The Big Bang

Abstract

At the instant in time that we call the beginning of the universe, space, time and matter appeared and did so with quite a spectacular entrance. We do not know why or how the universe came into existence. We do not know why it has the properties it has or why it has the conditions for life as we know it to be able to develop and evolve. We do not know what (if anything) existed before our universe. It might be the case that these questions may not be answered at a satisfactory level for another century or perhaps for another two thousand years. Perhaps they will never be answered. We may develop and propose theories, but it may be difficult, if not impossible, to verify them via observation or experiment since there may be no remaining detectable signatures from the moment that time began. It is even less likely that we can ever test our theories of what happened before the existence of time.