It was my understanding that physicists have never claimed that the big bang happened. That the big bang itself isn’t really part of the theory at all and that

It was my understanding that physicists have never claimed that the big bang happened. That the big bang itself isn’t really part of the theory at all and that its simply a singularity point, but that some moments before that point, ohysics as we know it breaks down, so we don’t know what happened before and therefore do ‘t know if there was a bang or not, just that after that time, things happened that we can measure. Put another way, the big bang theory doesn’t include the big bang itself (the something from nothing part) but is about the inflation and expansion of the universe. Here are some PBS Space Time videos on the subject: Why the big bang definitely happened: https://youtu.be/aPStj2ZuXug https://youtu.be/aPStj2ZuXug Did time start at the big bang: https://youtu.be/K8gV05nS7mc https://youtu.be/K8gV05nS7mc Whats wrong with the big bang theory: https://youtu.be/JDmKLXVFJzk https://youtu.be/JDmKLXVFJzk “In the beginning, there was nothing, which exploded”, now, a lot of non-scientists like to repeat this statement, but no credible scientist has ever said this, nor believes it. So its unfortunate that this statement is used to deride the big bang theory. The big bang describes a series of events that happened to the universe following its existence in an extremely hot, dense state. We have a ton of evidence that the universe was once in such a state. Perhaps our understanding of this state will eventually lead to a theory of the origin of the universe, but the big bang theory as it stands does not claim to explain such an origin. — Matt O’Dowd, PBS Space Time