The Blog

So far we have given solid scientific evidence for the fact that the universe had a beginning. But suppose scientists wake up one day and find out all their calculations have been wrong—there was no Big Bang.

Given the wide scope of the evidence and the ability of the theory to correctly predict such fascinating phenomena, a total abandonment of the Big Bang would be unlikely.

Victor Stenger, a physicist who taught at the University of Hawaii, once wrote that “the universe exploded out of nothingness.” He acknowledges that the Big Bang is looking more probable all the time: “we have to leave open the possibility that the Big Bang could be wrong, but every year that goes by, and more astronomical data comes in, it is more and more consistent with at least the general Big Bang picture.”

Nevertheless, let’s play skeptic advocate for a second. Let’s suppose that at some point in the future the Big Bang is deemed wrong.

Would that mean that the universe is eternal?

Absolutely not, for a number of reasons:

1. The Second Law of Thermodynamics supports the Big Bang but is not dependent on it. The fact that universe is running out of usable energy and heading toward entropy or disorder is not up for debate. In Eddington’s words, the Second Law “holds the supreme position among the laws of nature.” It is true even if the Big Bang is not.
2. The same can be said regarding Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. This theory, well verified by observation, requires a beginning to time, space, and matter whether it not it begins with a bang.
3. There is scientific evidence from geology that the universe had a beginning. Radioactive elements decay overtime into other elements. For example, radioactive uranium eventually turns into lead. This meas that if all the uranium atoms were infinitely old, they would all be lead right now, but they are not. So the earth cannot be infinitely old.

Even acting as skeptic’s advocate, the laws of nature direct us to the reasonable conclusion that the universe had a beginning. This fact is simply irrefutable.

How do we prove that time had a beginning?