2012/01/17 by Helge Kragh, Kragh, Helge
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Multidisciplinary Warburg-centric Studies #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #astro-ph.CO #physics.hist-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1201.3449
33 pages; 3 figures. A slightly shorter version will appear in R. Vaas, ed., Beyond the Big Bang: Prospects for an Eternal Universe (Springer), which has however been delayed for several years
arxiv created 2012/01/17 · openalex publication_date 2012/01/17 · arxiv updated 2012/01/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Since the emergence in the late 1960s of the standard hot big-bang theory, cosmology has been dominated by finite-age models. However, the rival view that the universe has existed for an indefinite time has continued to be defended by a minority of researchers. This view has roots far back in history and in the 1950s and 1960s several models were proposed in opposition to the big-bang paradigm. The most important of the alternative models, the steady-state cosmology proposed in 1948, was uniformly expanding rather than exhibiting a cyclical behaviour. In a much revised version it was developed into the quasi-steady-state cosmological model (QSSC) of the 1990s. From a historical point of view, this model, and a few other related models, can be seen as the latest examples of a tradition in cosmological thought that goes back to ancient Greece. The paper describes the background and development of the QSSC model.