Einstein was clueless on cosmology.
Welcome to “Dumb Ideas that Changed the World.” The views expressed are solely those of the host and do not reflect the opinions of this station or its funders.
Over the past 500 years the scientific method has spurred huge gains for humanity. Scientists engage in research to test theories, which advance knowledge. It’s a beautiful system. But one long-respected theory turned out to be a dud.
Renaissance astronomer Thomas Diggs observed that we live in a “static universe,” one that has existed forever in a steady state. Theologians didn’t like it but science is based on facts, not received wisdom. The static universe was accepted for centuries by leading scientists including Albert Einstein. The only problem was that his new theory of relativity meant the math didn’t reconcile. He concluded that relativity-theory needed to account for the static universe so he added the “cosmological constant.” This complex formula made everything copacetic. No problem, right?
Except that American astronomer Edwin Hubble observed that most stars are moving away from Earth, and the farther away the faster they go: this is the red-shift phenomenon. Cosmologist and Catholic priest Georges Lemaître seized on Hubble’s discovery. With the universe flying apart, we can rewind the movie back in time where everything gets incredibly hot and dense: a beginning of space and time. Lemaître called it “the cosmic atom,” known today as the big bang theory.
Einstein was incredulous, blasting Lemaître’s idea as “abominable.” No way could the universe have a beginning. If only he’d trusted his own theory. When later faced with the totality of evidence supporting Lemaître, Einstein called the cosmological constant his “greatest blunder.” It certainly opens up a big, metaphysical can of worms.
In the “Big Bang theory” all mass in the universe began 13.8 billion years ago in a space as small as a soccer ball—the singularity. It turns out Einstein was wrong. The priest was right.
I’m Jeff Gentry
Best reference:
Shah, P., Lemos, P., & Lahav, O. (2021). A buyer’s guide to the Hubble constant. Astronomy & Astrophysics Review, 29(1), 1–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00159-021-00137-4
Dumb Ideas that Changed the World copyright 2023 by Jeff Gentry. All rights reserved.
