Oregon Health & Science University

How have theories about the universe chnaged over time?

intro into the uiverse

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You'll understand if I'm a bit broad with this question in a short space. In the Western world, at least, the conception of the universe has gone in several different stages. The Greeks and Romans had a system of gods and men with a large netherworld outside of the relative order contained within. As time goes by, man begins to embrace this idea of himself at the center of the universe, so that by the time of Galileo (1600's), the Earth was considered the center. This reflected a divine hand in their view. Galileo showed that the sun was at the center, meaning humans were not, and hence called the truth of God's perfection into question. Since then, science has slowly revealed the extent of the universe ... how much we don't know, how many phenomena happen there that are beyond the natural laws of our world, and ultimately suggesting that the expanse is only something we can guess at.