Liz, One point not really correct. Penzias and Wilson had no idea what they had discovered until someone told them. They were pretty much routine engineers not first caliber physicists...
Edgar On Monday, January 27, 2014 3:51:20 PM UTC-5, Liz R wrote: > > On 27 January 2014 23:47, Quentin Anciaux <[email protected] <javascript:> > > wrote: > >> 2014-01-27 LizR <[email protected] <javascript:>> >> >> On 27 January 2014 07:58, John Clark <[email protected] <javascript:>>wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> 2) In 1947 the Double Helix hadn't been discovered yet, and 96% of the >>>> very universe itself had not been discovered, they hadn't found Dark >>>> Matter >>>> or Dark Energy; even Einstein didn't know about that. >>>> >>> >>> Dark matter was discovered in 1932; and Einstein did at least predict >>> one form of dark energy. One thing of major significance that hasn't been >>> discovered was the Big Bang, >>> >> >> That's not true, it was discovered by Georges Lemaître in 1931... but the >> name came from Hoyle later... >> >> The expansion of the universe was discovered in the 1920s (I think?) and > a primordial explosion was *theorised* by Lemaitre, but until the > discovery of the microwave background in the '60s that was only one of > several competing theories put forward to explain the cosmic expansion. The > CMB radiation (more or less) clinched it for the Big Bang, since no other > theory predicted that. (Although I believe Fred Hoyle tried to explain it > with some mechanism compatible with the Steady State, but it was too ad hoc > to be convincing to anyone else.) > > What I meant was that the Big Bang *as the only viable explanation for > the cosmic expansion* was discovered by Penzias and Wilson in the '60s. > Sorry, I should have been more precise. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
