the beginning
The big bang wins
Hoyle and other scientists fervently pursued alternative explanations to a one-time origin of the universe. Eventually, however, the evidence showed clearly that the universe had a beginning, and the big bang theory was proclaimed victorious. Ironically, it was evidence from Hoyle’s own research that helped confirm that the universe had a one-time beginning.
Today most cosmologists and physicists accept the big bang theory as the scientific explanation of how our universe began. In fact, scientists believe they can trace the history of the universe all the way back to 10-43 of a second. At that point all of the laws of nature break down and science can see no further back. The very beginning of the universe remains a mystery.
Imagine rewinding the universe back to its beginning, a time when there were no stars. No light, matter, or energy. Not even space or time. Suddenly an enormous explosion erupted from this nothingness at a temperature exceeding a million trillion trillion degrees.25
Immediately time began. Then matter, energy, and space began taking form.
When a bomb ejects shrapnel into the air, both the bomb material and the space it blows into have already been there. However, in the beginning of the universe, neither space nor matter existed until the explosion. The space surface of the universe and the newly created matter expanded from an infinitely compressed point of nothingness.
According to the big bang theory, this explosion launched the entire universe, from the most distant galaxy, to the most colorful nebula, to quasars flashing like beacons, to our own comforting sun and nearby planets, to you and me with our questions about where we came from and what it all means. With such a product, the beginning—and the cause of that beginning—must be fascinating to each one of us.
The verdict is in on the question of whether the universe is eternal or had a beginning. The idea that everything in the cosmos originated from nothing seems mythical, yet it is now mainstream science.
Is the Designer an absentee parent?
The big bang theory has reopened the possibility that the universe was created by an intelligent Designer. But if so, has that Designer remained involved with the universe? Two discoveries, quantum mechanics and string theory, suggest the answer could be yes.
In 1925, Werner Heisenberg shocked the scientific community by showing that the subatomic world is unpredictable. In fact, it behaves unlike anything scientists had ever imagined and seems to betray common sense. This marked the start of the branch of physics known as quantum mechanics, which is the study of the behavior of microscopic particles. (A “quantum,” in physicspeak, is the smallest amount of any quantity, such as particles like electrons, quarks, and photons.)
What has fascinated scientists is that particles such as electrons, quarks, and photons can appear from nowhere and disappear just as quickly. No one knows why.
Furthermore, a quantum can exist as a wave function until it is observed. When the quantum is observed, it immediately becomes a particle with a fixed position. Why does this happen? Again, scientists don’t have a clue.
Quantum mechanics has fueled speculation that a Designer could operate within the cosmos without violating its laws. For example, in a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling, a particle can move through a barrier without altering the barrier’s structure. Theoretically, the same might be possible for an object or person. Thus, phenomena such as walking untouched through walls—previously thought to be a violation of the laws of physics—are possible.
Physicists have been perplexed at the seeming contradiction of quantum mechanics and relativity, yet they are convinced that there must be some undiscovered unifying principle. A newer concept in theoretical physics, known as string theory, may solve the riddle of how these bedrock theories are able to coexist in the cosmos.
String theory likens the behavior of particles to tiny vibrating strings. Different vibrations create different behaviors for particles just as different vibrations on a violin or piano string can alter pitch. Among other things, string theory tells us that at the big bang at least six additional dimensions were created along with the four we observe (length, height, width, and time). These additional dimensions are beyond our ability to see or measure.
The implications of string theory on our perception of reality are mind-boggling and require thinking differently about the universe and what is possible. If we could access other dimensions, the following “impossibilities” would suddenly be possible:
1. Walking through objects, such as walls
2. Performing surgery without cutting the skin
3. Instant teleportation from one location to another
4. New mathematical possibilities (for example, 1 = 3)
No one can prove all these other dimensions exist, but mounting evidence suggests they may. And just like quantum mechanics, they open the possibility of a Designer acting in a seemingly miraculous way in the universe without our being able to detect it.
Taken together, the radical implications of quantum mechanics and the other-dimensionality of string theory force us to face the possibility that our universe was not only made but is also being sustained and cared for. In that case, the Designer could be less like a mother who abandons her newborn and more like a mom who stays with and raises her child.
Notes
1. Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe (New York: Vintage, 2000), 81-82.
2. George Smoot and Keay Davidson,Wrinkles in Time (New York: Avon, 1993), 36.
3. Greene, 81-82.
4. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1990), 38-51.
5. Greene, 83.
6. Hawking, 39.
7. Smoot, 80-83.
8. Ibid., 187.
9. Ibid., 240.
10. Ibid., 241.
11. Associated Press, “U.S. Scientists Find a ‘Holy Grail’: Ripples at the Edge of the Universe,” International Herald Tribune (London), April 24, 1992, 1.
12. Thomas H. Maugh II, “Relics of ‘Big Bang’ Seen for First Time,” Los Angeles Times, April 1992, A1, A30.
13. Nightline with Ted Koppel, ABC, April 25, 1992.
14. Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos, 3rd ed. (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2001), 224.
15. Roger Penrose, Shadows of the Mind (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 230.
16. E. M. Leitch et al., “Measurement of Polarization with the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer,” Nature 420 (2002): 772-87; J. M. Kovac et al., “Detection of Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background Using DASI,” Nature 420 (2002): 772-87; Matias Zalarriaga, “Background Comes to the Fore,” Nature 420 (2002): 747-48.
17. Gregg Easterbrook, “Before the Big Bang,” U.S. News & World Report special edition, 2003, 16.
18. Hugh Ross, “Big Bang Passes Test,” Connections, Qtr 2, 2003.
19. Paul Recer, “Newest Space Telescope: The Spitzer,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, December 19, 2003, A17.
20. Smoot, 291.
21. Ibid., 30.
22. Ibid., 17.
23. Ibid., 291.
24. Stephen Hawking, ed., Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time: A Reader’s Companion (New York: Bantam, 1992), 63.
25. Bradford A. Smith, “New Eyes on the Universe,” National Geographic, January 1994, 33.
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