Back to Search Start Over

Universe, Origins of.

Authors :
Christian, David
Source :
Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History; 2005, Vol. 5, p1918-1924, 7p, 1 Black and White Photograph
Publication Year :
2005

Abstract

The article focuses on the significance of the origin of Universe. In all cultures, accounts of the histories of particular communities are embedded in accounts of the history of landscapes, animals, the earth, the stars, and the universe as a whole. On the surface, origin stories often seem utterly different from each other. But all are attempts to grapple with the same fundamental questions. Many origin stories begin with a sort of nothingness out of which something appears without any clear explanation of how and why. Many origin stories posit an initial state of chaos that is not quite existence and not quite nonexistence; then, out of this state arise both existence and nonexistence. Modern scientific origin stories face the same questions and paradoxes, but they try to deal with them without supposing the existence of gods or even of intentionality. The origin myths of medieval Europe, from which modern cosmology evolved, described how God created a universe whose shape and movements could be described rationally within the cosmological models of the Egyptian astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. The development of the theory of thermodynamics in the nineteenth century suggested another problem; in an infinitely old universe all useful energy ought to have dissipated into heat, leaving no free energy to create or sustain complex objects such as stars, planets, and living beings.

Details

Language :
English
ISBNs :
9780974309101
Volume :
5
Database :
Supplemental Index
Journal :
Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History
Publication Type :
Reference
Accession number :
18975741