Article ID: CBB496222735

The evolution of modern cosmology as seen through a personal walk across six decades (2018)

unapi

This highly personal account of evolution of cosmology spans a period of approximately six decades 1959–2017. It begins when in 1959 the author, as an undergraduate at Cambridge, was attracted to the subject by the thought provoking lectures by Fred Hoyle as well as by his popular books The Nature of Universe and The Frontiers of Astronomy. The result was that after a successful performance at the Mathematical Tripos (Part III) examination, he enrolled as a research student of Hoyle. In this article the author describes the interesting works in cosmology that kept him busy both in Cambridge and in India. The issues pertinent to cosmological research in the 1960s and 1970s included the Mach’s principle, the Wheeler-Feynman theory relating the local electromagnetic arrow of time to the cosmological one, the observational tests of specific expanding universe models, and issues like singularity in quantum cosmology. However, post-1965, the nature of cosmological research changed dramatically with the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). Given the assumption that the CMBR is a relic of big bang there has been a host of papers on the early universe, going as close to the big bang as the very early universe would permit: around just 10−36 s. The author argues that despite the popularity of the standard hot big bang cosmology (SBBC) it rests on rather shaky foundations. On the theoretical side there is no well established physical framework to support the SBBC; nor is there independent observational support for its assumptions like the nonbaryonic dark matter, inflation and dark energy. While technological progress has made it possible to explore the universe in greater detail with open mind, today’s cosmologists seem caught in a range of speculations in support of the big bang dogma. Thus, in modern times cosmology appears to have lost the Camelot spirit encouraging adventurous studies of the unknown. A spirit of openness is advocated to restore cosmology to its rightful position as the flagship of astronomy.

...More
Citation URI
data.isiscb.org/p/isis/citation/CBB496222735

This citation is part of the Isis database.

Similar Citations

Article Kragh, Helge; (2014)
Naming the Big Bang (/p/isis/citation/CBB001320693/) unapi

Book Paul Halpern; (2021)
Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate (/p/isis/citation/CBB915309033/) unapi

Article Holder, Rodney; (2012)
Lemaïtre and Hoyle: Contrasting Characters in Science and Religion (/p/isis/citation/CBB001200887/) unapi

Article Brustein, Ram; Kupferman, Judy; (2012)
The Creation of the World---According to Science (/p/isis/citation/CBB001251462/) unapi

Article Helge Kragh; (2022)
Philosophical Contexts of the Steady-State Universe (/p/isis/citation/CBB046936762/) unapi

Article Bussey, Peter J.; (2013)
God as First Cause---A Review of the Kalam Argument (/p/isis/citation/CBB001200885/) unapi

Article Overduin, James; Blome, Hans-Joachim; Hoell, Josef; (2007)
Wolfgang Priester: From the Big Bounce to the Λ-Dominated Universe (/p/isis/citation/CBB000931260/) unapi

Book Mather, John C.; Boslough, John; (2008)
The Very First Light: The True inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe (/p/isis/citation/CBB000951874/) unapi

Book Peebles, P. J. E.; Page, Lyman A.; Partridge, R. B.; (2009)
Finding the Big Bang (/p/isis/citation/CBB000952838/) unapi

Book Richard S. Ellis; (2022)
When Galaxies Were Born: The Quest for Cosmic Dawn (/p/isis/citation/CBB346498986/) unapi

Book Gold, Thomas; Mitton, Simon; (2012)
Taking the Back off the Watch: A Personal Memoir (/p/isis/citation/CBB001213210/) unapi

Book Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Wickramasinghe, Kamala; (2005)
A Journey with Fred Hoyle: The Search for Cosmic Life (/p/isis/citation/CBB000501498/) unapi

Article Lepeltier, Thomas; (2006)
Fred Hoyle, entre science et fiction: II. Les origines cosmiques de la vie (/p/isis/citation/CBB000720164/) unapi

Article Lepeltier, Thomas; (2006)
Fred Hoyle, entre science et fiction: I. Cosmologie (/p/isis/citation/CBB000720163/) unapi

Article Kragh, Helge; (2010)
An Anthropic Myth: Fred Hoyle's Carbon-12 Resonance Level (/p/isis/citation/CBB001022012/) unapi

Book Gingerich, Owen; (2014)
God's Planet (/p/isis/citation/CBB001422065/) unapi

Book Gregory, Jane; (2005)
Fred Hoyle's Universe (/p/isis/citation/CBB000640797/) unapi

Book Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Burbidge, Geoffrey; Narlikar, Jayant V.; (2003)
Fred Hoyle's Universe: Proceedings of a Conference Celebrating Fred Hoyle's Extraordinary Contribution to Science, 25--26 June 2002, Cardiff University (/p/isis/citation/CBB000640798/) unapi

Book Mitton, Simon; (2005)
Conflict in the Cosmos: Fred Hoyle's Life in Science (/p/isis/citation/CBB000640446/) unapi

Book Lowell Gustafson; Barry Rodrigue; David Blanks; (2022)
Science, Religion and Deep Time (/p/isis/citation/CBB378495388/) unapi

Authors & Contributors
Kragh, Helge S.
Lepeltier, Thomas
Mitton, Simon A.
Wickramasinghe, Chandra
Blome, Hans-Joachim
Boslough, John
Journals
Revue des Questions Scientifiques
Science and Christian Belief
Archive for History of Exact Sciences
Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
HOPOS
Publishers
Basic Books
Taylor & Francis
Cambridge University Press
Harvard University Press
Joseph Henry Press
Kluwer Academic
Concepts
Cosmology
Big bang theory
Astronomy
Science and religion
Universe
Biographies
People
Hoyle, Fred
Gamow, George
Copernicus, Nicolaus
Craig, William Lane
Darwin, Charles Robert
Gold, Thomas
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, late
21st century
20th century, early
Places
Great Britain
England
Institutions
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment