Cosmology is a field of astronomy that focuses on the framework, and emergence of the universe. Over the years, many cosmologists have contributed to the subject, using many forms of technology, to make a multitude of discoveries. Improvements in technology are responsible for superlative discoveries, chiefly about the Big Bang, the origin of our universe. The works of various cosmologists, such as Galileo Galilei, Edwin Hubble, Robert Dicke, Arno Penzias, Robert Wilson, and Vera Rubin have changed the way humanity views the universe, through their use of technology, and through their brilliance.
Galileo was an Italian astronomer, who lived from 1564 to 1642. In 1609, Galileo learned of the telescope, which is controversially
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believed to be invented by Hans Lippershey, a dutch eyeglass maker. The telescope enables the user to view distant objects in greater clarity and magnification.
After hearing of this great invention, Galileo was quick to develop himself a telescope; providing the means to make revolutionary discoveries about the universe, that accosted orthodox doctrine of the time. In 1609, Galileo first looked up to the heavens with his telescope. In doing so, he discovered Venus’ phases, and some of Jupiter’s moons, which are now named the Galilean moons. The discovery of Venus’ phases showed that Venus orbited the sun, and the discovery of the moons of Jupiter proved not everything orbited the Earth; these were two crucial components of the Copernican theory. The Copernican theory stated that the solar system was heliocentric, which defied Aristotle’s and the church’s doctrine of the geocentric theory. Later, Galileo discovered sunspots, further abnegating Aristotle’s long held doctrine, which stated the sun was perfect. The Catholic Church …show more content…
successfully attempted to silence Galileo, who remained silent for the next seven years; until Galileo’s friend, Pope Urban VIII, was named the pope. Pope Urban VIII encouraged Galileo to study astronomy, on the contingency that Galileo not advocate the Copernican theory. Galileo eventually published a book on the topic, with a believer of the geocentric universe, heliocentric universe, and a person who was neutral on the subject. Galileo claimed the book was nonpartisan, although a bias to the heliocentric theory is evident. With his telescope, Galileo ridiculed orthodox belief, and set the stage for other discoveries. Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer, who lived from 1889 to 1953. Hubble is responsible for many discoveries, most notably being that the universe is expanding; this is called Hubble’s Law. Hubble happened upon his formidable discoveries through the use of a telescopes, although stronger than Galileo’s. Hubble first discovered that the Milky Way was not the only galaxy, while using the telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory. Hubble arrived at the observatory shortly after the completion of the telescope, which was an impressive 100 inch refracting telescope. While using the telescope, Hubble, who was not a lazy man, took copious photographs of an unvarying set of spiral nebulae, which are now known as galaxies. Hubble took scores of photos, to make differentiating them possible. In 1923, he was comparing photographs, Hubble distinguished a star, a Cepheid variable star, that he could use to assess its distance from Earth. Hubble found the brightness, and used this to determine that the star was 900,000 light years away, and part of Andromeda Nebula, which is now the Andromeda Galaxy; although later observations found the star to be two million light years away. The vast distance between the Earth and the star proved that the star was from another galaxy, meaning the MIlky Way was not the only galaxy; disproving the idea the Earth was special even more. An astronomer, named Vesto Slipher, discovered that the galaxies were moving away from one another, by using the Doppler Effect; this is known as red shift. The Doppler Effect is observable when an object is moving away from an observer, as the wavelength gets stretched out, and vice versa for an object moving towards an observer. Hubble, with the help of another astronomer named Milton Humason, thoroughly measured the redshift of the galaxies. Hubble published a crucial paper with their observations, that lead to the realization of an expanding universe. This became known as Hubble’s Law. From Hubble’s data, Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître authored the Big Bang Theory; a theory that the universe began was once an infinitesimally small spot, that exploded, and our expanding universe was born. Some also argue that Lemaître discovered the expansion of the universe before Hubble, although this is still a controversial subject. Robert Dicke was an American nuclear physicist, who lived from 1916 to 1997, who also contributed to cosmology. Dicke worked at the Radiation Laboratory, and invented the Dicke radiometer, a microwave radar, which detects low frequency sounds, and amplifies them. Dicke did a great deal of research on spectroscopy, the study of electromagnetic spectra, as well as his work on the microwave radar. Dicke’s work on spectroscopy lead to the discovery of the quantum theory of the emission of coherent radiation. This theory states that photon statistics are acquired from exact closed-form solutions for twain simulated coherent emissions, and spontaneous emissions by an extensive number of two-level atoms in the Dicke state. Depending on the excitation of the atoms, three different varieties of photon statistics may be emitted onto the radiation field. The moments of the photon number on the emitted field can be calculated on the occurrence of the inchoate states of the photon, as well as the Dicke States. In some cases, photon distributions may undergo extreme fluctuations. Dicke’s discoveries made innovations, such as the laser and microwave radar possible, benefitting researchers greatly. Arno Penzias was a German astronomer who was born in 1933, and is still alive today. Penzias worked with American astronomer Robert Wilson, who was born in 1936, who is also still alive today. Together, Penzias and Wilson discovered Cosmic Background Radiation, using the Holmdel satellite antenna. The satellite antenna allowed an observer to observe low frequency waves on the electromagnetic spectrum. The satellite was constructed by Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey, in 1960. In 1962, the two astronomers were finally able to utilize the antenna, and when they did, they heard a constant noise, similar to static. The men began to check the sky, and the general area for interference, made sure there was no excess radiation, and even drove out pigeons and scrubbed the disk, all in vain. Penzias and Wilson began looking for another cause. A man from Princeton University, Robert Dicke, had been pursuing theories apropos to the Big Bang Theory, and put forth the idea that low energy radiation should be present if the Big Bang Theory was true. Penzias and Wilson came into contact with Dicke, who shared his work with the two scientists, who had been taught the idea of a static, or nonmoving, universe. The three scientists eventually published their research, agreeing in unison about an expanding universe. What these scientists discovered what is now called Cosmic Background Radiation. Cosmic Background Radiation is an unvarying form of radiation that fills the universe, that has a temperature of about 2.76 Kelvin. In other words, this radiation is the afterglow of the explosion that created our universe, the BIg Bang; the radiation was cooled, and lost energy, causing it to be a faint whisper in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. In 1992, John Mather confirmed the static was indeed Cosmic Background Radiation, with the COBE satellite. Cosmic Background Radiation is very strong evidence for the widely accepted Big Bang Theory. Vera Rubin is an American astronomer, born in 1928, who is accredited to discovering the hypothetical dark matter.
Dark matter was first proposed by a man named Fitz Zwicky, who was observing a galaxy cluster, and noticed it was much more massive than to be expected, considering the cluster’s luminosity. Zwicky proposed something that he could not see was there, causing this; he dubbed this dark matter. However, Zwicky was ridiculed for this idea. In the 1960s, Kent Ford designed what is now called a spectrograph, a device that disperses electromagnetic radiation, making the radiation visible to the user. This innovation allowed Ford and Vera Rubin to observe the orbital speeds of stars and gases in galaxies from different distances from the central black hole of that galaxy. When doing so, Rubin observed that the Newtonian laws of gravity. The stars closer to the black hole should have been orbiting it at a more accelerated pace than the stars farther away, although this was not happening. Rubin then lead a team of astronomers to observe many galaxies, and in their observations, they noticed that the galaxies evidently had a form of invisible mass at work. The research team discovered spirals encapsulated in what appears to be dark matter. The mass of dark matter is believed to be far greater than the mass of visible matter in the universe. Dark matter is called dark matter for the reason that it does not appear to interact with regular matter in any form,
by the means of collision or energy absorption, however does have gravitational pull. Dark matter also does not interact with any known wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers can say with conviction dark matter exists, by reason of its affect on its environment. Astronomers calculate the amount of dark matter that exists by its gravitational influence, and by gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing occurs when electromagnetic radiation is distorted when traversing through warped space-time, which occurs from gravity being present. Thanks to Rubin and her team’s work, astronomer’s understanding of the universe has been permanently altered. The work of various cosmologists, such as Galileo Galilei, Edwin Hubble, Robert Dicke, Arno Penzias, Robert Wilson, and Vera Rubin have completely changed humanity’s understanding of our universe, in drastic ways. From these cosmological discoveries, humanity went from believing the Earth was the center of the universe, to understanding how insignificant Earth is, and to come to the realization of how little can be seen. If not for the innovators who created technology, humankind would have never been able to reach this level of understanding; as these discoveries would not have been possible. Although mankind has a great wealth of knowledge, there is still much more to learn for future cosmologists.
Galileo even as a boy seemed destined to challenge the scientific thought of the day. He has often been characterized as a pioneer of rebellion against authority. If that was true then he was only following in his father’s footsteps. His Father, a revolutionary man in the world of music who spoke out against the music theories of his day, was quoted as saying, "It appears to me that those who try to prove an assertion by relying simply on the weight of authority act very absurdly" (White, 196). Galileo continued in his father’s rebellion against contemporary views with his support of a helio-centric-universe, a view previously argued by Copernicus, but for the most part ignored by scientists for its contradiction with the established, church-endorsed system of Ptolemy.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist, often referred to as “the father of modern physics”. He was one of the inventors of the telescope and a strong proponent of Copernicanism. Galileo used his invention to make astronomical observations which supported Copernicus’ heliocentric model of the universe. These discoveries led to a fierce dispute, because they contradicted the theory which was prevalent at the time – that the universe followed a geocentric model, a theory, which had been accepted by the Catholic Church. To address this dispute, Galileo wrote a letter to Tuscany’s Grand Duchess Christina, in which he presented his position on the relation between science and religion, stating that the Bible does not contradict science.
In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish Canon, published “On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs”. The popular view is that Copernicus discovered that the earth revolves around the sun. The notion is as old as the ancient Greeks however. This work was entrusted by Copernicus to Osiander, a staunch Protestant who though the book would most likely be condemned and, as a result, the book would be condemned. Osiander therefore wrote a preface to the book, in which heliocentrism was presented only as a theory which would account for the movements of the planets more simply than geocentrism did, one that was not meant to be a definitive description of the heavens--something Copernicus did not intend. The preface was unsigned, and everyone took it to be the author’s. That Copernicus believed the helioocentric theory to be a true description of reality went largely unnoticed. In addition to the preface, this was partly because he still made reassuring use of Ptolemy's cycles and epicycles; he also borrowed from Aristotle the notion that the planets must move in circles because that is the only perfect form of motion.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian philosopher born in 1564. As an adult, he didn’t believe the universal geocentric theory of the planets and heavens which was established by the Catholic Church. The church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around our planet. Another theory that the Church supported was that the Earth stood still while the sun rose and set every day. Society in the 1500’s believed that the Pope spoke for God through a divine connection and to against the church was to go against God. To speak out against the church in this time was strictly taboo. If one was to speak against the church was considered to be heresy, which is exactly what happened to Galileo. Galileo invented the telescope and began studying the heavens above and noticed that changes within the stars and planets. He noticed that the “stars” that surrounded Jupiter moved. He came to the conclusion through rational thinking, that the Copernicus’ heliocentric theory was correct. Copernicus was a scientist and philosopher whose theory proposed that the sun was stationary and the heavens orbit around the sun. Galileo tried to convince the church not to aboli...
Galileo is one of the greatest scientists in the world, especially at that moment. At that
My client, Nicolaus Copernicus, discovered the Heliocentric or “Sun-centered” theory in 1543. The “Sun-centered” theory explains, that our universe revolves around the Sun and not the Earth. Because of this theory, he is being thrown in jail. For coming up with a sun correct theory! He reached this theories conclusion after a lot of studying and research. He also has evidence to why his theory is true and to why he should not be thrown in jail. The two main reasons to why he does not deserve to be thrown in jail. First, just because Copernicus dedicated one of his books to Pope Paul lll and said that the Catholic church should take things more easily, does not mean he was being rude to the pope. Second, Copernicus also has evidence to support his theory. Also, some might think his argument is weak and they shouldn’t believe him.
Galileo was the first of six children born to Vincenzo Galilei, who was musician and music theorist. In 1583, Galileo entered the University of Pisa to study medicine.
One of the discoveries Galileo made that supported the Heliocentric model was the discoveries of Venus’s four moons. The motions of the moon's proved that not everything in the sky revolves around
Galileo compliments Copernicus on his capability to limit himself from suddenly clarifying the developments of the planets in light of the visual proof that he can see without a telescope, and rather depending on the incentive to control his clarifications. He gives sufficient contentions for Copernicus' model of the close planetary system, having the Sun as the focal point of the nearby planetary group instead of the Earth, and even gives and contradicts counter opinions that I can just accept that how he feels would be the most widely recognized. Galileo clarifies how Copernicus' hypothesis is affirming when taking a gander at the planets in a way that darkens the power of the impressions of light from the sun radiated by the planet, plainly uncovering the planet's size. By utilizing a basic illustration, Galileo affirms Copernicus' hypothesis facilitate when he utilizes the hypothesis to delineate how the planets seem to move ahead, in reverse, then, forward again amid their going through the sky.
Galileo was born on February 15, 1564, and died in Arcetri, near Florence, Italy, on January 8, 1642, after suffering from a fever and heart palpitations. He is known for being the father of space. Galileo is the most famous astronomer. Galileo was the first of six children born to Vincenzo Galilei, a well-known musician and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati. In 1574, the family moved to Florence, where Galileo started his formal education at the Camaldolese monastery in Vallombrosa. Galileo quickly found a new position at the University of Padua, teaching geometry, mechanics and astronomy. In 1600, Galileo met Marina Gamba, a Venetian woman, they had three children, daughters Virginia and Livia, and son Vincenzo. He never married Marina, due to financial worries and possibly fearing his illegitimate children would threaten his social standing. When Galileo’s father had died in 1591, it left Galileo entrusted with the care of his younger brother Michelagnolo. During his 18-year tenure at Padua, he gave entertaining lectures and attracted large crowds of followers, further increasing his fame and his sense of mission. In 1610 Galileo wrote a book named, “The Starry Messenger” revealing Galileo’s discoveries that the moon was not flat and smooth but a sphere with mountains and craters.
Galileo Galilei, a science and mathematics professor Born on February 15, 1564, in Pisa, Italy, was a man who pioneered observations of the universe and physics. His studies led to the foundations of modern physics and astronomy. Galileo, also an innovator, made improvements on what is known today as the telescope, which he used to make his astronomical observations and discoveries. Although his observations made with the telescope set ground to the heliocentric model of our solar system, it would also kindle attention to his work and create controversy between him and the catholic church. Furthermore, the Catholic Church attempted to make it impossible for Galileo to express his theories by; modifying his documents making them sounds anti-religious,
The bottom line is that historical sciences (in this case, cosmology) can make testable predictions: the existence of background radiation and its properties, the distribution of light isotopes, the presence of galaxy evolution, the age constraint, and so on. The same goes with evolutionary biology, another historical science.
Much to the dismay of the Church, two astronomers Galileo and Kepler had the audacity to challenge the authorities by suggesting that the sun-not the earth-was at the center of the universe. The church had a stronghold on the way the spiritual and physical world worked, so these discoveries only added to the Church’s resistance to their aims. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world functioned. These ancient truths were widely held but were inconsistent with the new observations that they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet would move in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with his discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his finding b...
Galileo was probably the greatest astronomer, mathematician and scientist of his time. In fact his work has been very important in many scientific advances even to this day.
Throughout the mid-20th century, the Big Bang theory and the steady-state theory dominated scientific thinking about the origin of the universe; however, discoveries in the1960s dealt a serious blow to the steady-state model. The discover of radiation in microwaves hurt the steady-state theory. Following World War II, Martin Ryle led a study at Cambridge in which he tested over 2,000 different radio sources from outside the Milky Way, and he concluded that the different radio sources showed a different distribution, thus supporting the Big Bang theory (“Big Bang” 1). In the early 1960s, Robert Dicke of Princeton University verified Gamow’s idea that there was a microwave background in the sky consistent with an initial explosion (Cowen, “Journey” 394). Further support for the Big Bang model came in 1963 when two scientists