11th Solvay Conference on Physics, 1958
This Conference on the ‘Structure and evolution of the Universe’ is the theatre of two symbolic meetings in the fields of astrophysics and cosmology. On the one hand, Georges Lemaître presents his theory of the ‘primitive atom’ in the presence of Fred Hoyle, the main opponent of this theory, which he mockingly termed the ‘Big Bang’. On the other hand, John Archibald Wheeler makes a report on a question which he defines as ‘the most pressing issue since the consequences of Albert Einstein’s theory of gravitation (general relativity)’.
