The only
non-controversial thing to say about the combination of science and religion is
that it's controversial. But if you look at Georges Lemaître, you can see that
the two don't have to be sworn enemies. Never heard of him? Many people
haven't, but a certain guy named Albert Einstein was a big fan.

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Georges
Lemaître, born in Charleroi, Belgium in 1894, was a busy man in the early 20th
century. After he was awarded a Belgian War Cross as an army officer in World
War I, he earned degrees in math and philosophy at the Catholic University of
Leuven. Soon after that, he was ordained as a priest. Ever the scientist, he
was given permission to study at prestigious Harvard Observatory while, at the
same time, earning his Ph.D in physics from MIT. How's that for a résumé?
In 1927,
Lemaître cooked up the revolutionary theory that still impacts how we view our
universe today. His article entitled "A Homogeneous Universe of Constant
Mass and Increasing Radius accounting for the Radial Velocity of Extra Galactic
Nebulae" stated that the universe is expanding. After this groundbreaking
paper was published, Lemaître realized he may have missed something. If the
universe is always expanding, when and how did all that begin? Boom, baby —
literally. He planted the seeds for the Big Bang Theory in a May 9, 1931 letter to Nature.
The idea he
hatched in that letter would late make its way into a collection of essays
written by Lemaître. In it, he calls the beginning of the universe "now
without yesterday," more popularly known as "the day without
yesterday." After a few more scientists pitched in to beef up the idea, it
became the Big Bang Theory.
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At this
point, you're probably scratching your head wondering how this guy's name isn't
common knowledge. The only explanation is that there was simply a rain cloud
hovering over Lemaître's head. Sheer bad luck. Let us explain...
That
groundbreaking 1927 paper that stated the universe is continuously expanding?
Though it was undoubtedly Nobel Prize-worthy, astronomy was not yet considered
a part of physics, which made this astronomer's work ineligible for the award.
Okay, so he
didn't win the Nobel. But maybe he at least got some credit? Nah, you can find
that in Edwin Hubble's name. Though Lemaître did all the math, Hubble got the
credit for providing the observational basis for the things Lemaître crunched
numbers on. The things we owe to Lemaître include what's now known as Hubble's
Law and Hubble's Constant, as well as the idea that the universe is expanding.
Surely the
Big Bang thing was a big deal at the time, right? Yes and no; it was met with a
lot of criticism because, well, science and religion tend to butt heads. The
scientific community was hesitant to go with an origin story that came from a
priest. In 1952, Pope Pious XII proclaimed Lemaître's work was proof of a
creator. Lemaître didn't agree with this interpretation, arguing with the Pope
to pipe it down. But perhaps it was too little, too late for the scientific
community of the time.
At least
Einstein knew there was something to this guy. After Lemaître described his
theories in January 1933 at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
Einstein declared, "This is the most beautiful and satisfactory
explanation of creation to which I ever listened."
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