For centuries, the talk of heaven and hell has been limited only to religious scriptures, stories and faith. But what if a scientist says that he has found the exact pincode and address of ‘Heaven’? Dr. Michael Guillen, former physics lecturer and science communicator at Harvard University, has made a similar strange claim. He has said in one of his recent opinion posts that heaven could be a ‘physical place’ in this universe.

Where is heaven and what is the distance from earth?

According to Dr. Guillen’s theory, what we call ‘Heaven’ or ‘Heaven’ exists beyond the ‘Cosmic Horizon’ in space. It is approximately 439 billion trillion kilometers away from the Earth. Citing Edwin Hubble’s ‘Hubble’s Law’, Guillen explains that the universe is continuously expanding. The farther the galaxies are from the Earth, the faster they are moving away from us. This speed can be equal to the speed of light. Guillen claims that heaven may be located on the other side of this cosmic horizon.

Guillen’s 4 ‘arguments’ in support of his claim

1. Guillen expressed his spiritual: To prove the scientific theory, modern cosmology and Albert Einstein’s theories have been used:
2. Invisible limit of the universe: He says that there is an entire universe beyond the cosmic horizon, but it is forever hidden from us because we can never reach there.
3. Stoppage of time: Citing Einstein’s ‘Theory of Relativity’, Guillen says that time stops at the cosmic horizon. It is also said about heaven that there is no past, present or future there, rather there is ‘timelessness’.
4. Older than the Big Bang: Modern science believes that the universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old and due to the speed of light (3 lakh km per second) we can see only as far as the light has reached us. Guillen argues that this horizon contains the oldest astronomical objects, which may even predate the ‘Big Bang’.

This is not science, this is pure imagination

This claim of Guillen has shocked and troubled the scientific community. Astronomers have called it an attempt to cook ‘khichdi’ of spirituality with science. Dr. Alex Gianninas, Associate Teaching Professor of Astronomy at Connecticut College, refuted Guillen’s claims, telling Popular Mechanics, ‘The cosmic horizon is not a brick or mortar or a physical place, but is simply a boundary beyond which we cannot see or communicate due to our current technology and the laws of physics.’

Many other scientists also believe that linking scientific events like the Big Bang with religious stories of ‘creation’ is dangerous and misleading. Science talks about evidence, while the claim of heaven beyond the cosmic horizon is purely ‘metaphysics’, which has nothing to do with realistic astronomy. Overall, this claim of address to heaven has become a ‘laughing stock’ in the world of science.