1 Section Three/Crowe/Expanding Universe Some Comments on the Religious Issues Associated with the Expanding Universe Theory (Michael J. Crowe)

It turns out that there are serious religious issues regarding the Expanding Universe Theory as well as major historical issues, which are somewhat related to the religious issues. Both areas are quite complex and in the present context can be treated only in a sketchy manner. The chief historical issue is that although one can read in many sources, including some recent materials on the history of the Expanding Universe Theory (hereafter EUT), that the person deserving credit for this discovery was Edwin Hubble, recent historical research has conclusively shown that Hubble should not be so credited; in fact, Hubble was quite hesitant to accept the EUT. It is true that he contributed importantly to the evidence for EUT, but his work was on the empirical level. It is true that he put together the formula linking the distance of spirals with their recessional velocities, but this is not the same thing as the expansion of the universe.1 Part of Hubble’s hesitation regarding EUT was that philosophically, he was very much an empiricist. For example, he claimed in a book he published in 1936 (his Realm of the Nebulae) that the history of modern astronomy is the history of the great telescopes. Various other astronomers were also skeptical of EUT. One such astronomer was Fred Hoyle, an eminent English cosmologist who championed a rival theory, the steady state theory, which held that the universe has always existed. In 1949, Hoyle commented concerning the two theories: “On scientific grounds this big bang assumption is much the less palatable of the two. For it is an irrational process that cannot be explained in scientific terms.” 2 Hoyle’s statement is memorable in another way: note the derisive way in which Hoyle refers to EUT as a “big bang” assumption. This is the origin of that name for the EUT. Hoyle was a well-known atheist, who was distressed that EUT could be seen as pointing to the idea that the universe is not eternal, but rather began at a specific time, which seemed to agree with the Christian notion that God had created the universe at a particular time. Some astronomers in the period around 1930 were aware of the existence of a young Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître, who in 1927, 1930, and 1931 had published relevant papers. In fact, these papers are now recognized as the first presentation of the EUT. The author’s full name is Abbé Georges Lemaître and as

1 Helge Kragh and Robert Smith, “Who Discovered the Expanding Universe?” History of Science, 41 (2003), 143–44. 2 As quoted in Owen Gingerich, “The Steady-State, Big Bang and Religion,” which is available on the internet at http://www.counterbalance.org/cq-ging/ssbbrel-frame.html, viewed 5 Nov. 2015. 2 his title implies he was a Catholic priest who taught astronomy at the Louvain University in Belgum. Lemaître himself was very cautious about making comments in the religion area. A person not so cautious was Pope Pius XII, who in an address in 1951 asserted regarding astronomy: “Thus, with the concreteness which is characteristic of physical proofs, it has confirmed the contingency of the universe and also the well-founded deduction as to the epoch when the world came forth from the hands of the Creator. Hence, creation took place. We say: therefore, there is a Creator. Therefore, God exists!”3 Lemaître, who was still alive at this time—in fact, he was the president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences—was distressed by seeing his theory used in this way. One of the reasons for this was that a substantial number of scientists were as yet skeptical of the EUT. Gradually, however, the EUT theory gained sufficient support that by around 1970 nearly all astronomers accepted it. In the late 1970’s, the astronomer Robert Jastrow pointed to the irony of the situation. In his book titled God and the Astronomers, Jastrow commented:

At this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.4

Jastrow’s statement may be unnecessarily strong, but it is not too much to say that because of all the evidence supporting the EUT, Christian authors need not fear criticism from atheists claiming that science indicates that the universe is eternal. What happened in regard to the historical issue of whether Hubble or Lemaître deserved most of the credit is that around 1980, various historians of astronomy began to investigate the history of the EUT. Among the key figures were Robert Smith, Helge Kragh, and Norriss Hetherington. These researches showed conclusively that the person who chiefly deserves credit for EUT was Georges Lemaître. One still encounters persons speaking of Hubble as the creator, but the evidence overwhelmingly points to the centrality of this Belgian priest- astronomer. Part of his achievement was that he had learned about the observational work done by such astronomers as Vesto Slipher and also knew of the highly mathematical studies of such physicists as Einstein and Eddington.

3 Helge Kragh, Matter and Spirit in the Universe: Scientific and Religious Preludes to Modern Cosmology (London: Imperial College Press, 2004), p. 150. 4 As quoted in Owen Gingerich, “The Steady-State, Big Bang and Religion,” which is available on the internet at http://www.counterbalance.org/cq-ging/ssbbrel-frame.html, viewed 5 Nov. 2015. . 3 Section Four/Crowe/Expanding Universe Some Bibliography for Classes on the Expanding Universe Theory

Publications: Bartusiak, Marcia, The Day We Found the Universe (New York: Pantheon Books, c2009). Contains a sixteen-page bibliography of publications on this topic. Crowe, Michael J., Modern Theories of the Universe from Herschel to Hubble (New York: Dover, 1994), xii + 435 pp. Farrell, John, The Day without Yesterday: Lemaître, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology (New York: Thunder Mouth Press, 2005). Gingerich, Owen. “The Steady-State, Big Bang and Religion,” which is available on the internet at http://www.counterbalance.org/cq-ging/ssbbrel-frame.html, viewed 5 Nov. 2015. Hetherington, Norriss S. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical, and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology (New York: Garland, 1993). Holder, Rodney, and Simon Mitton (eds.), Georges Lemaître: Life, Science and Legacy (Astrophysics and Space Science Library) [Hardcover] (Springer, 2013). Contains twelve essays by various authors, including the editors on Lemaître and his ideas. Kaiser, David, “The Other Evolution Wars: Creationists Have Long Battled with Geologists and Biologists, but They Have Only Lately Taken on Physicists and Cosmologists,” American Scientist, 95:6 (2007). 518+. This interesting essay can also be found on the web by searching the title. Kragh, Helge, Cosmology and Controversy: The Historical Development of Two Theories of the Universe (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1996). Kragh, Helge, “Big Bang Cosmology,” Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical, and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology, ed. by Norriss Hetherington (New York: Garland, 1993), 31–42. Kragh, Helge, and Robert Smith, “Who Discovered the Expanding Universe?” History of Science, 41 (2003), 141–62. Kragh, Helge, Matter and Spirit in the Universe: Scientific and Religious Preludes to Modern Cosmology (London: Imperial College Press, 2004). Lemaître, Georges, “Un Univers homogène de masse constante et de rayon croissant rendant compte de la vitesse radiale des nébuleuses extra-galactiques,” Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles, 47 (1927): 49–59. Lemaître, Georges, “A Homogeneous Universe of Constant Mass and Growing Radius Accounting for the Radial Velocity of Extragalactic Nebulae.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 91 (1931): 483–490. Lemaître, G., “The Beginning of the World from the Point of View of Quantum Theory,” Nature. 127 (1931): 706. Nussbaumer, Harry, and Lydia Bieri, Discovering the Expanding Universe (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009). Smith, Robert W., The Expanding Universe: Astronomy’s ‘Great Debate’ (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1982). Way, Michael J., and Deidre Hunter (eds.), Origins of the Expanding Universe: 1912-1932, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 471 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2013). Unsure of the correctness of this reference. See http://www.aspbooks.org/a/volumes/table_of_contents/?book_id=538

4 Some Internet Resources: 1) A very well illustrated presentation of the history of Expanding Universe Theory is included in a 1.5 hr. show called “Beyond the Big Bang.” It can be accessed on the internet at https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF- 8#q=%22Beyond+the+Big+Bang%22 It is also available in Series One of the excellent History Channel series known as the Universe (Series One). Watch approximately the last half of this 1.5 hour show. Good libraries will have this. The most relevant section is section 8: “Expanding Universe.” It is situated from around the 48th to the 57th minute. 2) The American Institute of Physics has created a carefully done and well-illustrated series on the history of astronomy. Go to https://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ and through that site visit especially https://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ideas/island.htm https://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ideas/expanding.htm https://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ideas/bigbang.htm These are well illustrated and thoroughly trustworthy sites providing good historical discussions of the ideas: Island Universes, Expanding Universe, and the debate between the expanding universe and the steady state theory. 3) For a reliable history (it is somewhat compressed) of our universe from the big bang to the twenty-first century, visit “History of the World in Two Hours” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UttCONzjhiM. In my judgment this is the most richly informative video ever made. 4) “Georges Lemaître” article in Wikipedia. Viewed 33 November 2015. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lemaître. This is a useful article, but should be viewed critically, not least because it is anonymous and can change at any time. 5) See the Wikipedia articles titled “Big Bang” and also “Religious interpretations of the Big Bang Theory.”