The question of where atoms come from requires a lot of physics to be answered completely – and even then, physicists only have good guesses to explain how some atoms are formed.

Why did they form at that time? Astronomers know from observing distant exploding stars that the size of the universe has been getting bigger since the Big Bang. When the hydrogen and helium atoms ...

Many heavy atoms form from a supernova explosion, the remnants of which are shown in this image. NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage ...

Now, most of the atoms in the universe are the two simplest kinds: hydrogen, which has one proton, zero neutrons and one electron; and helium, which has two protons, two neutrons and two electrons.

Almost everything on Earth is made up of atoms, but where do these fundamental building blocks come from?

Richard Feynman, a famous theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize, said that if he could pass on only one piece of ...