The best scientific estimate for the age of our physical universe is 13.7 billion years (plus or minus 1%).
Einstein's general theory of relativity in 1916 set the stage for the prediction of a background of cosmic radiation and the Big Bang theory later in the 20th century. The observation of the cosmic microwave background in 1965 provided powerful support for the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe, and resulted in the 1978 Nobel Prize. But the best estimates from the background gave a rather inaccurate measure of the age of the universe. Subsequent refinement to the original theory predicted small differences in the background, and in 1989 the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) was launched to make measurements. It found those differences at one part in 100,000.
After the observation of small differences in the microwave background in 1992, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) was proposed in 1995. It was launched in 2001 and obits at the L2 Lagrange point 1.5 million km from earth. WMAP makes very precise measurements of the temperature and polarization fluctuations in the cosmic microwaves. The first data analysis was released in 2003, and improving precision in the data measurements have resulted in the age quoted at the start.
Don't blind the ignorant with science; it'll only confuse them.
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