World-renowned astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell last night said metaphysics must be invoked to explain the origins of the universe since science alone is not capable of providing an answer.

Speaking to a less than capacity crowd at the Ford Hall Forum series, Sir Bernard said the laws of physics prevent mankind from completely understanding such distant points of time.

Sir Bernard's lecture, entitled "Man, His Universe, and His Environment," described the most recent evidence concerning the nature and the origin of the planetary systems which he said are provided by techniques of radio astronomy.

Radio astronomy, a field founded by Sir Bernard, is currently being used with "amazing and alarming duplicity" to benefit powerful nations like the United States and the Soviet Union, Sir Bernard said.

He noted that the rockets that formerly carried aloft Sputnik and Telstar now are being used to launch nuclear warheads.

Confusion over the title of Sir Bernard's lecture caused many people in the audience to leave when the speaker began discussing radio astronomy rather than ecologically-oriented questions commonly associated with environment.

He did, however, refer to environmental problems related to pollution later in his speech. Sir Bernard said pollution is changing the temperature of the earth, a factor he considered harmful to human life.

The Ford Hall Forum, which sponsors the programs, presents weekly lectures by notable figures. It is funded by private contributions.