Book contents
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Physical cosmology: A brief introduction
- Part II Discovery of the CMB and current cosmological orthodoxy
- Part III What constitutes an unorthodoxy? An epistemological framework of cosmology
- Part IV Moderate unorthodoxies: The CMB with the Big Bang
- Part V Radical unorthodoxies: The CMB without the Big Bang
- 18 Motivations
- 19 Hoyle–Narlikar theory and the changing masses origin of the CMB
- 20 Revised steady state
- 21 Closed steady-state models
- 22 CMB in plasma cosmology
- 23 CMB in non-expanding models
- Part VI Formation of the orthodoxy and the alternatives: Epistemological lessons
- Part VII Other philosophically relevant aspects of the CMB
- Book part
- Notes
- References
- Index
18 - Motivations
Who’s afraid of the Big (Bad) Bang?
from Part V - Radical unorthodoxies: The CMB without the Big Bang
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 July 2024
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Physical cosmology: A brief introduction
- Part II Discovery of the CMB and current cosmological orthodoxy
- Part III What constitutes an unorthodoxy? An epistemological framework of cosmology
- Part IV Moderate unorthodoxies: The CMB with the Big Bang
- Part V Radical unorthodoxies: The CMB without the Big Bang
- 18 Motivations
- 19 Hoyle–Narlikar theory and the changing masses origin of the CMB
- 20 Revised steady state
- 21 Closed steady-state models
- 22 CMB in plasma cosmology
- 23 CMB in non-expanding models
- Part VI Formation of the orthodoxy and the alternatives: Epistemological lessons
- Part VII Other philosophically relevant aspects of the CMB
- Book part
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
Keywords: The steady-state theory of Bondi, Gold, and Hoyle of the late 1940s was very much alive at the time of the CMB discovery, and the discovery prompted new variants and reformulations. The chapter argues that the theory was motivated by the fear of the untenable changing of physical laws that the evolving universe enabled. This fear resulted in adherence to a “perfect cosmological principle” ensuring the homogeneity and isotropy of the universe at all times. Bondi and Gold’s version was a theoretical framework within Newtonian universes, while Hoyle’s was developed within the General Theory of Relativity without cosmic constant while introducing a universal scalar for (constant) creation of matter. The theory faced observational obstacles (especially with the newly discovered quasars), and thus required reworking. Reworking continued after the 1965 discovery of the CMB. Other radical unorthodoxies like plasma cosmologies and the closed stationary state cosmological model were not as original, but they too have a place – they ensure we understand that current rebels against allegedly outlandish inflationary cosmology had earlier counterparts.
Keywords
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- Information
- The Cosmic Microwave BackgroundHistorical and Philosophical Lessons, pp. 105 - 107Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024