Outlines ideas about the universe that have been formed throughout human history. Any cognitive process can be viewed from the perspective of two components: theories and facts. A theory is a product of the human mind, while facts are taken as given and either confirm or refute theoretical assumptions. At the dawn of mankind, ideas about the universe were based only on sensory experience. In ancient times, people had already accumulated enough knowledge and their cosmological models were more realistic, but still idealized. Today's researchers draw on an enormous amount of scientific experience and create powerful theories based on verified facts and advances in the exact sciences. But will today's ideas about the world remain as provable for generations to come? It is difficult to give a definite answer, but one thing is clear: modern theory can answer many questions concerning the evolution of the universe and is flexible and promising enough to be developed and supplemented in the future.
