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It is easy to compute the density of a static universe of a radius of two thousand million lightyears, and it comes out only very little larger than the observed density. The actual universe is thus very far from empty, it is, on the contrary, nearly full.

— Willem de Sitter Kosmos (1932)

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More quotes by Willem de Sitter

All systems are receding, not from any particular centre, but from each other: the whole system of galactic systems is expanding.

Kosmos (1932)

Is the density anywhere near that corresponding to the static universe, or is it so small that we can consider the empty universe as a good approximation?

Kosmos (1932)

In Newton's system of mechanics... there is an absolute space and an absolute time. In Einstein's theory time and space are interwoven, and the way in which they are interwoven depends on the observer. Instead of three plus one we have four dimensions.

In Einstein's general theory of relativity the identity of these two coefficients, the gravitational and the inertial mass, is no longer a miracle, but a necessity, because gravitation and inertia are identical.

Kosmos (1932)

The old Greek philosophy, which in Europe in the later middle ages was synonymous with the works of Aristotle, considered motion as a thing for which a cause must be found: a velocity required a force to produce and to maintain it. The great discovery of Galileo was that not velocity, but acceleration requires a force.

The Astronomical Aspect of the Theory of Relativity (1933)

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