Abstract
The cosmic background radiation left over from the Big Bang approximately 14 billion years ago is the oldest of all fossils. The Big Bang at time zero is the most important of all boundary conditions for the very possibility of life in the Universe. In the Big Bang singularity, space and time do not exist, so causality cannot be operative. This leads us to conclude that the Big Bang was an uncaused event.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adams, F. (2002) Origins of Existence, Free Press, New York.
Calvin, M. (1969) Chemical Evolution: Molecular Evolution of Living Systems on the Earth and Elsewhere, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Darwin, C. (1859) The Origin of Species, Avenel Books/Crown Publishers, New York.
Einstein, A. (1905) Zur elektrodynamik bewegter Körper, Ann. Phys. (Germany) 17, 891–921.
Einstein, A. (1916) Näherungsweise Integration der Feldgleichungen der Gravitation, Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. Sitzber, 688–696.
Gamow, G. (1952) The Creation of the Universe, Dover, Mineola, New York.
Hartquist, T.W. and Williams, D.A. (1995) The Chemically Controlled Cosmos: Astronomical Molecules from the Big Bang to Exploding Stars, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hawking, S. (2001) The Universe in a Nutshell, Bantam Books, New York.
Hawking, S.W. (1988) A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, Bantam Books, New York.
Hawking, S.W. (2002) The Theory of Everything, New Millennium Press, Beverly Hills, CA.
Hoyle, F. (1975) Astronomy and Cosmology: A Modern Course, W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, CA.
Kaku, M. (2006) Echo of Genesis, The Wall Street Journal, October 4, 2006, A14.
Kant, I. (1781) Critique of Pure Reason.
Marion, J.B. (1965) Classical Dynamics of Particles and System, Academic, New York.
Misner, C.W., Thorne, K., and Wheeler, J.A. (1973) Gravitation, W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, CA.
Morowitz, H.J. (1992) Beginnings of Cellular Life: Metabolism Recapitulates Biogenesis, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Novikov, I. (1995) Black Holes and the Universe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Oparin, A.I. (1938) Origin of Life, Macmillan, London.
Peacock, J.A. (1999) Cosmological Physics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Penzias, A.A. and Wilson, R.W. (1965) A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Mc/s, Astrophys. J. 142, 419–421.
Seckbach, J. (ed.) (2004) Origins: Genesis, Evolution and Diversity of Life, Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Singh, S. (2005) Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe, HarperCollins.
Ward, P.D. and Brownlee, D. (2000) Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, Springer, New York.
Weinberg, S. (1994) The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe, Perseus Publishing, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science + Business Media B.V
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bahn, P.R., Pravdo, S.H. (2009). The Big Bang at Time Zero. In: Seckbach, J., Walsh, M. (eds) From Fossils to Astrobiology. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8837-7_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8837-7_22
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8836-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8837-7
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)