Join More Than 6,500 Curious Brainiacs!

Get the twice-a-week newsletter that delivers mind-bending facts from across the world directly to your inbox in an easily digestible format.

    We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
    Customize Consent Preferences

    We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

    The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

    Always Active

    Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

    No cookies to display.

    Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

    No cookies to display.

    Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

    No cookies to display.

    Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

    No cookies to display.

    Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

    No cookies to display.

    Edgar Allan Poe and the Big Bang

    Date:

    Share post:

    INTO THE COSMIC ABYSS: HOW POE PREFIGURED THE BIG BANG

    Beyond conjuring tales of mystery and imagination, Edgar Allan Poe harbored intense fascination with the workings of the universe. Though not a scientist himself, Poeโ€™s enthusiasm for astronomy led him to intuit radical cosmic concepts before evidence emerged to support them. Most astonishingly, his 1848 prose poem Eureka depicted an explosive origin from a primordial โ€œparticleโ€ โ€“ eerily echoing the modern Big Bang theory formulated decades later. While containing scientific errors, Eureka revealed Poeโ€™s talent for deductive reasoning and prescient creativity.

    Edgar Allan Poe
    Edgar Allan Poe

    A POETIC STARGAZER

    Edgar Allan Poe cemented his literary legacy through Gothic horror stories like โ€œThe Tell-Tale Heartโ€ and โ€œThe Fall of the House of Usher.โ€ His grim poetry in works like โ€œThe Ravenโ€ defined Poe as a master of the macabre. Yet beyond the melancholy of his fiction and verse, Poe nurtured a second passion โ€“ musing on the mysteries of the universe.

    Though lacking any formal scientific training, Poe devoured books on astronomy and physics. He occasionally inserted references to celestial marvels into stories. Poe saw breathtaking beauty in the heavens and incorporated his love and fascination of the cosmos into his writings.

    When not writing tales of gloom, Poe enjoyed stargazing from his homeโ€™s porch and contemplating enigmas like the true nature of the Milky Way. Though amateurish, his curiosity fueled speculations about the cosmos that proved uncannily forward-looking.

    OLBERSโ€™ PARADOX AND A DARK SKY

    One puzzle vexing astronomers in Poeโ€™s era was first noted in 1823 by German scientist Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers. Known as โ€œOlbersโ€™ paradox,โ€ it asked why the night sky appeared dark if the universe was eternal and infinitely large. Wouldnโ€™t every vista be filled with the accumulated light of countless stars? If the universe is infinite, every dot in the sky should have a star and that starโ€™s light should be reaching our eyes and because of this the whole night sky should be lit up with starlight, turning night into day.

    Olber's Paradox explained by Robert H. Van Hornโ€‹
    Olberโ€™s Paradox explained by Robert H. Van Hornโ€‹

    Poe was intrigued by this โ€œriddle of the heavensโ€ and offered an ingenious solution in Eureka. He posited that the universe must be finite in space and time โ€“ that most stars were simply too far for their light to have reached Earth yet. By suggesting the cosmos had a beginning, Poe avoided the conclusion of an infinitely bright night sky that stumped other theorists.

    Modern astrophysics proved Poe right. The Big Bang theory explains the darkness between stars as regions where light hasnโ€™t had time to travel over cosmic history. Poe correctly deduced that the universe must be constrained by distance and its origins. His insight was remarkable and broke the perceptions of a boundless, perpetual cosmos centered on the Earth.

    ENVISIONING COSMIC EXPANSION

    Poe also perceived that the universe was expanding, anticipating evidence discovered decades later. In Eureka, he wrote of matter forming distinct celestial objects that โ€œare now rushing onwards, in all directions, towards their own general centre.โ€ This implied a past union that exploded outward, carrying bodies like stars apart across deepening space.

    The idea of an expanding universe didnโ€™t gain mainstream acceptance until the 1920s and 1930s, following solutions to Einsteinโ€˜s equations and later observations by astronomers like Edwin Hubble. Poe lacked empirical data or mathematical formulas. But through sheer deductive logic, he envisioned the cosmos growing larger over time. This marked a dramatic shift from the static universe model that prevailed when Poe lived.

    The Big Bang model
    The Big Bang model

    By reasoning through thorny problems, Poe overcame notions of an infinite, unchanging night sky. A universe with a dynamic history of growth and change aligned better with observations. Once again, Poeโ€™s speculations anticipated revelations through more systematic science.

    THE PRIMORDIAL โ€œPARTICLEโ€

    Perhaps Poeโ€™s most startling insight was conceptualizing a dramatic cosmic origin he called โ€œone instantaneous flash.โ€ In Eureka, Poe wrote:

    โ€œLet us now endeavor to conceive what Matter must be, when, or if, in its absolute extreme of Simplicity. Here the Reason flies at once to Imparticularity โ€“ to a particle โ€“ to one particle โ€“ a particle of one kind โ€“ of one character โ€“ of one nature โ€“ of one size โ€“ of one form.โ€

    He went on to describe how the primordial โ€œparticleโ€ explosively spawned countless atoms spreading through space from a central point. This resembled the modern Big Bang theoryโ€™s explanation of cosmic evolution from a hyper-dense, uniform beginning into myriad forms.

    Published in 1948, Poeโ€™s explosive creation concept predated evidence for a Big Bang origin by over a century. While other thinkers believed the universe was eternal, Poe saw compelling reasons to infer a dramatic birth. Through creative extrapolation, he glimpsed traces of cosmic truth before science could document them.

    In modern cosmology the idea of a โ€˜singularityโ€™ or a primordial particle at the beginning of the universe is no longer an accepted model since requires โ€˜initial conditionsโ€™ to explain the birth of the universe. Our observations which include the uniform temperature of the cosmos, and lack of magnetic monopoles, among others are more in-line with the Inflationary Model of the Big Bang, where the early universe went through a exponential growth. The exponential growth part posits that there was no singluarity, but that we currently donโ€™t have enough information on how or if ever inflation started.

    โ€‹Inflationary Model of the Big Bang
    โ€‹Inflationary Model of the Big Bang

    LIMITATIONS OF AN AMATEUR

    For all his brilliance, Poeโ€™s Eureka also contained misguided notions. He rejected Newtonian gravity, saw energy and matter as indestructible, and made errors regarding the motion of planets. As a lay enthusiast, Poe lacked the expertise and mathematical discipline to build fully coherent theories.

    Poe erred in seeing the universe itself as a kind of organism that had developed from chaos into increasing order and would culminate in a โ€œfinal embraceโ€ as all matter collapsed together. Modern physics sees cosmic expansion as endless and not teleological.

    But Poeโ€™s grandest mistakes arose from an absence of data, not failures of intellect. He reasoned ingeniously from first principles and the limited astronomy of his day. Modern scientists with advanced telescopes and computers have since constructed far more detailed models.

    INTUITION BEFORE EVIDENCE

    The aspects of Eureka aligning with later discoveries testify to Poeโ€™s imagination and deductive skills rather than any mystical powers. Brilliant leaps often precede formal proof in science. Poe intuited deep truths about the universe from philosophical arguments rather than through rigorous tests.

    In many cases, math caught up to confirm Poeโ€™s conjectures. The marked brilliance of Eureka was conceiving concepts like a finite, expanding universe and a primordial bang when prevailing beliefs leaned against them. Like politics or art, science benefits from visionaries who re-envision boundaries of the possible.

    While obscure in his day, Poeโ€™s cosmic speculations were an astonishing feat of intellectual adventure. They reveal the power of questioning orthodoxies and following reason wherever it leads. More than sheer luck, Eureka was the achievement of a free intellect unshackled by convention or dogma. Poeโ€™s poetic musing uncovered hints of cosmic realities taking shape.

    FROM HORROR WRITER TO UNIVERSE BUILDER

    For devotees of Poeโ€™s chilling stories, Eureka seems a jarring departure. Far from noir fantasies, it finds Poe crafting sweeping myths of creation. Yet the work fused many signature aspects of his writing into an idiosyncratic scientific saga.

    Poe brought poetic language, intuition, and imagination to a technical realm where they were in short supply. Eureka became the arena where Poeโ€™s empirical and artistic sides met. He proved that science, from Darwin to Einstein, needs audacious conjecture to unlock mysteries beyond current understanding. The tools of an author โ€“ creativity and deduction โ€“ helped Poe grasp timeless enigmas.

    No mere pseudoscience, Eureka exemplified Poeโ€™s resistance to false constraints on thought. Its deductive riches testify to the power of intellect unleashed.

    RESISTANCE AND REDEMPTION

    In Edgar Allan Poeโ€™s lifetime, Eureka suffered ridicule and neglect. Theorizing way beyond his depth, critics thought, the amateur poet had indulged in flimsy speculation masquerading as knowledge. Poeโ€™s publisher warned the work would be used against him by his enemies. Critics derided it as โ€œhyperbolic nonsenseโ€ filled with โ€œscientific phraseโ€”a mountainous piece of absurdityโ€. Even Poeโ€™s friends were offended, with one calling it โ€œa damnable heresyโ€. Some found Eureka simply too dense and lengthy.

    Yet Poe staunchly defended his work, considering it his masterpiece. He believed Eureka would โ€œimmortalize himโ€ centuries later once proven accurate. In a letter, Poe wrote: โ€œI have no desire to live since I have done Eureka. I could accomplish nothing more.โ€ Poe died a little over a year after Eurekaโ€™s publishing.

    Though initially rejected as pseudoscience, some contemporaries did recognize its merits. Albert Einstein later praised Eureka as the โ€œbeautiful achievement of an unusually independent mind.โ€ No reader can doubt Poe threw his full passion into exploring time and space.

    Eureka - 1st Edition French Translation
    Eureka โ€“ 1st Edition French Translation

    CLUES TO OUR COSMIC HOME

    Like an ancient map filled with legends, Eureka mixes wisdom, mystery, and myth. While not literal truth, its content help expand cultural imagination. Poe opened doors to possibilities beyond what instruments could confirm.

    There is genius in Poeโ€™s willingness to probe the unfathomable. He embraced what Jules Verne called โ€œthe unknown and the infinite,โ€ defending theories that struck others as radical or bizarre. By approaching the universe itself as a grand creative work, Poe ennobled science through the lens of human creativity. The cosmos holds more wonders than our philosophies can fathom.


    ๐Ÿ“ˆ๐Ÿ˜ฒAdditional Facts

    18

    Edgar Allan Poe was 18 years old when he published his first book โ€œTamerlane and Other Poemsโ€ in 1827. There are currently only 12 copies that are said to exist.

    $9

    Poeโ€™s best known work is the dark poem โ€œThe Raven,โ€ for which he was paid $9 by the literary magazine The American Review. The poem was published in February of 1845. The poem was published under a pseudonym โ€œQuarlesโ€ and not as Edgar Allan Poe.

    70 Years

    For 70 years an unknown person dubbed โ€œPoe Toasterโ€ would leave a bottle of Cognac and three red roses on Poeโ€™s grave every year on January 19th. The person would be dressed in black and wearing a white scarf and a large hat. This tradition mysteriously ended in 2009 and the identity of the โ€œPoe Toasterโ€ still remains a puzzle.

    Join More Than 6,500 Curious Brainiacs!

    Get the twice-a-week newsletter that delivers mind-bending facts from across the world directly to your inbox in an easily digestible format.

      We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

      Join Now

      Get the twice-a-week newsletter that delivers mind-bending facts from across the world directly to your inbox in an easily digestible format.

      โ€‹

        We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

        spot_img

        Related articles

        Salvator Mundi: The Most Expensive Painting Ever Sold

        In November 2017, the art world was stunned when an enigmatic painting of Christ called Salvator Mundi sold for a record-shattering $450 million at auction.

        How the Eiffel Tower Was Built: The Marvel of 1889

        In the winter of 1887, Parisian journalists gathered at a curious construction site on the Champ de Mars. There, amid wooden scaffolding and the rhythmic clang of hammers, they witnessed what one reporter would describe as men "reaping lightning bolts in the clouds."

        Alan Smithee: The Worst Director in Hollywood

        For over 30 years, one name appeared again and again as the director of some of the worst movies ever made - Alan Smithee. But Alan Smithee wasn't a real person. He was a pseudonym used by Hollywood directors who wanted to disavow their finished films.

        Emmanuel Nwude: The Man Behind the $242 Million Nigerian Airport Scam

        In the late 1990s, a brazen fraudster named Emmanuel Nwude pulled off one of history's most outrageous cons - selling a fictional airport to a gullible Brazilian bank director for a whopping $242 million.
        0