The ultimate fate of the universe is a topic in physical cosmology. Many possible fates are predicted by rival scientific theories, including futures of both finite and infinite duration.
Once the notion that the universe started with a rapid inflation nicknamed the Big Bang became accepted by the majority of scientists, the ultimate fate of the universe became a valid cosmological question, one depending upon the physical properties of the mass/energy in the universe, its average density, and the rate of expansion.
Read more about Ultimate Fate Of The Universe: Role of The Shape of The Universe, Theories About The End of The Universe, Observational Constraints On Theories, Life in A Mortal Universe, In Science Fiction
Famous quotes containing the words ultimate, fate and/or universe:
“There are in every generation those who shrink from the ultimate sacrifice, but there are in every generation those who make it with joy and laughter and these are the salt of the generations.”
—Patrick Henry Pearse (18791916)
“If you believe in Fate to your harm, believe it, at least, for your good.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“Given for one instant an intelligence which could comprehend all the forces by which nature is animated and the respective positions of the beings which compose it, if moreover this intelligence were vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in the same formula both the movements of the largest bodies in the universe and those of the lightest atom; to it nothing would be uncertain, and the future as the past would be present to its eyes.”
—Pierre Simon De Laplace (17491827)