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Heart and Soul: Father of the Big Bang

Father of the Big Bang

29/09/2012 GMT

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Father of the Big Bang

William Crawley tells the story of the Catholic priest behind the Big Bang Theory.

William Crawley tells the story of the Catholic priest and scientist Monsignor Georges Lemaitre who is one of the pioneers of the scientific thinking known as the Big Bang Theory.

William Crawley tells the surprising story of the Catholic priest behind one of the most important scientific theories of our time. 

Monsignor Georges Lemaître was both a great scientist and a deeply spiritual priest, and his work on cosmology continues to influence our best scientific accounts of the universe. 

He came up with the scientific notion of The Big Bang Theory, now one of the most recognisable scientific brands in the world, Lemaitre wore his clerical collar while teaching physics, at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. 

It was this unassuming Catholic priest in this modest centre of academia who has changed the way we look at the origins of the universe. 

His story also challenges the assumption that science and religion are always in conflict. 

William meets men of God, and men of science who knew Lemaitre, to explain how he was able to satisfy his ardent religious beliefs alongside his curiosity about how the world was formed, a curiosity that has radically shaped modern scientific ideas, and how his life-story also challenges the claim that science and religion are necessarily in conflict.

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