Cosmology and Controversy - Hardcover

Kragh, Helge

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691026238 ISBN 13: 9780691026237

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1996

Synopsis

For over three millennia, most people could understand the universe only in terms of myth, religion, and philosophy. Between 1920 and 1970, cosmology transformed into a branch of physics. With this remarkably rapid change came a theory that would finally lend empirical support to many long-held beliefs about the origins and development of the entire universe: the theory of the big bang. In this book, Helge Kragh presents the development of scientific cosmology for the first time as a historical event, one that embroiled many famous scientists in a controversy over the very notion of an evolving universe with a beginning in time. In rich detail he examines how the big-bang theory drew inspiration from and eventually triumphed over rival views, mainly the steady-state theory and its concept of a stationary universe of infinite age.


In the 1920s, Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lemaître showed that Einstein's general relativity equations possessed solutions for a universe expanding in time. Kragh follows the story from here, showing how the big-bang theory evolved, from Edwin Hubble's observation that most galaxies are receding from us, to the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Sir Fred Hoyle proposed instead the steady-state theory, a model of dynamic equilibrium involving the continuous creation of matter throughout the universe. Although today it is generally accepted that the universe started some ten billion years ago in a big bang, many readers may not fully realize that this standard view owed much of its formation to the steady-state theory. By exploring the similarities and tensions between the theories, Kragh provides the reader with indispensable background for understanding much of today's commentary about our universe.

About this title

About the Author

Helge Kragh is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oslo. His works include a biography of P.A.M. Dirac.

From the Back Cover

"The ultimate validation of the big-bang theory makes for a fascinating book. Kragh [tells] the story in comprehensive and compelling detail."--Jack Zirker, National Optical Astronomy Observatories

From the Inside Flap

"The ultimate validation of the big-bang theory makes for a fascinating book. Kragh [tells] the story in comprehensive and compelling detail."--Jack Zirker, National Optical Astronomy Observatories

Reviews

Today we take it for granted that the universe began with a big bang. But this has not always been the case. Prior to its wide acceptance as the most probable origin of our universe, the big bang theory had to win over the rival viewpoint of the steady-state theory. Between 1920 and 1970, cosmology became a bonafide branch of physics. Up to this time, people viewed the birth of the universe from the standpoint of religion, philosophy, and myth. Kragh (science history, Univ. of Oslo) presents a detailed, scholarly history of this period of scientific cosmological development, discussing the primary scientists involved in both arguments. Undoubtedly, Kragh's book offers a significant accounting of the debates, discoveries, and events surrounding present-day cosmological theories. Yet the detailed mathematical concepts involved will not be easily understood by the general reader. Recommended primarily for academic libraries, though comprehensive history of science collections in public libraries would benefit as well.?Gloria Maxwell, Kansas City P.L.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691026238
• ISBN 13: 9780691026237
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 520