Chapter 1: Understanding Ylem

Ylem is a term that encapsulates the essence of what we are made of... hypothetically speaking.

Today's New York Times Spelling Bee presents the following letters:

Art: Iva Reztok

A, E, L, M, N, T, and the center letter Y (all words must include Y).

Merriam-Webster states… Credit: merriam-webster.com

Oh, the irony! The term "ylem" seems to be dismissed by the New York Times, despite its validity. If you wish to uncover more intriguing insights, take a look at the Spelling Bee Master. What’s your top word from today’s puzzle?

My Two Cents

The New York Times is certainly aware of "ylem." I did my homework. Don't take my word for it; check the online edition yourself. Here’s what I found: a book review on George Gamow, a figure pivotal in the Big Bang Theory (the scientific concept, not the television series), a mention of a Hollywood boutique named Ylem, and an article about a contestant at the Scripps National Spelling Bee who stumbled over the word "ylem."

The irony isn't lost on me, dear reader. There exists a piece in the New York Times (the same paper featuring the Spelling Bee I contribute to) that discusses a Spelling Bee where "ylem" was noted, yet today it was omitted from the game's accepted words.

What’s even more astonishing is that the article about Gamow's book includes this snippet:

"Some unknown primordial material subject to scientific laws was compressed. Gamow refers to this product as 'ylem,' which Webster describes as 'the first substance from which elements were believed to be formed.'"

The New York Times cites the definition of "ylem" according to Webster’s! This is the same organization that is now known as Merriam-Webster (after G & C Merriam Co. acquired the rights to Noah Webster's dictionary posthumously in 1843). Interestingly, the definition from 1952 aligns closely with the current one.

I feel as though I’ve caught the New York Times red-handed! If I had the following of Tim Denning or Jessica Wildfire, this revelation might just go viral, making me a Medium Millionaire.

Origin of a Universe

According to the dictionary, "ylem" (pronounced ih-lem or I-lem) traces back to Middle English, influenced by Middle French "ilem," likely derived from Medieval Latin "hylem," which is the accusative form of "hyle," meaning "matter," originating from Latin and Greek "hylē."

In an interview from 1968, just months before his passing, George Gamow speculated a potential Hebrew origin for the term.

Gamow: "These photos may be old, but I compiled them together—this is Alpher, Herman, and me, and here is YLEM…"

Weiner: "What does YLEM signify in this context?"

Gamow: "Consult the Webster dictionary. This is a word; I believe it has Hebrew roots, but Aristotle used it too. In Webster’s dictionary, it states 'material from which elements were formed.'"

Weiner: "The primordial substance?"

Gamow: "Exactly—the primordial substance, ylem."

Weiner: "Isn't that akin to a thick soup or something similar?"

Gamow: "This is an old Hebrew word meaning something like 'the space between heaven and earth.'"

The Alpher mentioned by Gamow is Ralph Alpher, the lead author of a landmark paper published in 1948 that asserted the Big Bang produced hydrogen, helium, and other elements in the right ratios to account for their prevalence in the nascent universe. This paper is formally titled "The Origin of Chemical Elements," but is better known as the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper.

Gamow, who mentored Alpher, humorously decided to give this serious work a whimsical title. He included his friend and physicist Hans Bethe as a coauthor, arranging their names alphabetically to create the phrase "alpha-beta-gamma," referencing the first three letters of the Greek alphabet.

Much like Gamow, Alpher also claimed to have discovered "ylem" in the dictionary, using it to describe the primordial plasma that underwent Big Bang nucleosynthesis. This charged plasma eventually transitioned into neutral atoms, rendering the universe "transparent" at roughly 380,000 years.

In essence, "ylem" represents what Alpher and Gamow believed existed immediately following the actual "big bang." Interestingly, Alpher and another scientist, Robert Herman, predicted that the high-energy photons present in the ylem would still be detectable today as ambient cosmic microwave background radiation, a hypothesis they proposed back in 1948—and they were correct!

The Origin of a Term

Today, billions around the world recognize the term "Big Bang," even if they might not grasp the intricate details of what transpired before, during, and after. Surprisingly, this phrase had gained fame long before any TV show intro popularized it.

The tale of the individual who actually coined the term serves as a lesson on the pitfalls of being too clever.

Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître (known only to me as "Le maître") was a Belgian priest, theoretical physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and professor of physics who made significant contributions in the early 20th century, a time when being a scientist and a person of faith were not seen as mutually exclusive.

Lemaître was the first to propose that the universe was expanding from a beginning he described as a "burst of fireworks." To him, galaxies resembled glowing embers radiating outward in a growing sphere from the center of that explosion. Not only was he a priest, theoretical physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and professor of physics… he was also somewhat of a poet.

Naturally, Lemaître's theory met initial resistance. Even Albert Einstein dismissed him, saying, "Your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious." Undeterred, Lemaître persisted and eventually formulated what is now known as Hubble's law, which asserts that "galaxies move away from Earth at speeds proportional to their distance." He published this in 1927, two years prior to Hubble, yet the credit went to the American astronomer. It wasn't until 2018 that the International Astronomical Union rectified this long-standing oversight by renaming it the Hubble–Lemaître law.

By the 1940s and 50s, as previously mentioned, Alpher and Gamow further refined Lemaître's concept of a "burst of fireworks" into what we now call the Big Bang Theory—though that name hadn’t yet been adopted.

Enter Sir Fred Hoyle, an English astronomer who developed the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis but also opposed the Big Bang Theory, a term he himself coined—possibly in a derisive manner—during a 1949 BBC Radio broadcast. In his talk, he remarked, "These theories were based on the hypothesis that all matter in the universe was created in one big bang at a specific time in the distant past."

Hoyle insisted that he did not intend the term to be negative, claiming it was "just a striking image meant to underscore the differences between the two models." Ironically, he inadvertently popularized the very scientific theory he opposed by bestowing it a memorable name. Alas, Hoyle lacked Gamow's sense of humor; otherwise, he might have inscribed that fact on his gravestone.

In conclusion, we've delved into ylem and demonstrated that the New York Times was aware of this term 70 years ago. Yet, despite this compelling evidence, the editors of the Spelling Bee have deemed "ylem" to be a dord.

You can check my previous entry on another dord here:

Chapter 2: The Videos Behind Ylem

In the first video, "DARK FORTRESS - Ylem (OFFICIAL VIDEO)," we explore the artistic representation of ylem through captivating visuals and sound.

The second video, "YLEM - Episode 2 | Antoine Martin (Windsurfing in Fiji - Extreme Cloudbreak)," showcases the exhilarating sport of windsurfing, paralleling the dynamic and ever-expanding nature of the universe.