In cosmology, the Big Bang is the scientific theory that concerns the
early development and shape of the universe. The central idea is that
the theory of general relativity can be combined with the observations
on the largest scales of galaxies receding from each other to
extrapolate the conditions of the universe back or forward in time. A
natural consequence of the Big Bang is that in the past the universe
had a higher temperature and a higher density. The term "Big Bang" is
used both in a narrow sense to refer to a point in time when the
observed expansion of the universe (Hubble's law) began, and in a more
general sense to refer to the prevailing cosmological paradigm
explaining the origin and evolution of the universe. The term "Big
Bang" was coined in 1949 by Fred Hoyle during a BBC radio program, The
Nature of Things. Hoyle did not subscribe to the theory and intended
to mock the concept. In current physical models, the universe 13.7
billion years ago would have had the form of a gravitational
singularity, at which all time and distance measurements become
meaningless and temperatures and pressures become infinite.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1455:
Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz began printing the Gutenberg Bible.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg)
1893:
Rudolf Diesel received a patent for the diesel engine.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/diesel_engine)
1903:
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was perpetually leased to the United States.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay)
1945:
Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Raising the
Flag on Iwo Jima, an image that was later reproduced as the U.S.
Marine Corps War Memorial.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima)
1947:
The International Organization for Standardization was founded. It is
responsible for worldwide industrial and commercial ISO standards.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Organization_for_Standardization)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else
you're going to be locked up." -- Hunter S. Thompson
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson)