Sidebar: Hoyle Scoffs at "Big Bang" Universe Theory

Hoyle was no fan of the "evolutionary" model of the universe. He coined the term "Big Bang" on a BBC radio broadcast of The Nature of Things in 1949. The term took about another decade to really catch on. Once it did, however, the term stuck. Attempts have been made to rename it, since it mistakenly leaves the impression that the universe started with an explosion. For example, in 1993 Sky and Telescope magazine ran a contest to rename it, and received many interesting ideas. More amusingly (but still perpetuating the explosion misconception), Bill Watterson in his Calvin and Hobbes comic strip referred to it as "The Horrendous Space Kablooie!"