Strengths and weaknesses of the big bang cosmology

Abstract

This talk reviews the achievements and shortcomings of the standard hot big bang models of the universe. The achievements lie in the predictions of the expanding universe, the abundances of light nuclei, and the microwave background. These are, however, outweighed by the shortcomings e.g. evidence for anomalous redshifts, the age problem, the low abundances of helium and the failure to find any feature in the microwave background as predicted by the theories of structure formation. It is suggested that cosmologists should keep their minds open for alternative theories also. A few such suggestion are given.