I've recently been listening to some talks by Peter Atkins, who is a chemist and popular science writer, and I've heard him a couple of times talk about the beginning of the universe in terms of "nothing coming from nothing." This is because he says that current data in cosmology tentatively indicates that the universe might have a total energy of 0, and, therefore, the universe ought not be considered to be something coming from nothing, but nothing separating into its component, self-annihilating parts.
Is there a name for this theory in physics? Does it have many proponents? Can anyone elaborate on it for me?