  Recent measurements of a peak in the angular power spectrum of the cosmic
microwave background appear to suggest that geometry of the universe is close
to being flat. But if other accepted indicators of cosmological parameters are
also correct then the best fit model is marginally closed, with the peak in the
spectrum at larger scales than in a flat universe. Such observations can be
reconciled with a flat universe if the fine structure constant had a lower
value at earlier times, which would delay the recombination of electrons and
protons and also act to suppress secondary oscillations as observed. We discuss
evidence for a few percent increase in the fine structure constant between the
time of recombination and the present.
