Cosmology: Understanding the Evolution of the Universe

Cosmology: Understanding the Evolution of the Universe — page 5
CoSMOLOGY UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE The first great age of scientific cosmology began in Greece in the 6th century BCE when the Pythagoreans introduced the concept of a spherical Earth In approximately 170 CE one predominant theory espoused by the Greek culture and Ptolemy of Alexandria in par ticular was a geocentric one This theory was based upon the concept that the Earth was at the center of the universe A number of scientists and deep thinkers offered a variety of theories over the ensuing years Of particular significance was 16th century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus who ushered in the second great age of cos mology when he developed the heliocentric concept of the solar system which placed the Sun at the center with Earth and the other planets continually orbiting it Albert Einstein one of the most brilliant scientists of the 2oth century is another individual who contributed much to our understanding of cosmology At the top of the list was his approach to thinking about time matter space energy and gravity He pub lished his revolutionary theory of relativity in 1916 which marked the beginning of the third great age of cosmology The most popular answer to the question about how our universe came to be is known 10