Science: In the Beginning, H

Biggest of all big questions that scientists ask is: "How did the universe originate?" At last week's Pasadena meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, two Caltech professors, Astrophysicist Jesse L. Greenstein and Physicist William A. Fowler, took issue with the "big bang" theory of the birth of the universe. According to this theory, all the matter in the universe was once concentrated in a single dense mass consisting mostly of neutrons. Some of the neutrons disintegrated, forming protons and electrons. They joined with the protons and one another, forming heavier elements. The original nuclear reactions were complete in a few...