George D. LeMaitre (PhD)

The infamous physicist Dr. Albert Einstein theorized for many years that the universe had always existed. This belief was in stark contrast with Christian doctrine stating that God created the universe as laid out in the book of Genesis of the Old Testament Bible. Little did Dr. Einstein know that his theory would be challenged by a Catholic Priest, Fr. LeMaitre. After serving in World War I, George D. LeMaitre pursued his interests in physics and mathematics, earning his PhD in 1920. Ten years after he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1922, Fr. LeMaitre, proposed a radically new theory based on the latest scientific evidence, directly contradicting Einstein's belief. Lemaitre's theory, based on the observation of receding nearby galaxies, suggested a continually expanding universe. This inferred that the universe had a beginning point. As it turns out Einstein was wrong, and a Catholic Priest was right. Fr. LeMaitre's theory eventually became widely accepted as the "Big Bang" and related "Hubble's Law". Fr. LeMaitre observed: "There is no conflict between religion and science." Fr. LeMaitre found his role to play as both a physicist and Catholic priest in the Christian story.