Homework 2: General Cosmological Questions

Due: By 5 pm, Tuesday, January 30, 2007. Turn in hard-copy; do not submit the assignment electronically.

1. In what sense is cosmology science? In what sense is cosmology sometimes philosophy? In general, what makes a field scientific?

2. There are a few observational facts which drive our thoughts about cosmology. What are these observational results?

3. What is the Copernican revolution? How has it influenced our interpretation of cosmological data?

4. What is the anthropic principle? What observational results drive the anthropic principle? What is your opinion of the anthropic principle?