THE BIG BANG THEORY: CONCEPTS AND FOUNDATIONS

By ABIGAIL HERNANDEZ

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 PART I HOW WE CAME TO BELIEVE THE BIG BANG THEORY 7 1 THE FIRST COSMOLOGIES 9 2 THE BIRTH OF THE BIG BANG 37 3 THE SEARCH FOR PROOF 55 INTERLUDE POPULAR REACTIONS 81 PART II HOW GOOD A THEORY IS IT 91 4 SCIENTI C REACTIONS 93 5 GLITCHES 119 6 CURRENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH 137 7 THE EDGE OF THE UNKNOWN 159 A BIG BANG TIMELINE 175 NOTES 181