Willem de Sitter

We present some historical and philosophical reflections on the paper "On the Relation Between the Expansion and the Mean Density of the Universe", published by Albert Einstein and Willem de Sitter in 1932. In this famous work, Einstein and de Sitter considered a relativistic model of the expanding universe with both the cosmological constant and the curvature of space set to zero. Although the paper served as a standard model in 'big bang' cosmology for many years, we note that it is in fact couched in the framework of a cosmos that expands outward from an initial cosmic radius of several billion lightyears, in a manner similar to Georges Lemaître's cosmic model of 1927. We consider claims that the paper was neither original nor important; we find that, by providing the first specific analysis of the case of a cosmology without a cosmological constant or spatial curvature, the authors delivered a unique, simple model with a straightforward relation between cosmic expansion and the mean density of matter that set an important benchmark for both theorists and observers. We consider some philosophical aspects of the model and provide a brief review of its use as a standard 'big bang' model over much of the 20 th century.

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Reasons in Favor of a Hubble-Lemaître-Slipher’s (HLS) Law

Elizalde

2019

Symmetry

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Based on historical facts, revisited from a present-day perspective, and on the documented opinions of the scientists involved in the discovery themselves, strong arguments are given in favor of a proposal to include prominent astronomer Vesto Slipher to the suggested addition of Georges Lemaître's name to Hubble's law on the expansion of the Universe, and thus eventually call it Hubble-Lemaître-Slipher's (HLS) law.

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Willem de Sitter

Cited by 3 publications

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Crossing Forbidden Borders After WWI

Crossing Forbidden Borders After WWI

Historical and philosophical reflections on the Einstein-de Sitter model

Reasons in Favor of a Hubble-Lemaître-Slipher’s (HLS) Law

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