Conclusions – What Can Result from a Simple Question

Simple questions can lead to profound results.  Olbers’ paradox helped stimulate the quest for understanding the age and structure of the Universe.  Hermann Bondi in 1962 (as cited by Struve, 1963) summarized the importance and value of such questions: “This little argument may well serve as a prototype of scientific arguments. We start with a theory, the set of assumptions that Olbers made…we found that the forecasts of the theory do not agree with observation…Thus the darkness of the night sky, the most obvious of all astronomical observations, leads us almost directly to the expansion of the universe, this remarkable and outstanding phenomenon discovered by modern astronomy.”  While the expansion of the Universe has a part to play in the darkness of the night sky, the finite age of the Universe seems to play a larger role.  Nevertheless, Olbers’ paradox continues to be a profound question, and its investigation will continue to provide us with insight into the very nature of the Universe.     
 

References 

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