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Two Against the Big Bang

Why are two celebrated astronomers laughing at one of the most fundamental theories?

By Richard Panek and Catherine Ledner
Nov 22, 2005 6:00 AMNov 12, 2019 5:27 AM

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The cosmological revolution of 1993 ended before it began. In The Astrophysical

Journal, one of the most prestigious publications in their field, three prominent theorists presented an alternative to the Big Bang, the creation myth that has dominated cosmology since the 1960s. The

Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge on the beach near their home in La Jolla, California. They believe that galaxies like the ones in Stephan's Quintet, superimposed behind them, beget other galaxies.

reaction of their peers wasn't antagonistic. It wasn't even argumentative. It was worse—so dismissive that the new theory might as well not have existed at all.

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