The story of Zero

“Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept…”

"What are you doing, mon petit?"

"Counting, papa."

"Counting?"

"Yes, counting. Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix!"

"Are you sure you are not missing something?"

"Missing something, papa?"

"Yes, missing, something."

"Oh, papa, not the nought. The nought is nothing."

"That nothing has a name."

"Okay, le zéro then. What's the point of starting with zéro? With nothing? Counting starts at un, not at zéro."

"No, my darling, counting should start at zéro. The first number is zéro. The oldest number is zéro. Le zéro existed before any other number. Shall I tell you the story of zéro?"

"Papa, you have told me this story before."

"Shall I tell it to you again?"

"I'm tired, papa."

"Well I'll start to tell the story. You snuggle down and if you fall asleep, well...., maybe you will dream about le zéro: the first number that ever existed."

"Okay, papa."

"There.... Comfortable?"

"Oui, papa."

"In the beginning. No, before the beginning, before even time began. Before the first year, the first day, the first second. It was the zéro of time, the moment before everything began. Everything was zéro."

"Everything was zéro?"

"Yes. Everything was zéro and zéro was everything."

"So zéro wasn't nothing?"

"No. zéro wasn't nothing. Le zéro was everything, and zéro contained everything, too."

"Zéro contained everything?"

"Yes, everything. The Earth, the Moon the stars, all of the galaxies, all of the planets..."

"Even people?"

"Well, in a way it did. Zéro contained the material that people and all of the animals of the world are made of. So, yes, all of the people, too."

"What about love?"

"What about love?"

"Did zéro include all of the love in the world? Did love come from zéro too?"

"Oui, mon fils, I think it did."

"But how, papa? How did zéro contain everything, including stars and animals and people and love?"

"Well, look at the shape of zéro."

"The shape?"

"Yes, what shape is zéro?"

"Why, it is round of course."

"Yes, and what is in the middle of zéro?"

"Nothing, it is empty."

"No, it is not empty. It is filled with something very important."

"What is it filled with, papa?"

"Space!"

"But space is nothing, papa."

"No, space isn't nothing. Space is something very important. What happens if you empty your toy box and take out all of the toys. What is left inside the box?"

"Space?"

"Yes, space. So much space that you can fit lots of toys in it."

"But what happens when it is full of toys?"

"Well' this is when the zéro before the beginning of everything became much more important than a box of toys. Before the beginning of time, it was the zéro of time, the moment before everything began. Everything was zéro.”

“Everything was zéro.”

“Yes, everything was zéro and zéro was full of something really important. It was full of space. It was also filled with everything else and so it was very, very squashed. All of the stars, the Earth, the Moon, the galaxies, the planets, the creatures, all of the people and all of the love. And so it was that, soon, zéro was full of everything and everything grew and grew and grew and grew until it grew so squashed up that ..."

"Everything went ...... BOOOOM!"

"Yes, everything went boom."

"That must have been a really big bang."

"A big bang... Yes, I think you are right, it must have been a really big bang."

"I'm feeling very sleepy now, papa...."

"Yes, a very big bang.... hmmm..... a big bang... Are you asleep, my boy?"

"Zzzzzz..."

"Yes, indeed, a very big bang.

"And everything that is now in the whole universe began with that big bang, that started from a tiny, little zero, that contained everything that would become the universe we now know, or at least are trying to know."

"Zzzzzz..."

"Sweet dreams, mon petit. You are my everything. My whole world, my universe, my little zéro. And now, mon petit zéro, I must finish writing my paper on the beginning of everything in the universe, to present to the university tomorrow morning…

"Le theory Big Bang."