Georges Lemaître Biography

Georges Lemaitre was a Belgian scientist who propounded some of the most important theories in cosmology and astronomy in a career that spanned a better part of four decades. Lemaitre was also a priest and was in fact courted by Vatican to become a researcher on contraception. Pope John XXIII named him a prelate in 1960, however it was as a scientist that he made his name and his earliest theories on the ‘expansion of the universe’ was published in a Belgian scientific journal in 1927 and throughout his life he continued to conduct research on the subject that made him one of the most influential scientists of his generation. Lemaitre was also responsible for the study that later came to be known as Hubble’s Law but his contribution towards the discoveries in cosmology were not acknowledged at the time. He used Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in his research and came up with the theory that was discovered by Hubble two years after him. Georges Lemaitre taught at the Catholic University of Leuven and stayed with the university throughout his professional life. Lemaitre also had a profound interest in new technology and was enthusiastic about the development of computers and calculators.