A British scientist reported last week about an event that might seem unreportable: the birth of the universe. Cambridge University Radio Astronomer Martin Ryle performed the feat by taking a look at part of the universe as it existed 8 billion years ago.
Ryle's findings provided new evidence in an old astronomical dispute. Astronomers agree that the universe is made of gigantic star clusters—galaxies—that are racing away from each other like the hot molecules of an exploding gas. But they do not agree why this is happening or how it started. The simplest explanation,...