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72 / JAIN STUDIES AND SCIENCE
universe had a beginning or is eternal. We shall see later in this chapter, how Jainism solves this dilemma.
After another 100 years, in the middle of nineteenth century the idea of eternal universe was discarded by scientific fraternity. It was because of a very simple logic. Had the stars around us were shinning since infinite time, rays from all the stars would have reached us by now and the earth would have received so much of energy that it would have been blown up by now. By the same argument all the other cosmic bodies too would be infinitely heated up.
• This established the second fact – the Universe had a beginning.
Next milestone in this journey came relatively faster in the year 1929. This only confirmed the fact that the universe had beginning. Edwin Hubble observed that the cosmos is expanding as the galaxies are rocketing away from each other.
• This established the third fact - the Universe is expanding.
The immediate conclusion was that these galaxies were near to each other sometime in past. In fact, so near to each other that the universe occupied near zero space and possessed near infinite density.
• This established the fourth fact - the Universe started with Big Bang. However several important questions still remained unanswered. Having consensus on the beginning, question now nagging the scientists was about the end? How long will the universe expand? Will it collapse after the momentum of big bang is reduced and the forces of gravitation take over?
9.
By the turn of twentieth century, the study of universe was fully transferred from philosophers and meta-physicists to the scientists and astronomers.
10.
In twenty-first century, this study is now employing complicated electronics, advance mathematics and latest space technology. The concentration is on-Cosmic Microwave Background' - the ultra
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