JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE KEEPS DISCOVERING THE UNEXPLAINED IN THE CREATION OF GALAXIES. 4/4: Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate, by Paul Halpern

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🗓️ 11 May 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

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JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE KEEPS DISCOVERING THE UNEXPLAINED IN THE CREATION OF GALAXIES. 4/4: Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate, by Paul Halpern

1897 WISCONSIN

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PV5CLZQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

A respected physics professor and author breaks down the great debate over the Big Bang and the continuing quest to understand the fate of the universe. Today, the Big Bang is so entrenched in our understanding of the cosmos that to doubt it would seem crazy. But as Paul Halpern shows in Flashes of Creation, just decades ago its mere mention caused sparks to fly. At the center of the debate were the Russian-American physicist George Gamow and the British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. Gamow insisted that a fiery explosion explained how the elements of the universe were created. Attacking the idea as half-baked, Hoyle countered that the universe was engaged in a never-ending process of creation. The battle was fierce. In the end, Gamow turned out to be right—mostly—and Hoyle, along with his many achievements, is remembered for giving the theory the silliest possible name: "the Big Bang." Halpern captures the brilliance of both thinkers and reminds us that even those proven wrong have much to teach us about boldness, imagination, and the universe, itself.

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0:00.0	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front. Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be
0:06.9	wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you
0:13.8	to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching their peak in the afternoon.
0:21.2	Not in the mood for miserable weather?
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0:26.3	Sun Express, non-stop sunshine.
0:34.5	This is CBS in the world.
0:36.5	I'm John Batchel with Professor Paul Halpern. His new book is Flashes of Creation, George Gamoff, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang debate. We've now found evidence of the Big Bang, or the big squeeze, or the creation moment. We also have better and better understanding of how long ago it happened, 13.8.
0:56.7	The temperature of the cosmos turns out to be, I believe, three degrees, Calvin. Is that correct,
1:02.2	Paul? Three? Yeah, more precisely, about 2.73 degrees, Calvin, but three was about what they came up
1:09.3	with at that time. And we follow Gamma first because he's older and his health becomes a challenge to him
1:17.3	in the 1960s. He will die in 1968. He's a smoker and he has troubles with alcohol. However,
1:25.7	before he passes away, he recognizes that his work has contributed
1:30.8	to these discoveries. Is that correct, Paul? Oh, yes. He started writing to people. He wrote to
1:38.8	Peebles. He wrote to Dickie. And his student, Ralph Alfer, also was writing continuously to them to try to get the record straight.
1:47.1	Because some of the calculations that were done by the Dickie and People's Group
1:52.0	essentially reproduced some of the work that Alfer under the tutelage of Gamoff had done in the 1940s.
2:01.1	So they were trying to bring attention to their earlier papers.
2:05.1	And at one point, Gamov went to a conference in New York, and at the conference, he made
2:12.4	a statement, if you lose a penny and then you later find a penny, it's still the same penny, the same with
2:19.6	my theories. Yes, it's a wonderful metaphor. I liked him for it. Now, Fred Hoyle,
2:24.5	Fred Hoyle works with husband and wife, Margaret and Jeffrey Burbridge and Wilson Fowler.
	...

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