Theories that explain

the Origin of the

Universe
A. Big Bang Theory

George Lemaître
-Belgian astronomer and
cosmologist who formulated the
modern big-bang theory, which
holds that the universe began in
a cataclysmic explosion of a
small, primeval “super-atom.”
v-According to Big Bang Theory, our universe sprang into
existence as "singularity“, it was very small and very hot,
and then it expanded over time until it reached its peak
around 13.7 billion years ago.

-Cosmic Microwave
Background (CMB) –
a thermal radiation
used in observational
cosmology because it
is considered the
oldest light in the
universe.
Major Evidences which supports the Big Bang Theory

1. Galaxies appear to be moving away from us at speeds

proportional to their distance called the "Hubble's Law“.
This observation supports the expansion of the universe
and suggests that the universe was once compacted.

2. In 1965, Radioastronomers Arno Penzias and Robert

Wilson discovered a 2.725 degree Kelvin (-454.765
degree Fahrenheit, -270.425 degree Celsius) Cosmic
Microwave Background radiation (CMB) which pervades
the observable universe.
3. The abundance of the "light elements" Hydrogen and
Helium found in the observable universe are thought to
support the Big Bang model of origins.
B. Cosmic Inflation Theory

-an American theoretical

physicist and cosmologist.
Guth has
researched elementary
particle theory (and how
particle theory is applicable to
the early universe). He is Victor
Weisskopf Professor of
Physics in the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.

Alan Harvey Guth

 -According to this theory, the early universe was a rapidly
expanding bubble of pure vacuum energy.

-After the expansion and cooling arising from this

inflation, the potential energy converted into kinetic
energy of matter and radiation. Then, a big bang
occurred because of the extremely hot, dense
condition of matter.
-The first direct evidence of the Cosmic Inflation
Theory is the B-mode Polarization Signal.
C. Steady State Theory

James Jean
-The Steady State Theory states that the universe is
always expanding. It also states that new matter is
constantly formed as the universe continues to expand.
 Other theories

a. Cyclical or Oscillating Universe

It correlates with the model of an expanding

universe and is based on the general relativity
equations for a universe with positive curvature
(spherical space), which results in the universe Alexander Friedmann
expanding for a time and then contracting due
to the pull of its gravity, in a perpetual cycle of
a Big Bang followed by a Big Crunch. This is then
followed by a new cycle of existence.
b. Anaxagorian Universe
The 5th Century B.C. Greek philosopher
Anaxagoras believed that the original
state of the cosmos was a primordial
mixture of all its ingredients which existed
in infinitesimally small fragments of
themselves. This mixture was not entirely Anaxagoras
uniform, and some ingredients were
present in higher concentrations than others, as well as varying
from place to place. At some point in time, this mixture was set
in motion by the action of “nous” (mind), and the whirling
motion shifted and separated out the ingredients, ultimately
producing the cosmos of separate material objects, all with
different properties, that we see today.
c. Atomist Universe
It sates that the universe was
composed of very small,
indivisible and indestructible
building blocks known
as atoms (from the Greek
“atomos”, meaning “uncuttable”).
All of reality and all the objects in
Leucippus
the universe are composed of
different arrangements of these
eternal atoms and an infinite
void, in which they form different
combinations and shapes.

Democritus
d. Aristotelian Universe

Aristotle
-a geocentric universe in which the fixed, spherical Earth
is at the center, surrounded by concentric celestial
spheres of planets and stars. Although he believed
the universe to be finite in size, he stressed that it exists
unchanged and static throughout eternity.
e. Stoic Universe

-In the Stoic view, the universe is like a giant Zeno

living body, with its leading part being
the stars and the Sun, but in which all parts are
interconnected, so that what happens in one
place affects what happens elsewhere.
f. Heliocentric Universe

Aristarchus
the first to present an explicit argument for a heliocentric
model of the Solar System, placing the Sun, not the Earth, at
the center of the known universe. He described the Earth as
rotating daily on its axis and revolving annually about the Sun
in a circular orbit, along with a sphere of fixedstars.
g. Ptolemaic Universe

a geocentric model largely based on

Aristotelian ideas, in which the
planets and the rest of
the universe orbit about a stationary
Earth in circular epicycles. In terms
Cladius Ptolemy of longevity, it was perhaps the most
successful cosmological model of all
time.
g. Copernicus Universe
-His publication of a scientific theory of heliocentrism,
demonstrating that the motions of celestial objects can be
explained without putting the Earth at rest in the center of
the universe, stimulated further scientific investigations and
became a landmark in the history of modern science,
sometimes known as the Copernican Revolution.

Nicolaus Copernicus
h. Multiverse Theory
-developed the inflationary universe idea
further in 1983 with his
chaotic inflation theory (or eternal inflation),
which sees our universe as just one of
many “bubbles” that grew as part of
a multiverse owing to a vacuum that had
not decayed to its ground state.
Andrei Linde
Quiz