A Brief History of Cosmology

What is The difference between astronomy and Cosmology? Astronomy is the branch of science that studies celestial objects, such as stars, black holes and galaxies Cosmology is the science of the origin, evolution and eventual fate of the universe. Cosmologists look at the Big Picture, and has some element of philosophy. Physical Cosmology tries to understand the science behind how the universe came to be Mythological and Religious Cosmology tries to understand, from a more philosophical perspective, WHY we are here.

How has cosmology evolved over time? Almost all early civilizations and nomadic tribes had a cosmology grounded in religion or spiritualty That is to say, they believed some power, god, or spirit created the Earth, Sun, Moon and Stars Most of these groups had some concept of an afterlife, a version of heaven and hell, or the idea of reincarnation Monotheism vs Pantheism Monotheism is the belief that there is a single god. Pantheism is the belief that there are multiple gods.

A GEOCENTRIC WORLD Known as the Geocentrism, this is a model with the Earth at the centre of the Universe, and the Sun, Moon, and all other stars revolved around the Earth. This theory evolved in Greek times, gaining force with the philosopher Ptolemy, 100AD – 160AD. This was the predominant theory for over 16 centuries, and aligned with most people’s spiritual and religious views.

A HELIOCENTRIC MODEL In the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a model that had the Sun at the centre of the Solar System. This proposal was called Heliocentrism and was later supported by Galileo Galilei. Heliocentrism was considered such a dangerous concept that the Pope in Rome banned all writings that advocated for the idea The Church convicted Galileo of heresy, and he was imprisoned for the remainder of his life. It took over 300 years for the Church to admit that Galileo was right and clear his name.

Using the data to formulate a theory For decades after Galileo, geocentric scientists tried to fit the scientific data in their geocentric model. This is the best they could come up with. Suddenly, all the data made much more sense, and a logical model was laid out with the Sun at the centre of the solar system. From this theory, key concepts such as gravity were developed.

WHERE ARE WE GOING WITH OUR COSMOLOGY UNIT? Understanding what the Big Bang was, and the steps of our Universe’s development Understanding how we KNOW the Big Bang actually happened The hypotheses of how our Universe will end A closer look at various interesting parts of our Universe: Dark matter and dark energy Black holes Space exploration and travel to other planets Extra-terrestrial life? Single universe vs multi-verse? WHERE ARE WE GOING WITH OUR COSMOLOGY UNIT?

Let’s start with something a little closer to home… On your table, you have a blank sheet of paper. With your partner, draw the planets of our solar system, and their relative size, compared to one another. When drawing your planets, colour them based on your best understanding of their real life colours… Let’s start with something a little closer to home…