Cosmology and cosmogony

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August 2015 Galtey 45

CORRESPONDENCE

Tb the Editors of 'The Obseraatory' Cosmology and Cosmogor4t

LikeAlan Battenl, I too noticed the matter-of-fact use of the word'cclsmogony,

in

David

Hughes' review2

of the book on the origin

of our

Solar System by

Chambers

& Mitton3.

Batten's remarks reminded me

of

a series

of

articles 20 years ago

with

identical

or

similar

author(s) and titlesa e

-

usuaily 'Testing

Cosmogonic Models

with

Gravirational Lensing'

-

which

were followed by another

with

the

title

'Testing Cosmological Models

by

Gravitationai Lensing:

I. Method

and First Applications'10 (there doesn't seem

to

have been a Paper

II).

I

remember

thinking

that

'cosmogonic' was inappropriate, since

ro

me

it

meant 'regarding

the origin

of

the Universe' whereas those papers discuss

testing cosmological models,

in

this case simulations of the lJniverse based on

different values of the cosmological parameters (2.e., nothing directly to do

with

the origin of the Universe), in line with my view (then and now) that cosmology

is

'the

study

of

the Universe'.

My

understanding

of

the distiaction

between those terms was influenced by

their

etlrnology;

I

don't

know

if

this distinction

was standard anlnr-here at any time.

Batten remarked on how the meaning of the

term

'cosmogony' has changed over time, the most important development probably being that

it

originally was applied

to

the

origin

of the lJniverse when

it

was thought to be much smailer

than

it

is,

essentially a collection

of

planetary systemsJ so

the

meaning iater shifted

to

'regarding the

origin of

planetary sysrems'.

An

ADSII

search (with 'Synonyrn Replacement'

turned off; the

default

is on) for'cosmogony,

in

rhe

titie

finds 259 works, a mixture of cosmogony

in

Hughes'sense (z.e.,pianetary

origins), cosmology, and cosmogony

in

the original sense (e.g., ancient creation myths)J but aiso such gems

as'In

Furtherance of

Militant

Soviet Cosmogony,12. Searching

for

'cosmogonic', on the other hand, turns

up

8o, mostly planetary, themes;

this

is

also

the

case

for

'cosmogonical',

which finds

32,

but

among these

is

The Uniaerse and its Origins: From Ancient

Myth

to lrresent, Realitry and Fantasyl3.

Searching for 'cosmology' flnds 15462 and for 'cosmological' zoz67. (Some

of

these, though, are concerned

with

cosmogony

in

the sense of the

origin

of the

universe.)

Interestingly, 14 rvorks can be found by searching fcrr .cosmologic'.

This is

not

rea1ly an English

word,

and

it

is no

coincidence

that all of

these appear

to

be

by

non-native speakers

of

English.

In

many languages, there is one word for the corresponding English adjectives ending

in.ic'and

,ical,, e.g., German 'elliptisch' means

both 'elliptic'

and

'elliptical'.

(Thus, a

non-narive speaker of English might translate'hosmologisc,lr'as'cosmologic,.)

Not

always do

both forms exist; there are electrical engineers but no magnetical engineers, nor

does znything magnericai exist at

all.

(Presumably, an elecrric engineer would

be some sort of humaniform robot, perhaps a cousin of a high-energl, physicist.)

The rule

seems

to

be

that

the basic

form

ends

in 'ic'

while later variants end

in 'ical'

(though 'cosmologicaf

is

an obvious exception).

It

is

not

clear

to

me,

though,

why

cosmologists are concerned

with

elliptic

integrals (used

to

solve the Friedmann equations) and astronomers rrvith eiliptical galaxies.

I

ounr", ,0,, o"ttey NEW.indd 45 ,rroa,ro,u 0u,,,

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August 2015 Galley 46

,

Yours faithtully, PHIIIP HEI-BIG Thomas-Mann-Stape 9 D-63477 Maintal Germary Email: [email protected] zor5 March 3r References (r) A. H. Batte& Ihe {)bsenatory,r!5, 95,2ot5. (z) D.W. Hughes, fie Obseraatory, r34, 299,

2or4-(l) J.Chambers&J.Mitton,FrcrzDxttoLiJe:TheOiginand,EtolatinnofourSolarSgstm@rinceton tlniversity Press,Woodstock), zot3.

(4) J.'Wambsganss, Astrcn. Gesell- Abstr. Ser., rr, 57, rg9'.

$) J. Wmbsgm ss et al. , n1 _I.P, Micket er cL (eds.), Latge-Scale Stucture in the Unioene $aild

Scientific, Singapore), 1995, p. 316.

(6) J. Wambsganss et al. in H. Biihringer er oJ. (eds.), Seamtenth Texas Sympoium on Relttioistit

Astruplrysis and Cosmology, Ann NeuYork Acad^ Sci.,7S9 (Ihe NewYork Academy of

Sciences, NewYork), 1995, p. 563.

(Z) _J.Vambsgmsset aL, Scienu,268,274,

1995-(8) J.r$fambsganssetdl.,inDdrkMeter,AlPConfereruel\ouedings,!36,347,tgg5"

(g) _{J.Wambssmsaa/.,inC.S.Kochanek&J.N.Hewitt(eds.),lsaupftysicalApplicatinusoJGnz:haional}

lerulug (Kluwer, Dor&echt), 1996, p- 65.

(ro) J. lTambsganss, R. Cen & J. P. O*riker, lpl, 49 4, zg, rgg9 (rr) http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstmct_seryice.html.

(tz) I-\oblems of Cosmogeng,3, r,

1964-(r3) S. Shaked, in S. F. Singer {ed.), The Unirexe and its Origirc: From Ancieru Myh to l,resmt Realitg and Farxasy @amgon House, NewYork), tggo,p. 27.

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