Big Bang theorist gets emotional when learning of scientific evidence supporting his ideas

In the video above, posted by Stanford University, renowned physicist Andrei Linde -- one of the chief authors of the theory of cosmic inflation -- is seen as he learns scientists have discovered direct evidence in support of his ideas about the Big Bang.

Cosmic inflation is the idea that in the earliest moments of the universe, all cosmic matter expanded from nearly-nothingness into a sphere the size of a golf ball -- the matter moving at a speed faster than the speed of light.

Since this early expansion, the universe has been expanding outward a much slower speed.

On Monday, scientists on a project called BICEP2 announced that they'd discovered hard evidence of cosmic inflation.

Chao-Lin Kuo, an assistant professor on the team of scientists which located gravitational waves -- remnants of the Big Bang and cosmic inflation -- delivered the news to Linde, along with a celebratory bottle of champagne.

“Let’s just hope that it is not a trick,” Linde can be heard saying in the video.

[Stanford University]