ABSTRACT
The scientific study of the structure and the origin of the universe has changed enormously in the twentieth century. At the turn of the century, the most contentious issue was the nature of nebulae-whether they were part of our galaxy or independent “island universes” outside it. By the 1980s, big bang cosmology had become a subdiscipline of astrophysics with hundreds of practitioners and a constant place in the public eye. The interaction between cosmology and religion has also varied enormously in this period, ranging from disregard, to harmonious coexistence, to antagonistic opposition. The dynamics of this relationship have often been more dependent on the personalities of key figures in cosmology than on the intrinsic scientific content of the theories themselves.
