The History and Fate of the Universe: A guide to accompany the Contemporary Physics Education Project Cosmology Chart*

Lawrence M. Krauss, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

Cosmology, the field that focuses on the origin
and evolution of the universe on its largest
scales, is undergoing what many have called
a “golden era.” New observations, on the ground, in
the air, and in space, combined with exciting new theoretical
insights, have, over the past decade or two, literally
revolutionized our picture of the universe in
which we live. Ideas that were essentially pure speculation
20 years ago now rest firmly on the bedrock of
experiment. At the same time, many new questions
have arisen, and some once firmly held notions about
the future of the universe have been displaced. In this
article I present a guide to our current understanding
of the history and fate of the universe to parallel and
supplement the overview presented in the Contemporary
Physics Education Project Cosmology Chart.

The Big Bang
Let us begin at the beginning. The big bang, as it is
now called, represents the initial configuration out of
which the observable universe arose. We observe the
universe to be expanding.