History of the Universe and its Future
In the night sky, we see many
twinkling lights. That’s haven -in the mind of early humans. They were
overwhelmed by the glittering night sky, giving birth to Astronomy- the oldest
of the natural sciences. Dating back to antiquity, astronomy is deeply rooted
in human religion, mythology, cosmology, calendars, beliefs, and practices. We
believed that celestial objects revolve around the Earth until the Renaissance
came to astronomy with the work of Nicolaus Copernicus in the 16th century.
Human inquisitiveness has broadened our understanding of the universe. However,
the fundamental question still remains-how the universe came into existence?
The most accepted current theory of it, the Big Bang, is not without its
opposing school of thought among scientists. In this section, we shall explore
the different thoughts of scientists about the origin of the universe, the Big
Bang particularly in detail, and the future of the universe. Will the currently
expanding universe fade away? Or, there will be a ‘Big Crunch’ followed by
another Big Bang? Are there multiverse, instead of a single universe? What is
the driving force of the ever-expanding universe? – Dark matter and dark
energy, or something else?