Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
Many models of the universe have been proposed, by de Sitter, Milne, Bondi and Gold, Hoyle and others. The observed data being insufficient, the models are usually based on some simple hypothesis. The simplest is the cosmological principle, namely, that apart from local irregularities the universe presents the same general aspect at every point. Milne (5) has used a restricted form of the principle, namely, that the aspect is independent of spatial position but is dependent on the observed time from some fixed epoch in the past. Bondi and Gold(i) have proposed the ‘perfect cosmological principle’ that the aspect is completely independent of space and time.