In 1948, one of the most important papers in the history of science was published in the pages of the Physical Review. In it, authors Ralph Alpher, Hans Bethe (in absentia) and George Gamow not only perpetrated one of the greatest plays on words in the annals of science, they also put forward the physical calculations in support that the universe as we see it today began from a small, hot, dense state known as the Primeval Fireball.

In this episode, we trace the development of that idea.