How did the Universe begin, and how did it get to be the way it is today?
Back in the 1920s, we discovered the galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. By the 1930s, we had realized the Universe was expanding. The Big Bang was formulated as a scientific theory in the 1940s, and overwhelming evidence supporting it came in by the 1960s.
However, if you think “the Big Bang” is how the Universe got its start, congratulations: you’re only 45 years out of date!
Learn how we discovered the Big Bang and the evidence for our new origin story: Cosmic Inflation. We’ll step back in time as far as we can go: before the Big Bang, and say as much as we can say about our ultimate cosmic origins while still remaining tethered to reality. We’ll also look at the current and (planned) future missions that could reveal even more about the biggest questions about where we all came from.
Take a tour of the Universe as we step forward in time: from that early inflationary period to the hot, dense, expanding-and-cooling state that the Big Bang demanded all those years ago, and then up to the present day. By the end, you’ll still know the Big Bang, but you won’t call it “the beginning” anymore!
We welcome back Ethan Siegel (
https://bigthink.com/people/ethansiegel/), the PNW’s favorite astrophysicist. He spent many years as a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Portland and Lewis & Clark college, and in 2015, became a full-time and award-winning science communicator featured in places like Big Think, Medium, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American and more. He is the author of six books, the latest — the Grand Cosmic Story, published by National Geographic.
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