Matt O’Dowd, Marika Taylor, and Martín López-Corredoira discuss possible issues around the Big Bang theory.
What if our current model for the origin of the universe is wrong? Are there alternative theories for how our universe came into being?
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Initial evidence for the Big Bang came in the 1930s when the universe was found to be expanding with observation of a red shift in light from distant galaxies. But the clinching evidence was the discovery in the 1960s of a faint background level of radiation wherever we looked in the universe. Cosmologists argued this background radiation was the residual radiation from the Big Bang. But now the story is looking less straightforward and more unknown. Firstly, we found the universe is not just moving but accelerating away from us undermining the redshift as proof of the Big Bang. Meanwhile, the cosmic background radiation, or CMB, requires many ad hoc additions to account for its distribution. Moreover, recent findings from the James Webb telescope have found discrepancies with Big Bang predictions for the universe.
Might Cosmic Background Radiation turn out not to be a relic of the Big Bang at all? In combination with the puzzle of the accelerating universe is it possible that the whole current cosmological model and the Big Bang theory itself might be at risk? Or does Big Bang work so well that it would be a mistake to contemplate radical alternatives?
#bigbang #astrophysics #cosmology
Martín López Corredoira is an astrophysicist and philosopher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Tenerife, Spain. Marika Taylor is a Professor of Theoretical Physics, Pro-Vice Chancellor, and Head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Birmingham. She previously studied under Stephen Hawking at Cambridge. Matt O’Dowd is a renowned professor of astrophysics and host and writer of the biggest physics and space show on YouTube, PBS Space Time. Hosted by Bjørn Ekeberg.
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00:00 Introduction
00:18 Is there room for scepticism around the Big Bang Theory?
00:28 Matt O’Dowd
02:32 Marika Taylor
04:15 Martín López-Corredoira
07:58 Matt O’Dowd’s rebuttal
09:06 Martín López-Corredoira’s response
11:03 Marika Taylor’s final thoughts
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