A History of Ideas - Astronomer Carole Mundell on the Big Bang

Download Astronomer Carole Mundell on the Big Bang

What put the Bang in the Big Bang?

On the 7th of November 1919 an announcement was made to the great and good of the Royal Society. Photographs from the observations of a solar eclipse had just arrived in London. The images provided the proof of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

The astronomer, Carole Mundell explains the significance of that moment and charts the steps that led from there to the generally accepted idea of the origin of our Universe in the energetic burst of the Big Bang.

But what caused the Big Bang and what came before it? Answering one fundamental question immediately threw up the next. With the help of the mathematician, physicist and philosopher of science, Sir Roger Penrose, Carole aims to find out if those are questions mankind can ever answer.

This is part of a week of programmes examining the origins of the Universe.

Published on Wednesday, 14th January 2015.

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