String Theory: A History of Cosmology Before string theory,
there was Einstein’s relativity, and before that was Newton’s
gravity, and for about two centuries before Newton, the laws
governing the universe were believed, by most of the Western
world, to be those set out by Aristotle. Understanding the later
revolutions in cosmology starts with the original models of the
universe developed by the ancient Greeks. Aristotle assigns
realms to the universe Aristotle pictured a universe that was
made of a substance called the aether. The heavens, to him and
his followers, were a place of unsurpassed geometric elegance
and beauty that didn’t change over time. In some ways, Aristotle
is seen as one of the first scientists. He spent a great deal of
time discussing the importance of observation to understand
nature. Aristotle described the universe as containing five
fundamental elements: earth, air, fire, water, and aether. The
heavens were the realm of aether, but we were stuck down with
the earth, air, fire, and wat