The Oscillating Universe Following the demise of the steady-state model in the mid-1960s, some physicists proposed an oscillating-universe model (Fig. 5.12) as an alternative to the finite universe suggested by the then ascendant big bang. Advocates of this oscillating model envisioned a universe that would expand, gradually decelerate, shrink back under the force of its own gravitation, and then, by some unknown mechanism, reinitiate its expansion, over and over, ad infinitum.
