Article ID: CBB348539781

Funny Origins of the Big Bang Theory (2021)

unapi

Popularization of science typically follows the lead of scientific research, conveying to lay audiences ideas and discoveries initially published in professional scientific literature and vetted by the expert community. The physicist George Gamow (1904–1968) did not respect this tradition, but promoted some of his most unorthodox scientific hypotheses as funny stories in his popular writings for non-specialists and teenagers, sometimes years before he dared to present them to the purview of academic peers in papers submitted to specialized research journals. Gamow’s proposal of the Big Bang cosmology—the theory that our universe started out in an explosive manner from a superhot and superdense state with thermonuclear reactions forming matter—was discussed by him initially in a series of non-serious articles and books, starting in 1938. Historians of cosmology recognize Gamow’s crucial contribution to the development of the Big Bang theory on the grounds of his subsequent professional publications but have not paid sufficient attention to his popular science writings and their role in changing our conception of the universe.

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Authors & Contributors
Slaughter, Aimee
Roos, J. Micah
Peebles, Phillip James Edwin
Zakariya, Nasser Basem
Wood, James Robert
Wittkower, D. E.
Concepts
Public understanding of science
Science and culture
Popular culture
Popularization
Big bang theory
Cosmology
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
19th century
18th century
Places
United States
China
Spain
Russia
Great Britain
Institutions
National Science Foundation (U.S.)
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