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Why the universe has no center: A physicist explains cosmic expansion

Rob Coyne

4h ago· 7 min readenInsight

education science

Summary

The article explores the common misconception that the universe has a physical center from which it expanded. It explains how Einstein's theory of general relativity initially assumed a static universe, but observations of distant galaxies revealed the universe is expanding. A physicist clarifies that the Big Bang wasn't an explosion from a single point in space, but rather space itself expanding everywhere simultaneously. There is no center of the universe because the expansion happens uniformly at all points in space-time.

Source

Twitter / XWhy the universe has no center: A physicist explains cosmic expansiontheconversation.com

Key quotes

· 3 pulled

About a century ago, scientists were struggling to reconcile what seemed a contradiction in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Published in 1915, and already widely accepted worldwide by physicists and mathematicians, the theory assumed the universe was static – unchanging, unmoving and immutable.

But when astronomers looked into the night sky at faraway galaxies with powerful telescopes, they saw hints the universe was anything but that.

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As the universe expands, it feels like it must be spreading out from some initial point. But a physicist explains why that’s not how it works. Hint: space-time is involved.

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