Abstract
Within less than a century, our conception of the Universe has dramatically changed. While it was considered possible until the 1920s that the Universe could be static and the size of the Milky Way galaxy, we now have precise ideas on its age, evolution, geometry, contents and the way how its structures may have originated and developed. Describing how this rapid change of our world model was possible is the goal of this contribution. Beginning with Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, I summarise the evolution of cosmological ideas in parallel with the accumulation of observational evidence. Cosmological expansion, the age of the Universe, the origin of the chemical elements, the steady-state model, the arguments for and the discovery of relics of a hot beginning, the ideas on dark matter and the evolution of cosmic structures are the main items discussed. The essay ends with cosmological inflation and the discovery of accelerated expansion.
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Bartelmann, M. (2012). Development of Cosmology: From a Static Universe to Accelerated Expansion. In: Falkenburg, B., Rhode, W. (eds) From Ultra Rays to Astroparticles. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5422-5_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5422-5_3
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