Case file · Lab · Prove All Things

A Priest Came Up With the Big Bang

“But prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Douay-Rheims

The case

You've heard science killed God. Well, a Catholic priest first spelled out the Big Bang. Georges Lemaître fought for Belgium in World War One, then became a priest. In 1927, he published a paper saying the universe is expanding.

The evidence

Every quotation below is printed in the words of the edition named under it. Nothing is paraphrased.

“decided to recommend the Hubble law to be renamed as the Hubble-Lemaitre law”

International Astronomical Union, 2018, as reproduced by INTERS — read it at the source

“greatly disturbed Lemaitre”

UCLouvain Archives, the Georges Lemaitre exhibit, on the 1951 address — read it at the source

“was not proven at that time”

UCLouvain Archives, the Georges Lemaitre exhibit, on the 1951 address — read it at the source

“the confusion made between Beginning and Creation”

UCLouvain Archives, the Georges Lemaitre exhibit, on the 1951 address — read it at the source

“such a theory stays completely outside of any metaphysical or religious issue.”

Lemaitre at the 1958 Solvay Congress, UCLouvain Archives, the Georges Lemaitre exhibit — read it at the source

“requested and obtained a meeting with Pius XII”

G. Tanzella-Nitti, INTERS, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross — read it at the source

“there is no historical evidence on the contents of the meeting”

G. Tanzella-Nitti, INTERS, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross — read it at the source

“the primitive atom theory was not mentioned in the second speech.”

UCLouvain Archives, the Georges Lemaitre exhibit — read it at the source

“is situated in the terrain which is proper to him and ... has no relationship to Eddington's or to my theories.”

Lemaitre, 1963, UCLouvain Archives, the Georges Lemaitre exhibit — read it at the source

“In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.”

Genesis 1:1 (Douay) — read it at the source

What’s established, and what isn’t

What the sources support, claim by claim — each one checked against the sources listed at the foot of this page:

Lemaitre volunteered and served as an artillery officer in the Belgian army in World War I, was decorated, and was ordained a priest in 1923
His 1927 paper in the Annales de la Societe Scientifique de Bruxelles described an expanding universe and derived the velocity-distance relation now called Hubble's law
He met Einstein at the 1927 Solvay Congress in Brussels; by Lemaitre's own 1958 recollection Einstein made favourable technical remarks but found the physics 'absolutely abominable'
His Nature letter of 9 May 1931 said quantum theory suggests a beginning of the world, with all the energy of the universe packed in a few or even one quantum
The 1931 letter was the first explicit formulation of the big bang theory (MacTutor)
In 2018 IAU members voted (78% for) to recommend renaming the Hubble law the Hubble-Lemaitre law.
On 22 November 1951 Pius XII addressed the Pontifical Academy of Sciences ('Un'ora di serena letizia') and argued that modern science pointed toward creation in time and so to a Creator, while calling that voice of science 'not explicit nor complete'
The speech disturbed Lemaitre because his theory was not yet proven and because it confused a physical beginning with creation
Lemaitre requested and obtained a meeting with Pius XII before the 7 September 1952 IAU address; there is no record of what was said
The 1952 IAU address did not mention the primitive atom theory
In 1963 Lemaitre said the Pope's speech was on the Pope's own proper ground and had no relationship to his theories
At the 1958 Solvay Congress Lemaitre said his theory stays completely outside any metaphysical or religious issue

Where the record stops short:

Einstein's remark about the physics survives only in Lemaitre's own recollection, written in 1958. The UCLouvain archive prints it as what Einstein is said to have told him, so the file paraphrases it and quotes nothing.
The wording of the 1931 letter to Nature could not be verified: the journal's page is paywalled. The letter is cited here and not quoted.
Lemaitre asked for and obtained a meeting with Pius XII before the 1952 address, and there is no historical evidence of what was said in it. Why the second speech left the theory out is not on record.

For your men’s group

A priest did the work and still refused to let his physics stand as proof of creation. Where are you tempted to make an argument carry more than it can?
If the physics changed tomorrow, what in your faith would actually move?

Every source

Found an error? [email protected] — errata corrected the day they’re found.

Drafted with AI assistance, founder-directed, and checked against the sources linked here. Our editorial standards.

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