Life is Precious.......

Most of the theories in modern science about the origin of the universe are based on the concept of the Big Bang and its variations. The theory was first conceived in 1927 by a Belgian priest called Georges Lemaitre. The basic idea of the Big Bang is that the entire universe exploded from a state of infinite density, temperature and pressure at extremely high-energy levels. Subsequently, the universe expanded and cooled. The supporters of the Big Bang model explain that at some stage of the expansion different sub-atomic particles became manifest. Thereafter light elements such as hydrogen and helium were formed followed by the heavy elements. With the formation of the elements, no free electrons were left to scatter photons of light and the universe became transparent to radiation, which we observe today as the steady-state theory, the oscillating universe etc.
Although the Big Bang is at present, the most accepted scientific theory regarding the origin of the universe, several serious unanswered questions need to be addressed. What existed before the Big Bang? Were there laws of physics and space-time before the Big Bang? When, how and will our universe come to an end? There are no conclusive answers only more questions.
It is doubtful whether the present knowledge of cosmology will provide any answers to these questions. For example, how did the Big Bang lead to the formation of structures like galaxies? What is the nature of the distribution of matter within the galaxies and in between galaxies? What is the source of the dark unseen matter and what is it made of? The field of cosmology is still quite open. According to many modern cosmologists, the Big Bang marks the moment at which the universe began and when space and time came into existence. They also deduced a history of the universe dating back to just 10-43 second after the Big Bang. However physicists also know that for a small duration of 10-43 second after the Big Bang, classical (deterministic) laws cannot be used to describe the origin of the universe. It has to be described within the framework of quantum mechanics. Thus a suitable unified theory of gravity or simply quantum gravity is needed to describe the origin. However till today there is no satisfactory theory of quantum gravity. A description of the complete theory is still lacking.
Stephen Hawking says, “May be it is not possible to formulate the theory of the universe in a finite number of statements…..we and our models, are both part of the universe we are describing. Thus a physical theory, is self referencing like in Godel’s theorem. One might, therefore, expect it to be either inconsistent or incomplete. The theories we have so far are both inconsistent and incomplete”.

Purushottam Kumar
Pune,India