“Even the least scientifically minded of us have probably heard of the “Big Bang” theory but not many may be aware that it was a Belgian Catholic priest who first put forward the idea. He was Georges Lemaître and he died 50 years ago on June 20th [2016].”

—Father of the Big Bang – An Irishman’s Diary about Fr Georges Lemaître

“Even Einstein initially found [Georges] Lemaître’s ‘big bang’ model of the origins of the universe far-fetched,” writes Cormac O’Raifeartaigh in the Irish Times. But Einstein would eventually say, after hearing Lemaître, that “This is the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation of creation to which I have ever listened.”