Is the Universe expanding? Fritz Zwicky and the early tired-light hypothesis

The recognition that the Universe is in a state of expansion is a milestone in modern astronomy and cosmology. The discovery dates from the early 1930s but was not unanimously accepted by either astronomers or physicists. The relativistic theory of the expanding Universe rested empirically on the redshift-distance law established by Edwin Hubble in 1929. However, although the theory offered a natural explanation of the observed galactic redshifts, these could be explained also on the assumption of a Static Universe. This was what Fritz Zwicky did when he introduced the idea of "tired light" in the fall of 1929. Hypotheses of a similar kind were proposed by several other scientists but their impact on mainstream astronomy and cosmology was limited. The paper offers a survey of tired-light hypotheses in the 1930s and briefly alludes to the later development.