History of Ideas About Cosmology

By eassle_01

  • Isaac Newton

    Laws of motion, law of universal gravitation, basis for classical physics

  • William Herschel

    William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, hypothesized that nebulae are composed of stars, and developed a theory of stellar evolution.

  • Pierre-Simon Laplace

    Pierre-Simon Laplace is highly regarded for his influential five-volume treatise “Traité de mécanique céleste” (Celestial mechanics; 1799-1825), which developed a strong mathematical understanding of the motion of the heavenly bodies, including several anomalies and inequalities that were noticed in their orbits. Laplace suggested that the nature of the universe is completely deterministic.

  • Percival Lawrence Lowell

    Percival Lawrence Lowell was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars.

  • William De Sitter

    Willem De Sitter came up with a solution to Einstein field equations of General Relativity, It models the universe as spatially flat and neglects ordinary matter, so the dynamics of the universe are dominated by the cosmological constant.

  • Albert Einstein

    Albert Einstein developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.

  • Monsignor Georges Lemaître

    Monsignor Georges Lemaître is usually credited with the first definitive formulation of the idea of an expanding universe and what was to become known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe, which Lemaître himself called his “hypothesis of the primeval atom” or the “Cosmic Egg”.

  • Fred Hoyle

    Sir Fred Hoyle is primarily remembered today for his contribution to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis, and his often controversial stance on other cosmological and scientific matters, such as his rejection of the Big Bang theory in favour of a steady state universe and the panspermia theory of the origin of life on earth.

  • Arno Allan and Penzias Robert Wilson

    Arno Allan and Penzias Robert Wilson were co-discoverers of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which helped establish the Big Bang theory of cosmology.