Georges Lemaître

Georges Lemaître (Monseigneur) (Charleroi, July 17th 1894 - Leuwen, June 20th 1966) is a Chanoine Catholique, astronomer, Belgian physicist .

Biography

Studies

He is the elder one of a family of four children. In 1904, it enters to the college of the Jésuite S of Charleroi (College of the Sacred Heart). It is allowed at the school of the mines of Leuwen in 1911. It meets Charles Manneback there, a colleague who becomes his friend. It follows the systems design courses of Charles de la Vallee poussin and mechanics of Ernest Pasquier, which initiates it with the problems of cosmology.

At the beginning of the First World War, it engages in the 5th body of the volunteers and thus takes part in the Bataille of Yser. It leaves the army as an adjudant and takes again his courses in 1919 mathematics and physical sciences with the Catholic Université of Leuwen. This same year, it obtains its baccalaureat in philosophy thomist and begins his doctorate with De la Vallee poussin. It begins a first thesis on the Fonction zeta from Riemann which it does not manage to conclude. It changes subject then and supports its thesis in 1920.

In order to obtain a purse of voyage, it writes in 1922 a report on the Physics of Einstein , enabling him to gain the distinction. He writes its first scientific article in August 1923. He is allowed this same year with the Université of Cambridge as student-researcher.

Cambridge and the United States

It there follows the courses of the astronomer Arthur Eddington and works with this last. It meets with a congress in Toronto the physicist Ludwick Silberstein who made there a communication on an approximation of the size of the universe. Lemaître is registered shortly after with the Massachusetts Institute off Technology and works on several sets of themes, the General relativity, the study of variable stars and a theory of Eddington trying to connect the electromagnetism to the Gravitation. It then perceives the nonstatic character of the universe. It meets Edwin Hubble and discusses with Robert Millikan. In 1926, it supports its thesis on the calculation of the gravitational field of a fluid sphere of homogeneous density.

Leuwen

It returns then as teacher to the University of Louvain. It then makes its first communication in 1927 on an expanding universe and writes an article in the Annales of the scientific Company of Brussels on this subject. He discusses it with Albert Einstein which he meets the same year during the fifth Congrès Solvay in Brussels. A first experimental confirmation of its theory will come as of 1929 by an article from Hubble describing the relation between the speed of distancing and the distance from various remote galaxies. Lemaître then emits its theory of the primitive atom , temporal beginning of the universe, called Big Bang more tardily and publishes an article in this direction in the review Nature. He also suspects the cosmic radiation of carrying the trace of the initial events.

He then goes on many journeys to the United States, meeting several times Albert Einstein with Pasadena. He is invited in many prestigious universities and gains a reputation in the general public. He receives the Médaille Mendel in 1934, reserved to the high level catholic scientists, and the same year, the Prix Francqui. It works from 1933 on model of universe nonhomogeneous, named a posteriori, model of Lemaître-Tolman (of the name of Richard Tolman which worked with him in Pasadena), explaining condensations and the formation of the galaxies. He studies the cosmic radiation again, in particular with Carl Störmer, which obliges it to resort to the machines with calculation that he very pane will control.

May 13rd 1940, Lemaître joined its family with Charleroi and projects a passage in England but fails in its exodus in front of the speed of the German advance. It goes back then to Leuwen and continues to teach there. During the closing of the free university of this city, imposed by the occupant, it accommodates there the students in the buildings of the catholic university. In the night from May 11th to 12th 1944, part of the latter is destroyed by a allied air raid. It joined his mother in Brussels then (his/her father has been deceased for two years).

With the release, it resumes its work and is interested in the formation of nebulas. For that, it becomes one of the Belgian pioneers of the calculating machines and is interested in their absolute coding, then in Assembleur before studying other languages like the ALGOL.

The canon

He enters to the seminar (Saint-Rombaud house of Malines) in 1920 to be ordered priest in 1923. He enters the Sacerdotal Fraternité of the Friends of Jesus starting from 1922. He will succeed in thereafter reconciling his scientific and religious vocations, never not sacrificing one to the other and fascinating, in particular, an interpretation symbolic system and not literal of the Genèse. He distinguishes the concept of " thus; commencement" of that of " création" , the first being a physical entity, the second a philosophical concept. Starting from 1926, he is the chaplain of a house of Chinese students.

It is named honorary canon in 1935.

In 1951, it expresses its dissension with a speech of Pie XII, Un' Ora , this last wanting to show the existence of God by the recent contributions of science. The pope evokes the work of Lemaître without quoting it by name. This relation between science and theology is not at all in agreement with the designs of this last. Its criticism is respectful, suggesting that the speech was written by another person.

In 1960, it is named Prélat domesticates of the pope Jean XXIII like President of the pontifical Académie of sciences . It accommodates there many scientists of reputation like Paul Dirac or John Eccles and tries to preserve a relative autonomy of this institution, at least with respect to the curie.

In 1962, it founds with Gerard Garitte, when bursts the Crise of Leuwen, the ACAPSUL (association of the scientific personnel of the University of Louvain), which was virulement opposed virulement to expulsion Wallons and French-speaking people of Leuwen

In 1964, Lemaître makes a myocardial infarction. It develops a leukemia starting from 1966 and dies in the night from June 19th to 20th of this year.

Work

In 1927, independently of work of Alexander Friedmann of 1922, Georges Lemaître affirms that the universe is expanding, being based on work of Vesto Slipher and Edwin Hubble. It is the first to formulate the law of proportionality between distance and speed of recession of the galaxies, whose extragalactic nature has just been shown a few years earlier. It provides a first evaluation of the constant of proportionality, what is called today the Constante of Hubble. This estimate, appearing in its article of 1927 written in French, will not be represented in its english language version carried out by Arthur Eddington, and will be empirically discovered by Hubble a few years later. He proposes an evolution of the universe starting from a “primitive Atome”. This theory was renamed “Big Bang” by Fred Hoyle in 1948 or 1950, during a radio program. Price Francqui 1934.

The man

The Lemaître canon could give course only in the uproar. He claimed this one of his students, in their asking whether they were sick when the calm one reigned in the audience.

Posterity

The Astéroïde (1565) Lemaître was named in its honor. The parental house, Boulevard Devreux acquired by the University of Louvain is now named " Lemaître" house;. The memory of its discovery is engraved on the monument which decorates the crossroads known as " Luxembourg" with the intersection of the boulevards Devreux and Audent, streets Willy Ernst and New Bridge.

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