scientific study of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe

Cosmology - Wikipedia
Examine the observable universe's place within the whole universe
Philosophy of Physics
Knowledge Discovery in Big Data from Astronomy and Earth Observation
Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics
Cosmology (from Ancient Greek κόσμος (cosmos) 'the universe, the world' and λογία (logia) 'study of') is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The … Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Cosmology
Cosmology - Wikipedia
2 weeks ago - Cosmology (from Ancient Greek κόσμος (cosmos) 'the universe, the world' and λογία (logia) 'study of') is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term cosmology was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's Glossographia, ...
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Cosmos
Cosmos - Wikipedia
September 25, 2025 - It draws on the fundamental theories ... metaphysics, philosophy of mathematics, and epistemology. In theology, the cosmos is the created heavenly bodies (Sun, Moon, wandering stars, and fixed stars)....
People also ask

What is the simple definition of cosmology?
Cosmology is the study of the evolution of astronomical bodies over time into their current state, and how they will continue to change over vast distances and time scales.
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study.com
study.com › science › astronomy
Cosmology Definition, History & Theories | Study.com
What is cosmology a study of?
Cosmology is the study of cosmic evolution spanning vast distances and time scales. The focus is to understand how the universe's current state came about based on its past state and how it will change in the future from its present state.
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study.com
study.com › science › astronomy
Cosmology Definition, History & Theories | Study.com
What is the most widely accepted cosmological theory?
The most widely accepted cosmological theory is the Big Bang theory. The current state of the universe is considered to be a consequence of the theoretical properties of the Big Bang.
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study.com
study.com › science › astronomy
Cosmology Definition, History & Theories | Study.com
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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
plato.stanford.edu › entries › cosmology
Philosophy of Cosmology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
September 26, 2017 - This means it is the historical science par excellence: it deals with only one unique object that is the only member of its class that exists physically; indeed there is no non-trivial class of such objects (except in theoreticians’ minds) precisely for this reason.
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Department of Energy
energy.gov › science › doe-explainscosmology
DOE Explains...Cosmology | Department of Energy
These models are sometimes called “cosmologies.” They incorporate theories and the information collected by observational cosmology. Cosmology draws on advances from many scientific disciplines, including astrophysics, plasma physics, nuclear physics, particle physics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. The origins of today’s cosmology began with the discovery in the early 1500s by Nicolaus Copernicus that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The next step was the discovery in the late 1600s by Isaac Newton that objects in space behaved according to the same laws of physics as objects on Earth.
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Study.com
study.com › science › astronomy
Cosmology Definition, History & Theories | Study.com
Cosmology is the study of the universe's origin, evolution, and structure. Cosmological understandings of the universe can be based on religious beliefs and scientific theories. The study provides a basis for answering many questions regarding ...
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Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › science › astronomy
Cosmos | Stars, Galaxies, Nebulae | Britannica
January 12, 2000 - Cosmos, in astronomy, the entire physical universe considered as a unified whole (from the Greek kosmos, meaning “order,” “harmony,” and “the world”). Humanity’s growing understanding of all the objects and phenomena within the ...
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JSTOR
jstor.org › stable › 3623867
A Theory of the Cosmos on JSTOR
E. B. Knerr, A Theory of the Cosmos, Transactions of the Annual Meetings of the Kansas Academy of Science, Vol. 17 (1899 - 1900), pp. 20-28
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COSMOS
astronomy.swin.edu.au › cosmos › c › cosmology
Cosmology | COSMOS
In 1750 Thomas Wright suggested that the Milky Way, the Galaxy, was a vast spinning disk consisting of stars and planets. Immanuel Kant wrote the “General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens” in 1755 in which he suggested that the spiral nebulae, faint nebulous objects observed across the sky, were external galaxies or island universes independent of the Milky Way.
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Space.com
space.com › astronomy
What is cosmology? Definition & history | Space
February 21, 2022 - According to NASA, the definition of cosmology is "the scientific study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole." Cosmologists puzzle over exotic concepts like string theory, dark matter and dark energy and whether there is ...
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Routledge
rep.routledge.com › articles › thematic › cosmology › v-1
Cosmology - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ancient Greeks were the first to attempt to give a reasoned account of the cosmos. Aristotle constructed a complex interlocking set of spheres centred on an immovable central earth to account for the motions of the heavenly bodies. Newton formulated a theory of gravitational force that ...
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NASA Science
science.nasa.gov › astrophysics › programs › physics-of-the-cosmos
Physics of the Cosmos - NASA Science
February 28, 2008 - PhysCOS seeks to uncover these mysteries, helping us better understand the cosmos and our place within it. ... PhysCOS brings together physics and astronomy to explore some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. It looks at Einstein’s theory of gravity, what spacetime really is, how matter and energy behave in the most extreme places in the cosmos, what shaped the early universe and drives its growth, and what dark matter and dark energy are made of.
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Quora
quora.com › Is-everything-about-the-cosmos-just-a-theory
Is everything about the cosmos just a theory? - Quora
Answer (1 of 11): Okay kids, I think it’s time we have the talk. No, not that talk. I mean the one where we talk about scientific theories. You see, kids, to a non-scientist, a theory is just a guess or a hunch. It’s very similar to what a scientist would call a hypothesis.
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This is an old question in Eastern philosophical systems and has been dealt with extensively by the Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhistic schools. I would suggest reading the Mandukya Upanishad with Gaudapada's Karika (Karika - commentary), Swami Nikhilananda's translation in his Volume 2 of The Upanishads is good for Westerners; Nagarjuna's Mulamadhamakarika, Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, I prefer Jay Garfield's translation; and Suzuki's Asvaghosha, Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana. All deal with the theory oftentimes called the doctrine of no-origination. An online reference for the above is in Chandradhar Sharma's book A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy which contrasts and compares the two - https://archive.org/details/IndianPhilosophyACriticalSurvey. Another reference for the above is Dasgupta's History of Indian Philosophy, volumes 1 and 2 - https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism

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This is closely related to the "Cosmological Argument" for the existence of God. In one form it says that everything has a cause, the chain can't go back for ever, so the primary cause of everything must be God.

You are including God in the cosmos so as presented that argument isn't going to work out of the box.

A way out of this might be the "Ontological Argument", where you try to show that the existence of the cosmos is as mathematically necessary as the fact that 7 is a prime number. This kind of argument has been made (and of course extensively criticized) for the existence of God rather than of the cosmos but since God creates the cosmos it also works as what you're looking for-- an argument for the existence of the whole cosmos.

You asked for a reference request. The ontological and cosmological arguments go back to medieval times but a good more recent discussion is to be found in Richard Swinburne's The Existence of God and J. L. Mackie's The Miracle of Theism.

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Caltech
ned.ipac.caltech.edu › level5 › Sept14 › Goenner › Goenner2.html
What kind of science is cosmology? - Hubert F. M. Goenner
Thus cosmogony, the theory of what brought the cosmos into being, and cosmology are inseparable 9. The rise of quantum cosmology indicates an attempt of bringing cosmogony into the reach of science (Cf. 5.2). Already within classical theory, attempts had been made to understand homogeneity and isotropy near the big bang [37], [38]. R.
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Magis Center
magiscenter.com › cosmology
What is Cosmology? | Purposeful Universe
Cosmology is the study of the origin of the universe, how it became what it is today, and how it continues to evolve.
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Berkeley
w.astro.berkeley.edu › ~mwhite › cosprinc.html
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES IN COSMOLOGY
In this spirit, cosmology, the science of studies of the universe, is developed by extrapolation of locally verified laws of physics to remote locations in space and time, which can be probed with modern astronomical techniques. In a theory of cosmology, simplicity is sought on sufficiently large scales.
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INTERS
inters.org › cosmology
Cosmology | Inters.org
Thus, cosmological evolution is the essential precursor to the emergence of life, and the processes of biological evolution. Very generally the evolution of the cosmos can be described as the gradual development from being very hot to being very cold, from being very, very dense to being nearly empty, from being very smooth to being very lumpy, from being very simple (just a vast expanding ball of hot ionized gas) to being very complex (composed of many systems of superclusters, and clusters, of galaxies, each of which is full of clusters of stars), from being undifferentiated to being very highly differentiated.
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Interalia Magazine
interaliamag.org › home › stephen hawking and i created his final theory of the cosmos – here’s what it reveals about the origins of time and life
Stephen Hawking and I created his final theory of the cosmos – here’s what it reveals about the origins of time and life - Interalia Magazine
February 15, 2024 - Yes, Hawking and I found out, but only by relinquishing the idea, inherent in multiverse cosmology, that our physical theories can take a God’s-eye view, as if standing outside the entire cosmos. It is an obvious and seemingly tautological point: cosmological theory must account for the fact that we exist within the universe.
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NASA Science
science.nasa.gov › universe › overview
Overview - NASA Science
October 22, 2024 - New ideas and major discoveries made during the 20th century transformed cosmology – the term for the way we conceptualize and study the universe – although much remains unknown. Here is the history of the universe according to cosmologists’ current theories.