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Matter andSpirit in the Universe Scientific and Religious Preludes to Modem Cosmology This page intentionally left blank HISTORY OF MODERN PHYSICAL SCIENCES – VOL. 3 Matter andSpirit in the Universe Scientific and Religious Preludes to Moddern Cosmology Helge Kragh Aarthus University, Denmark Imperial College Press Published by Imperial College Press 57 Shelton Street Covent Garden London WC2H 9HE Distributed by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. 5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224 USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. History of Modern Physical Sciences — Vol. 3 MATTER AND SPIRIT IN THE UNIVERSE Scientific and Religious Preludes to Modern Cosmology Copyright © 2004 by Imperial College Press All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher. For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher. ISBN 1-86094-469-8 ISBN 1-86094-485-X (pbk) Typeset by Stallion Press Email: [email protected] Printed in Singapore. Ian_Matter and Spirit in the Universe.pmd1 10/4/2005, 6:37 PM B239_FM.qxd 09/23/04 11:24 AM Page v To Line and Mikkel This page intentionally left blank B239_FM.qxd 09/23/04 11:24 AM Page vi Preface The relationship between religion and science has for a long time been a central area in the history of science and ideas. Presently, it is cultivated as actively as ever. During the 20th century and the last half of the 19th century, scholars have in particular focused on evolu- tionary theory and its implications for religious belief. Cosmology, although distinctly a modern science and undeniably of great rele- vance to theology, has received curiously little attention. To wit, in John Hedley Brooke’s widely acclaimed Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives, an authoritative introduction and critical guide to the subject, modern cosmology is almost completely ignored. Nor have historians of physics and astronomy paid much attention to how cosmological and religious thought have interacted in the mod- ern period. I believe there is a need for a book on the issue, which is too rich and fascinating not to be dealt with in a comprehensive way. Being primarily a historian of modern physical science, I am not a specialist in the relationship between science and religious belief. My own interest in the field mostly emerged as a result of my studies in the history of cosmology, such as they appear most fully in my book, Cosmology and Controversy from 1996, which analyses in detail the emergence of the big-bang theory and its clash with the rival steady- state model. The present work relies in some respects on the material covered in my earlier book, but is broader in both chronology and scope. The focus of my study is the period between the 1850s and the B239_FM.qxd 09/23/04 11:24 AM Page vii 1960s. I start with a brief introductory chapter in which I refer to a few earlier ideas and developments, from the high Middle Ages to William Herschel’s cosmological ideas of the 1780s. The purpose is solely to introduce certain key concepts in the relationship between cosmology and religion, and also to remind the reader that the rela- tionship is an old one. It has a great past indeed. About its future I dare not prophesy. Chapter 2 deals comprehensively with the second half of the 19th century, not least with the law of entropy increase and its assumed implications for cosmology and religion. This theme, which involves nothing less than the origin and end of the universe, runs through much of the book. Chapter 3 discusses the religious views of some of the important figures in cosmological research in the early part of the 20th century, including Einstein, Eddington and Jeans. Attention is also directed to Robert Millikan and other scientists who resisted the idea of an expanding universe and favoured, in part for religious reasons, a kind of recurrent cosmology. In earlier writings I have on several occa- sions drawn attention to George Lemaître, the relatively unknown Belgian who was arguably the single most important cosmologist of the 20th century. Lemaître was also a Catholic priest, and it has sometimes been claimed that his belief in a divine creator served as a motive for the big-bang concept he introduced in 1931. This and other aspects of Lemaître’s work form the major part of Chapter 4. B239_FM.qxd 09/23/04 11:24 AM Page viii The subsequent chapter is mostly devoted to the cosmo-physical tradition of the interwar period, a tradition characterized by a strong interest in rationalistic and numerological approaches to physics and astronomy. These approaches were in some cases associated with reli- gious beliefs, although the connection was never strong. The main fig- ures of the chapter are Arthur Eddington and Paul Dirac, but I also deal in some detail with Pascual Jordan and Arthur Haas, whose contribu- tions to cosmology are less known and deserve to be recalled. Edward Milne, a prominent cosmo-physicist, is of particular interest, not only because his views were highly original but also because he explicitly linked them to his belief in God. His works and thoughts, such as they culminated in his book, Modern Cosmology and the Christian Idea of God from 1952, are described in Chapter 6. This chapter also includes aspects of the controversy in the 1950s between big-bang cosmology and the new steady-state theory of the universe. More details about the controversy can be found in Cosmology and Controversy. My story essentially ends in the mid-1960s, with the emergence of the standard hot big-bang theory, but in a final chapter I indicate some of the later developments, if only in a fragmentary and incomplete way. The book is a contribution to the history of scientific ideas, but it is neither a systematic account of cosmology’s relation to theology nor a personal opinion of how the two fields should relate. It might be tempting to include an analysis of the intense discussion which has B239_FM.qxd 09/23/04 11:24 AM Page ix occurred during the last few decades. However, this would require a new book and possibly also an author with a better knowledge of theology. It should be noted that I use the words “universe,” “cosmos” and “world” synonymously, as did most of the actors in the story I recount. What is more significant, I follow a tradition in history of science by writing about “religion” not in the broadest sense but, in most cases, in the sense of Christian belief. This is not an expression of religious intolerance or Euro-chauvinism. It merely reflects the fact that modern scientific cosmology has exclusively been devel- oped in Europe and North America. I am fully aware that the issue also involves other religions, but in so far as it relates to the historical development of modern cosmology, it is a matter of fact that Christianity has occupied (and still occupies) a unique position. I would like to express my thanks to Simon Rebsdorf, who has kindly gone through the manuscript and pointed out a number of errors. Helge Kragh B239_FM.qxd 09/23/04 11:24 AM Page x Contents Preface Introduction: Cosmo-theology before Einstein 1 1 A Thermodynamic Universe 2 17 Expanding Horizons 3 71 The Primeval-atom Universe 4 123 B239_FM.qxd 09/23/04 11:24 AM Page xi Cosmo-physics 5 161 Cosmology between Theism and Atheism 6 199 Epilogue: From Standard Model to Quantum Cosmology 7 247 Bibliography 262 Index 290 B239_Ch01.qxd 09/23/04 11:25 AM Page 1 1 Introduction: Cosmo-theology before Einstein B239_Ch01.qxd 09/23/04 11:25 AM Page 2 1 Introduction: Cosmo-theology before Einstein t is sometimes said that there is nothing new under the sun, which is surely an exaggeration. The proverb generally fails miserably in Ithe history of science—after all, to make new discoveries is the business of science, and a quite successful business it is. On the other hand, for centuries astronomy and cosmology have been concerned with essentially the same kind of questions. These can be identified at the time of Kepler, or even earlier, and 350 years later they were still subjects of debate. Some of the problems were these: (i) Has the world always existed, or did it have an origin? And, will it ever come to an end? (ii) Is the world finite or infinite in spatial content? (iii) What is the relationship between the spatial and the material universe? (iv) Is the world static or in a state of evolution? (v) From where did matter (and energy) originate? Is it still being created? (vi) Are the laws of nature, as known from the local environment, applicable to the universe at large? There are other questions of a similar cosmic nature, some of them even more comprehensive. Thus, philosophers and theologians may want to know why the world exists, or why there is something rather B239_Ch01.qxd 09/23/04 11:25 AM Page 3 3 Cosmo-theology before Einstein than nothing.

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