Progress, Problems and Priorities: A Personal View

Extract

Half a century after Hubble expansion was recognized and a quarter century after the identification of Cygnus A we must acknowledge that progress in observational cosmology is slow, the efforts are laborious, corrections are subtle and correlations elusive. Part of progress is the realization that there are no short-cuts, no easy methods or quick successes. The result of this awareness has been increasingly careful attention to the completeness of samples, to selection criteria and the hazards of intercomparisons from survey to survey. This week in Cambridge has shown both modest progress and progress in modesty.