65 Years of Priestly Life. The history of a Journey 20 Atom containing everything found in the universe, exploding some 13.7 billion years ago, in a burst of fireworks. ‘’There was a chain of explosions with larger pieces breaking into smaller and smaller fragments until they were too small to permit further fragmentations. Consequently, the universe began to expand and cool down. Two forces were active in opposite directions at this time — the expansive force of explosion acting outward and the contracting force of gravitation acting inward.(‘The most recent data gathered by the European Planck’s Satellite puts it as 13.82 billion years.) 2. The Period of Equilibrium As the process of expansion proceeded, the expansive force began to wane. The gravitational force also underwent change. And a stage was reached in which both these opposing forces balanced. This situation gave rise to the period of equilibrium. 3. The Final Expansion Since the state of equilibrium involved too many variables, it could not continue for long. Any small disturbance in the system could put it out of step, and this indeed happened, giving rise to the stage of Final Expansion. According to Lemaitre, it was in this stage that galaxies and clusters of galaxies were formed, giving the final shape to our universe. Since the universe as a whole experiences an excess of expansive force over the gravitational contractive force, it continues to expand, thereby presenting a natural explanation for the observed expansion of the universe. B. Empirical Evidence for the Big Bang Although this theory had to face stiff and violent opposition from scientists, particularly from the atheistic-minded ones, because it opened the door for some divine agency to provide the Primeval Atom in the first place, it received strong support in 1964 when Arnold Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered the Three Degree Kelvin Microwave Background Radiation, considered to be the remnant from the Big Bang explosion. Since then, many more carefully obtained empirical data has further confirmed this theory, making it a scientific fact. Especially significant was the startling discovery of 1998 in Berkeley, California, which established that the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing, contrary to what many leading cosmologists, including Stephen Hawking, were expecting. This had very serious significance for Lemaitre since for him the Big Bang was a unique event in cosmic history, “A Day without Yesterday.” If the rate of expansion of the universe were to decrease gradually, then a time will come when the universe will cease to expand, and then it could reverse the process and end in a Big Crunch. This could lead to an oscillating or cyclic universe, making it no more a unique event. This has serious religious significance because if the Big Bang is a unique event without any scientific antecedent to explain the cause of the Primeval Atom, then one will have to postulate an outside non-scientific agency to explain its causation. C. Critique of the Big Bang Theory 1. Positive Support As mentioned already, the Big Bang has been receiving very valuable data of evidence regularly from the 1960s onwards. These findings have been systematically answering the different questions raised on the theory. The discovery of the Three Degree Kelvin Microwave Background Radiation has shown that the Big Bang explosion did take place, leaving this remnant radiation in the universe. According to Lemaitre, it was in this stage that galaxies and clusters of galaxies were formed, giving the final shape to our universe. Since the universe as a whole experiences an excess of expansive force..
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