麻豆传媒

鈥淒EATH is an essential element in the progress of science,鈥� Simon Singh writes, 鈥渟ince it takes care of conservative scientists of a previous generation reluctant to let go of an old, fallacious theory and embrace a new and accurate one.鈥� Which is good for the reader, because the history of big bang theory is peppered with animosity, arrogance, harsh debates and unexpected triumphs.

Drafting a scientific version of the book of Genesis is one of the major accomplishments of 20th-century astronomy. An eternal, never-changing universe is suddenly transformed into a young, evolving cosmos that began with a big bang. Little wonder it took decades before mainstream scientists embraced this theory.

In fact, the 1992 results of NASA鈥檚 Cosmic Background Explorer were heralded as the final endorsement of the model, 65 years after the Belgian priest and cosmologist Georges Lema卯tre first introduced his idea of the 鈥減rimeval atom鈥�.

In his highly readable book Big Bang, Simon Singh races through the history of the search for a scientific creation theory, starting off with the ancient Greeks and making pit stops at pivotal events such as the victory of the sun-centred universe, the determination of the speed of light and the discovery of the true extragalactic nature of spiral nebulae. Throughout the book, Singh鈥檚 message is clear: uncovering scientific truth is a laborious process and scientists are a conservative lot. Death, it seems, has its uses.

鈥淭he history of big bang theory is peppered with animosity and arrogance鈥�

Singh brings the colourful protagonists in his story to life in countless anecdotes, some of which were new to me. But I do think it鈥檚 a pity that Singh鈥檚 finish line is in 1992 with that NASA project. There have been major developments in cosmology in the past 12 years, including the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe. Singh mentions these and other discoveries only in the book鈥檚 epilogue.

And after reading about the numerous fallacious theories of the past, which crumbled only after their proponents died, you are left wondering why Singh presents the big bang as the ultimate truth. After all, as Russian physicist Lev Landau is quoted in the book as saying: 鈥淐osmologists are often in error, but never in doubt.鈥�