EVOLUTION IN ASTRONOMY*

Abstract

ONE of the most important, and also one of the most fascinating, of the problems of astronomy as the tracing out of the steps by which the universe has evolved from primitive beginnings to its present complex form. But until recently it was like trying to piece together a jig-saw puzzle from which some of the more important pieces were missing. Happily the situation has changed rapidly of late ; more pieces of the puzzle have come to light, and one in particular—a better knowledge of the possible sources of stellar energy—is found to fit very convincingly into a big vacant gap, with the result that the whole picture begins to assume a logical and satisfying shape.