Editorial note to "The beginning of the world from the point of view of quantum theory"

This is an editorial note to accompany reprinting as a Golden Oldie in the Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation of the famous note by Georges Lemaitre on the quantum birth of the universe, published in Nature in 1931. We explain why this short (457 words) article can be considered to be the true "Charter" of the modern Big Bang theory.