Overview

How did physical nature on the cosmic scale begin? What are the dimensions of the universe? These remain the two most persistent and expansive scientific questions in the collective mind of humanity. Logically, they seem to be related to each other, as they also lead to "Why are we here?" and other introspective queries. In the first half of the twentieth century, the probing for the answer to these questions reached a high point of investigative conclusions. Larger telescopes, advances in detailed photography and experimentally sophisticated spectroscopic methods, and mathematical technique provided concrete means to explore the greatest challenge to human understanding, the universe. Through about mid-nineteenth century, astronomers had catalogued stars, methodically studied the solar system, and wondered at the unexplained sights of deep space. From there on the structure of the...