As discussed in my previous post, the accidental discovery of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson would prove to be one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the early twentieth century. One of the first things it achieved was to provide confirmation of the big bang theory. The telescope… Continue reading The cosmic microwave background part II
Tag: Big Bang
The cosmic microwave background: part I
In 1964 two young American radio astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, made an accidental finding which would win them both the Nobel prize and turned out to be one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the twentieth century. The story started when Penzias and Wilson were given observing time on a large radio telescope at Bell Labs in New… Continue reading The cosmic microwave background: part I
The Steady State Theory
Updated 24 December 2025 The Steady State theory is an elegant alternative to the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe . It was very popular among astronomers in the 1950s, but is now obsolete. What is the Steady State Theory? The Big Bang theory states that the Universe originated from an incredibly… Continue reading The Steady State Theory
Dark Energy Over Time
This post continues the subject of dark energy, which, as discussed in my previous post is a mysterious form of energy which makes up about 68 per cent of the mass of the Universe and is the reason why the Universe is expanding at an ever-faster speed. This post will discuss how the percentage of dark energy changes over time… Continue reading Dark Energy Over Time
The Universe’s History: From Big Bang to Today
Updated 20 November 2025 his post covers a brief history of the Universe from the Big Bang until the the present day. This, as I am sure you'll agree, is a pretty big topic so I'll only give a outline of some of the key events and when we believed they happened. This post is… Continue reading The Universe’s History: From Big Bang to Today
Explaining Science 