The
cosmos (, ) is the
universe regarded as a complex and orderly system; the opposite of
chaos. The
philosopher Pythagoras used the term
cosmos for the order of the universe, but the term was not part of modern language until the 19th century geographer and polymath,
Alexander von Humboldt, resurrected the use of the word from the ancient Greek, assigned it to his multi-volume treatise,
Kosmos, and, along the way, influenced our present and somewhat holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity.