What did people think of big bang theory?

Answer 1

At first, many eminent scientists had trouble reconciling the notion of an expanding universe with their convictions. Albert Einstein, for instance, did not accept the notion until the evidence for it had become almost overwhelming, favouring, like many others, the idea of a static universe. For the next few decades, scientific support was pretty evenly divided over Steady State and Big Bang.

It wasn't until 1965 that, with the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the scientific consensus swayed overwhelmingly towards supporting the Big Bang theory. Today, of course, it is the accepted model, the consensus view.