The Definition and History of Cosmology

The branch of astronomy that includes the origin and evolution of the universe is Cosmology. It involves everything from Big Bang to today’s space discoveries and expected future findings in space. NASA defines cosmology as “the scientific study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole". Cosmologists try to resolve space mysteries like string theory, dark matter, and dark energy and even about multiverse.

The history of cosmology takes us to the 16^th century when Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus suggested that Earth and the other nine planets in the solar system orbits around Sun. It created a deep shift in the understanding about cosmos. The dawn of twentieth century brought further sides to comprehend such a vast universe. The distance to a fuzzy nebulous object in the sky was calculated by Edwin Hubble and was able to determine that it lay outside Milky Way Galaxy. It provided with the fact that our galaxy is like a small drop in enormous universe.

By: Bhavna Sharma

Content: www.space.com