Georges Lemaître
He proposed the theory of the expanding universe and the 'primeval atom' hypothesis, later known as the Big Bang.
Most quoted
"If the world has begun with a single quantum, the notions of space and time would not have any meaning at the beginning; they would only begin to have a sensible meaning when the original quantum had been divided into a sufficient number of quanta. If this suggestion is correct, the beginning of the world happened a little before the beginning of space and time."
— from Nature, 'The Beginning of the World from the Point of View of Quantum Theory', 1931
"If the world has begun with a single quantum, the notions of space and time would not have any meaning at the beginning; they would only begin to have a sensible meaning when the original quantum had been divided into a sufficient number of quanta. If this is so, the beginning of the world happened a little before the beginning of space and time."
— from Nature, 1931
"If the world has begun with a single quantum, the notions of space and time would not have any meaning at the beginning; they would only begin to have a meaning when the original quantum had been divided into a sufficient number of quanta. If this is so, the beginning of the world happened a little before the beginning of space and time."
— from Nature, 'The Beginning of the World from the Point of View of Quantum Theory', 1931
All quotes by Georges Lemaître (411)
Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations.
The search for truth is the highest vocation of the human spirit.
Do not be afraid to be ahead of your time.
The apparent haste of the universe to move away from its starting point is perhaps only an illusion of perspective.
The cosmos is not a machine; it is more like a great thought.
The initial state of the universe was one of maximum organization, that is to say, of minimum entropy.
The history of the universe is the history of its increasing disorganization.
The notion of a beginning of the world is repugnant to many minds, but it is a logical necessity.
The scientist does not pretend to know the 'why' of things; he seeks only the 'how'.
The primeval atom is a unique event, outside of any space and time.
The galaxies are the fragments of this initial explosion, still flying apart from each other.
The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.
We are made of starstuff.
The Big Bang was a day without a yesterday.
The hypothesis of the primeval atom is the only one which allows us to think of a beginning of the world in a rational manner.
The universe is not a chaos; it has an order, a history.
The truth of a theory is not measured by its immediate acceptance.
The cosmic egg exploded at the moment of the creation.
The whole universe was in a hot dense state...
The expansion is a property of space itself, not of the bodies embedded in space.
Contemporaries of Georges Lemaître
Other Cosmologys born within 50 years of Georges Lemaître (1894–1966).