Cosmological Beliefs

At the Princeton meeting "Critical Dialogues in Cosmology" Martin Rees gave some introductory remarks in which he plotted the degree of belief about cosmological paradigms as a function of time. The following table is a loose interpretation of his overhead transparencies.

Belief Today History

The Universe is expanding > 99

from a hot big bang 99

in which the light elements were synthesized. 95

There was a period of inflation 70

which led to a "flat" universe today. 50

Structure was seeded by gaussian irregularities 90

which are the relics of quantum fluctuations 50

and is dominated by cold dark matter. 50

Year

The history of how strongly cosmologists have believed their theoretical ideas, adapted from Martin Rees' introduction to the meeting held to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of Princeton University.

The history of how strongly cosmologists have believed their theoretical ideas, adapted from Martin Rees' introduction to the meeting held to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of Princeton University.
Belief	Today	History
The Universe is expanding	> 99
from a hot big bang	99
in which the light elements were synthesized.	95
There was a period of inflation	70
which led to a "flat" universe today.	50
Structure was seeded by gaussian irregularities	90
which are the relics of quantum fluctuations	50
and is dominated by cold dark matter.	50
Year

Martin White & Douglas Scott