Cosmology And SF

See Significant Dates.

Verne and Wells began writing long before it was known that there were other galaxies, let alone that galaxies recede.

In the 1960s, when Poul Anderson wrote Tau Zero, there were two main rival theories:

Big Bang, either oscillating or expanding forever;

 

steady state, with "continuous creation" counteracting the effect of cosmic expansion and also with the possible addition of a theory of electron-proton imbalance that would counteract gravity and thus explain the cosmic expansion.

Now the consensus is Big Bang expanding indefinitely but with the addition of much previously unanticipated data. Continuous creation of hydrogen atoms does not sound so implausible when there is continuous creation and mutual annihilation of virtual particles.

Sf paralleled and reflected twentieth century cosmology. Poul Anderson contributed continually for over half a century.