From the mid-19th century the history of physics and astronomy takes one line, while the history of biology and earth sciences takes another line.
The Philosophy of Materialism and its universe of eternal matter was defeated first by the science of thermodynamics with its concept of entropy which shows that the universe had a beginning. Secondly, the Philosophy of Materialism was defeated in the 20th century with the Theory of General Relativity showing that the universe is expanding – which also shows that it had a beginning.
Materialism was banished from Western science, but upheld in Soviet Union science. Materialism then returned to physics under the guise of the Multiverse – an infinite series of universes popping up simultaneously or consecutively. This is pure philosophy, not evidence-based science. It’s sister philosophy is the Anthropic Principle that says we are here because we just happen to live in the universe that contains life – by definition – if we didn’t we wouldn’t be here discussing it.
The Principles of Creation 