Question #28077

1 Answer
Mar 30, 2017

Hubble discovered the red shift indicating that the universe is expanding outward.

Explanation:

Before Hubble's discovery of the red shift the scientific consensus was that the universe was eternal and in a steady state.

Hubble's discovery lead to the formulation of the Big Bang theory. The Big Bang is a theory that the universe had a beginning and is not eternal backwards in time.

Proponents of the Steady State theory of the universe held on to the idea of an eternal self existent universe even up to the 1970s. Hubble's discovery made the Steady State theory empirically untenable.

Recent discoveries ( 1998) of an increasing rate of expansion add to Hubble's discovery. The discovery of an increasing rate of expansion indicates that the universe not only had a beginning it will also have an ending.