that's what their observations of the night sky suggested. Needless to say, this view

他們所觀察到的夜空得到 的結論。這可觀點可想而知

clashed with the "origin" or "creation" stories of most major religions, which hold that the

跟許多宗教“開始”或“創立”的 觀點相矛盾。教徒相信

universe had a beginning.

宇宙有一個開端。

So it's not surprising that it was a Catholic priest, Georges Lemaître, who was one of

因此，天主教神父喬治·勒梅特 是提出這個全新科學觀點——

the first major proponents of a new scientific viewpoint - that the universe DID have a beginning.

宇宙有個開端，的主要人物之一 應該不是一件很令人震驚的事。

Lemaître, of course, was also an excellent mathematician and scientist and based this

勒梅特也當然是一個很聰明 的數學家和科學家，同時這個觀點

conviction not (just) on his religious beliefs but upon new experimental evidence from Edwin

不僅是以他的宗教信仰為基礎的， 同時也是依靠埃德溫·哈勃的新的實驗證據，

Hubble that showed the universe was expanding. This evidence, combined with the mathematics

告訴了人們宇宙是在膨脹的。 這個證據，加上廣義相對論的

of general relativity allowed Lemaître to "rewind" cosmic history and calculate that

數學，允許了勒梅特 “重播”宇宙的歷史同時推算出

the farther back in time you go, the smaller the universe had to be. The natural conclusion

越是回到宇宙的過去，宇宙的 大小就得越小。這個自然的結論

is that everything we can currently see in the universe was at one point in time more

就是我們所看得到的一切 很久之間大概就是在宇宙中

or less at one point in space. Lemaître called this idea the "primeval atom", but of course

的一個點。勒梅特將 這個點叫做了“原始的原子”，

today we know it as "the big bang theory".

但今天我們把此叫做“宇宙大爆炸”。

Except "big bang" is a horrible name - it would be much more accurate to call it "the

但是“大爆炸”是一個很不好的名字—— 叫它“處處伸展”會更合適些。

everywhere stretch". Because one of the most common misconceptions about the big bang is

因為有關大爆炸的最大的誤解是

that it implies that the entire universe was compressed into a single point from which

這個隱含了整個宇宙在很久 以前是被壓縮成一個點，從那

it then somehow expanded into the surrounding... nothingness? It is true that the observable

以後就開始膨脹進入周圍的... 沒東西的東西？是真的，我們觀測到的

universe, that is, the part of the whole universe we can see from earth, WAS indeed shrunk down

宇宙，也就是說，從地球上能看到 的整個宇宙，的確被壓縮到了

to a very very small bit of space, but that bit of space was NOT a single point, nor was

一片很小很小的空間中，但那個 空間不是一個單一的點，也不是說

the rest of the Universe also in that same bit of space.

宇宙的所有都被壓縮到一個點中間了。

The explanation for this is the magical power of infinity. The whole universe is really

能解釋這個的只有神奇的 無窮大。整個宇宙真的很

big - current data show it's at least 20 times bigger than the observable universe, but that's

大：現存的證據說至少 是觀測到的宇宙的20倍，但這

just a lower bound - it might be infinite. And if you have an infinite amount of space,

只是一個底線——有可能宇宙無窮大。 那麼如果你有無窮多的空間，

you can scale space down, shrink everything to minuscule proportions, and still have an

你可以將空間縮小，將一切縮小 成微不足道的東西，但仍然有

infinite amount of space. Kind of like how you can zoom out as much as you want from

無窮多的空間。有點像 你可以將一個數軸

a number line, but it'll still be an infinite number line.

縮小，但仍然有一個無窮的數軸。

Essentially, space doesn't need anywhere to expand "into" because it can expand into itself

類似的，宇宙不用任何可以 “延展入”的空間，因為它可以延展進入自己，

and still have plenty of room. In fact, this is possible even if space turns out not to

同時仍然有許多空間。其實， 如果宇宙不是無窮大的這也有

be infinite in size, though the reasons are complicated and have to do with the infinite

可能，但這裡的理由很 復雜，跟有關無限可微

differentiability of the metric of spacetime...

的時空度量有關...

But anyway, the event unfortunately known as the big bang was basically a time, long

但是回到正題，這個不幸被 叫做宇宙大爆炸的東西其實是

ago, when space was much more squeezed together, and the observable universe, that is, everything

在很久以前的一刻，宇宙比現在更擁擠， 同時可觀測宇宙（地球上

that we see from earth, was crammed into a very very small piece of space. Because the

可看到的宇宙）在這種是 一片很小很小的空間。因為

ENTIRE early universe was dense and hot everywhere, spacetime was curved everywhere and this curvature

整個宇宙處處都很炎熱且稠密， 時空曲率高，這卷著的時空

manifested itself as a rapid expansion of space throughout the universe. And although

通過了宇宙快速的膨脹 表現了出來。同時雖然

people call this "the big bang", it wasn't just big, it was everywhere. And it wasn't

人們叫它“大爆炸”，它不僅僅 大，它處處存在。這也不是

really an explosion - it was space stretching out. It's really quite unfortunate that "the

真的一個爆炸——這是 宇宙在延伸。真的非常不幸“處處

Everywhere Stretch" isn't nearly as catchy as "the Big Bang".

伸展”沒有“大爆炸”好聽。

Which brings us to the "big bang singularity", which is an even horribler name because every

這帶領我們到了跟槽糕的名稱： “大爆炸奇點”。這裡每個詞都是

single word is misleading. I mean, "singularity" seems to imply something that happened at

具有誤導性的。我的意思是，“奇點” 好像在暗示一個東西在一點上

a single point. Which isn't at all what it's referring to - it SHOULD be called "the part

發生了。其實這壓根不是 這指代的東西。它應該被叫做“處處

of the Everywhere Stretch where we don't know what we're talking about." Basically, our

延伸中我們不知道我們在說 什麼的東西。”其實就是說，我們

current physical models for the universe are unable to properly explain and predict what

現存的有關宇宙物理模型都 無法准確的說明或預測

was happening at the very very beginning when the universe was super SUPER scaled down.

到宇宙最最開始的時候 （當宇宙縮得很小的時候）發生的事。

But rather than call it the "time when we don't have a clue what was happening, ANYWHERE",

但是而非將它叫做“我們不知道 任何地方發生了什麼是的時候”，

for some reason we call it a "singularity".

不知道為什麼我們會稱它為“奇點”。

This ignorance, however, does conveniently answer the question What happened BEFORE the

雖然如此，這個無理的名字很好 的回答出了“‘大爆炸’前

big bang? Because it tells us the question isn't well defined - back when space was so

發生了什麼？”因為它告訴了 我們這個問題並沒有明確的定義：當宇宙

incredibly compressed and everything was ridiculously hot and dense, our mathematical models of

壓縮到令人難以置信的程度，同時一些 都很炎熱稠密，我麼的宇宙數學模型

the universe break down SO MUCH that "time" doesn't even make sense. It's kind of like

嚴重瓦解，連“時間” 都沒有意義了。有點像

how at the north pole, the concept of "north" breaks down - I mean, what's north of the

在北極，“北”的定義就被瓦解了： 我的意思是，北極的北方是

north pole? The only thing you can say is that everywhere on earth is south of the north

什麼？你只能說地球上任何的 另一處在北極的南方。

pole, or similarly everywhen in the universe is after... the beginning.

類似的，在宇宙中的任意 時刻是在...開始的之後。

But once time began, whenever that was, space expanded incredibly quickly all throughout

但是一旦時間開始了，不知道那是什麼時候， 宇宙以飛快的速度膨脹入了

the universe - for a little while. Then expansion slowed, the universe cooled, stuff happened,

整個宇宙：但只持續了一會兒。然後 膨脹速率減小了，宇宙冷卻了，發生了一些事，

and after a few billion years, here we are.

後過了幾十億年，我們就在這了。

One thing we still DON'T know is why this Everywhere Stretching happened - that is,

一件我們仍然不知道的事是為什麼 “處處延展”發生了——就是說，

why did the universe start off in such a funny, compressed state, and why did it follow the

為什麼宇宙會從一個如此可笑、 壓縮的狀態開始，同時為什麼它會遵守

seemingly arbitrary laws of physics that have governed its expansion and development ever

看似隨意的物理定理， 這些物理定理也從此領導了宇宙的

since?

膨脹和發展？

For Georges Lemaître, this might be where God finally comes into the picture to explain

對於勒梅特，這裡就應該是 上帝入場的地方了。對於他來說，上帝可以解釋

the things science can't. Except that experimental evidence doesn't actually rule out the possibility

這些科學解釋不了的東西。 但是實驗證據並沒有排除在大爆炸前

that there may indeed be a time "before" the beginning, a previous age of the universe

宇宙的存在的可能性，一個之前的自我

that ended when space collapsed in on itself, getting quite compressed and dense and hot,

壓縮了的宇宙，變得比較 稠密和炎熱，

but not enough to mangle up our ideas of what time is. It would have then bounced back out,

但不至於說撕裂我們對於 時間的想法。它讓後有重新膨脹，

stretching in a fashion similar to what we call the big bang, but without the "we don't

用我們叫做宇宙大爆炸的方式 膨脹，但是不存在這個“我們不

know what we're talking about" singularity part. So, physics may actually be nudging

知道我們在說什麼”的地方。 這麼看來，物理可能在輕輕的

us back to the view that the Universe is eternal and didn't begin after all. In which case

將我們推回宇宙是永恆的， 同時宇宙沒有開端的觀點。

Professor Lemaître might have to rethink his interpretation of the words "in the beginning."

如果真是如此，勒梅特教授或許 要重想一下他“在開始”三字的含義了。