Cosmology?
Cosmology is the study of the origin,
evolution, and eventual fate of the universe. Physical cosmology is the
scientific study of the universe's origin, its large-scale structures and
dynamics, and its ultimate fate, as well as the scientific laws that govern
these areas.
The term cosmology was first used in English
in 1656 in Thomas Blount's Glossographia, and in 1731 taken up in Latin by
German philosopher Christian Wolff, in Cosmologia Generalis.
Religious or mythological cosmology is a body
of beliefs based on mythological, religious, and esoteric literature and
traditions of creation myths and eschatology.
Physical cosmology is studied by scientists,
such as astronomers and physicists, as well as philosophers, such as metaphysicians,
philosophers of physics, and philosophers of space and time. Because of this
shared scope with philosophy, theories in physical cosmology may include both
scientific and non-scientific propositions and may depend upon assumptions that
cannot be tested. Cosmology differs from astronomy in that the former is
concerned with the Universe as a whole while the latter deals with individual
celestial objects. Modern physical cosmology is dominated by the Big Bang
theory, which attempts to bring together observational astronomy and particle physics;
more specifically, a standard parameterization of the Big Bang with dark matter
and dark energy, known as the Lambda-CDM model.
Theoretical astrophysicist David N. Spergel
has described cosmology as a "historical science" because "when
we look out in space, we look back in time" due to the finite nature of
the speed of light.
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