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Why Cosmology?

Cosmology strives to answer some of the most difficult and fundamental questions known to humankind:

  • What is the Universe? What is it made of?
  • How did it form and how will it end?
  • Why are there stars and galaxies? Is our Universe unique?

Cosmology has been undergoing a revolution in the last decade, with technological breakthroughs transforming it to a data-led discipline. On a similar timescale, developments in fundamental physics have led to an entirely new landscape of cosmological theories. In the next few decades, we can expect to see major new facilites: ambitious X-ray, infra-red and gravitational wave observatoroes in space, and giant optical and radio telescopes.

Both ground-based and satellite experiments will probe the microwave background radiation, and specialist survey instruments have been designed to map the distribution of galaxies and dark matter over the largest volumes of space. Answers to fundamental questions, and new theoretical understandings of our origins can be expected to follow from these experiments. This is an exciting time to be doing cosmology.