  Cosmology is undergoing an explosive period of activity, fueled both by new,
accurate astrophysical data and by innovative theoretical developments.
Cosmological parameters such as the total density of the Universe and the rate
of cosmological expansion are being precisely measured for the first time, and
a consistent standard picture of the Universe is beginning to emerge. Recent
developments in cosmology give rise the intriguing possibility that all
structures in the Universe, from superclusters to planets, had a
quantum-mechanical origin in its earliest moments. Furthermore, these ideas are
not idle theorizing, but predictive, and subject to meaningful experimental
test. We review the concordance model of the development of the Universe, as
well as evidence for the observational revolution that this field is going
through. This already provides us with important information on particle
physics, which is inaccessible to accelerators.
