Claim: Stephen Hawking is a scientist.

Cosmology -LRB- from the Greek κόσμος , kosmos `` world '' and - λογία , - logia `` study of '' -RRB- is the study of the origin , evolution , and eventual fate of the universe . Physical cosmology is the scholarly and scientific study of the origin , large-scale structures and dynamics , and ultimate fate of the universe , as well as the scientific laws that govern these realities .   The term cosmology was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount 's Glossographia , and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher Christian Wolff , in Cosmologia Generalis .   Religious or mythological cosmology is a body of beliefs based on mythological , religious , and esoteric literature and traditions of creation and eschatology .   Physical cosmology is studied by scientists , such as astronomers and physicists , as well as philosophers , such as metaphysicians , philosophers of physics , and philosophers of space and time . Because of this shared scope with philosophy , theories in physical cosmology may include both scientific and non-scientific propositions , and may depend upon assumptions that can not be tested . Cosmology differs from astronomy in that the former is concerned with the Universe as a whole while the latter deals with individual celestial objects . Modern physical cosmology is dominated by the Big Bang theory , which attempts to bring together observational astronomy and particle physics ; more specifically , a standard parameterization of the Big Bang with dark matter and dark energy , known as the Lambda-CDM model .   Theoretical astrophysicist David N. Spergel has described cosmology as a `` historical science '' because `` when we look out in space , we look back in time '' due to the finite nature of the speed of light .