Edgar Allan Poe: the first man to conceive a Newtonian evolving Universe

TL;DR

This paper explores Edgar Allan Poe's early and insightful ideas about an evolving universe, predating modern cosmology, highlighting his recognition of key concepts like galaxy evolution and multiverses.

Contribution

It reveals Poe's pioneering cosmological ideas in Eureka, demonstrating an early understanding of universe evolution and related phenomena before their scientific recognition.

Findings

Poe anticipated the concept of an evolving universe.

He discussed the Olbers paradox and multiple galaxies.

He proposed ideas akin to multiverse concepts.

Abstract

The notion that we live in an evolving universe was established only in the twentieth century with the discovery of the recession of galaxies by Hubble and with the Lemaitre and Friedmann's interpretation in the 1920s. However, the concept of an evolving universe is intrinsically tied to the law of universal gravitation, and it is surprising that it remained unrecognized for more than two centuries. A remarkable exception to this lack of awareness is represented by Poe. In Eureka (1848), the writer developed a conception of an evolving universe following the reasoning that a physical universe cannot be static and nothing can stop stars or galaxies from collapsing on each other. Unfortunately this literary work was, and still is, very little understood both by the literary critics and scientists of the time. We will discuss Poe's cosmological views in their historical scientific context, highlighting the remarkable insights of the writer, such as those dealing with the Olbers paradox, the existence of other galaxies and of a multi-universe.