History of Cosmological Models| History of Cosmological Models |
Ancient Western Models
* Idea: Until Galileo's
observations much later, the universe consisted in the Sun, Moon, 5 planets,
and the fixed stars; The western world accepted the idea of changes in the
cosmos only after Tycho.
* Earliest sites: Nabta
(Egyptian desert, 5000–3000 BC); Stonehenge (England, 3000–2000 BC).
* Mesopotamians: For astrological reasons.
Aristarchos of Samos
* History: First to propose
a heliocentric model; his original work on this was lost, but is mentioned
by Archimedes; Rejected by Aristotelians, the idea lay dormant until Copernicus,
and his values for the sizes and distances of the Sun (too small by a factor 20)
and Moon (close) were accepted only in the XVII century.
Aristotelian
* Idea: Geometric celestial
spheres bounded by a sphere of fixed stars (bounded universe inherited from
mythology).
Stoic (ca 300 BC, Zeno of Citium)
* Idea: Finite cosmos of stars in an infinite void.
* History: Revived
in the late middle ages, influenced by the scientific revolution.
Early Models
* Eudoxus of Cnidus: Spheres for the motion of the planets.
* Epicurus of Samos:
(See ca 70 BC Lucretius, De rerum natura) Uniform material
universe of unlimited extent, with worlds scattered in an infinite
void; All matter is composed of atoms, regulated by natural laws.
* Ptolemy:
(II century AD) The most complete geocentric model.
Middle Ages
@ General references: Duhem 85;
Gangui CH(05)-a0806 [Dante and the cosmos of the XIII century].
@ Specific topics: Van Helden 85;
Ginzburg 92 [Menocchio, 1500s];
Buonanno & Quercellini NA(09)-a0812 [Dante's cosmography];
Koltachykhina a1303-conf
[religion and cosmological ideas in Ukraine, XI to XVII century];
Bower et al PRS(14)-a1403,
Sparavigna IJS(14)-a1404
[Robert Grosseteste's "medieval multiverse" and cosmology].
Renaissance and Other Intermediate Western Models
XVI Century
* Tycho Brahe: Mixed
model, with the Sun and Moon revolving around Earth, and the other planets
around the Sun; But was a good observer.
* Copernicus: First modern heliocentric model.
* Menocchio: Italian miller,
thought that the world is self-created, from chaos, like cheese from milk.
XVII Century
* Idea: It was still
thought that interplanetary space was filled with normal air (although the
experiments proposed by Pascal on the thinning of the air with altitude
had already given positive results).
* Descartes: Non-atomic
material system of indefinite extent (Aristotelian and Epicurean).
* Fontenelle: Plurality of worlds.
* Galileo: First use
of telescope in astronomy; Support of heliocentric ideas.
* Kepler: Elliptical
orbits around the Sun; Three laws of planetary motion.
@ References: Graney a0903 [Galileo, Marius, and Tycho's geocentric model].
Newton (Epicurean and Stoic)
* Idea: Atomic
material system of finite size in an infinite void.
* History: Newton
later on became Epicurean, due to the realized instability of a finite
system (didn't consider rotation, proposed later by Wright); The
instability of a static uniform distribution is solved by Providence.
Newtonian Cosmology
@ References: Milne QJM(34),
QJM(34);
McCrea & Milne QJM(34).
XVIII Century
* Herschel:
The Milky Way is made of stars; First 3D image of the Milky Way.
* Kant: Island universes.
@ References: Ayala ASP-a1301.
XIX Century
* History: Fraunhofer,
identification of spectral lines in sunlight; 1895, Boltzmann hinted
at the possibility of expanding systems of stars.
* Entropic creation argument:
An argument for the idea that the universe must have had a beginning, based on the
second law of thermodynamics applied to the universe a a whole; Introduced in the
late 1860s, although earlier versions of it can be found; Much discussed during the
subsequent decades and used in support of divine creation; The debate declined around 1920
but traces of it can still be found in the modern literature on cosmology and religion
[@ Kragh HSPBS(07)].
@ References: Molaro & Cappi a1506-proc [Edgar Allan Poe's cosmological views, as precursor to dynamical cosmology].
Non-Western Cosmologies > s.a. cosmological models.
@ Various cultures: Rech(96)nov, p62 [Amazonian];
Kak in(00)phy/98,
ALB-phy/01 [Puranic],
phy/02 [cyclic universe],
in(05)phy/03 [Babylonian and Indian],
in(05)phy/03 [Greek and Indian];
Narayan a0705 [Indian];
Kak a0903-conf [India].
References > s.a. cosmological
history; history of cosmology [models after 1900].
@ General: Kuhn 57;
Munitz 57;
Koestler 59;
Crowe 90;
Brush SA(92)aug;
Crowe 94;
Ferguson 99 [obs];
Kragh 04 [philosophical and religious context];
Park 05;
Kragh 07;
North 08 [and astronomy];
Hetherington & Hetherington 09;
Luminet Cosm-a1604
[from creation in ancient traditions to the Big bang theory];
Smolinski 17 [I, and astronomy].
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send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – modified 10 may 2017