Scientists Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Universe
Since the dawn of time, man has yearned to know the origin of existence, how life was started, and the source of creation. Many scientists, from ancient Greece to modern civilization, began the search for answers by first studying our solar system, mapping the stars, trying to unlock their secrets. These eight scientists paved the way for any basic knowledge of the universe.
Born in 270 BC, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos, was the first scientist known to suggest that the earth revolves around the sun. Little is known of the childhood of Aristarchus, as well as his entire life. His only recorded works come from Archimedes and Plutarch, which discuss his ideas of the movement of all the planets in the solar system. Unfortunately, the lack in technological advances greatly affected his observations, making them inaccurate, especially his geometrical equations. The major contribution Aristarchus is known for is a more precise scale of our solar system. Aristarchus of Samos is honored today with a lunar crater named for him, which is also the brightest point on the moon.
Claudius Ptolemaeus, also known as Ptolemy, is considered one of the greatest and most influential astronomers of the ancient world. Almost all of his observations and works were done in Alexandria, Egypt, the home of the largest library and school of the ancient world, which when found, greatly benefited scientists in decoding the ancient astronomers calculations and theories. The life of Ptolomy is vague, as is the reaction to his works at the time. His system of astronomy, which is in his book the Syntaxis, was accepted as correct until the year 1543 AD. In this system, the earth was the center of the universe, and was the axis of a huge rotating sphere, which spun. On the outer edges of the sphere were the stars, and the sun and other heavenly bodies were in between the earth and stars. Ptolomy accounted for the movement of the planets using three mathematical constructions: the eccentric, epicycle, and the equant. The eccentric construction is the only one of the three not centered on the earth. The epicycle says that the planet moves in a small circle, which in itself is moving around a bigger circle. The last of the three constructions, the equant, suggested that the center of motion on a large circle was ...
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...The resultant of this is that no object can move faster than the speed of light. Einstein is also credited with being the scientist who jump-started the creation of the first atomic bomb, the item that ended World War II. Einstein’s achievements are also considered the greatest of all scientists by many.
The history of all the scientists mentioned helps to create a better understanding of the solar system in which we live. These scientists are the world’s keys to solving the mysteries of the universe, which have plagued mankind for all of time.
Sources Cited
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Drake, Stillman. Galileo. Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 1980.
Ball, W. W. Rouse. A Short Account of the History of Mathematics. New York, Harper & Row, 1974.
Thoren, Visctor E. The Lord of Uraniborg: A biography of Tycho Brahe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Armitage, A. Copernicus: The Founder of Modern Astronomy. 1963
Turnbull, H. W. The Mathematical Discoveries of Newton. 1990
Gribanov, D.P. The philisophical views of A. Einstein and development of the theory of relativity. Moscow: Nauka, 1987.
The authors therefor saw the ‘utopian’ societies to be a trap for weak minded publics, and that once in place, such systems would be able to perpetuate indefinitely due to the efficiency at which they protect and propagate themselves. Through fear, diversion and sedation the utopia can maintain a strong grip on the people it encompasses before anyone realizes the sacrifices made. The popularity of these books does rule out the possibility of such a society coming into existence in the future, however. The state of people is not about to change, and their ignorance will continue regardless of the harshness of the wake up calls issued.
In his book, Repcheck recounts how a Catholic Church cleric invented a highly complicated theory of the heavens’ architecture. Copernicus made a breakthrough by solving a significant astronomical problem. Everybody except the astronomers had earlier accepted Aristotle’s concept that heavenly objects revolved around the earth in perfectly circular orbits. The astronomers were opposed to this notion since their calculations could not work according to it. Repcheck introduces Ptolemy who described a cosmos in which the earth positioned itself somewhat off-center and other heavenly bodies revolved in one circular orbit inside a second ideal circle at changeable speeds. Even though Ptolemy’s model was rather complicated, astronomers found it to be reasonable in their calculations. Astronomers were still using this new concept even 1500 years later. In this regard, the author starts to bring Copernicus into the picture.
In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish Canon, published “On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs”. The popular view is that Copernicus discovered that the earth revolves around the sun. The notion is as old as the ancient Greeks however. This work was entrusted by Copernicus to Osiander, a staunch Protestant who though the book would most likely be condemned and, as a result, the book would be condemned. Osiander therefore wrote a preface to the book, in which heliocentrism was presented only as a theory which would account for the movements of the planets more simply than geocentrism did, one that was not meant to be a definitive description of the heavens--something Copernicus did not intend. The preface was unsigned, and everyone took it to be the author’s. That Copernicus believed the helioocentric theory to be a true description of reality went largely unnoticed. In addition to the preface, this was partly because he still made reassuring use of Ptolemy's cycles and epicycles; he also borrowed from Aristotle the notion that the planets must move in circles because that is the only perfect form of motion.
Ball, Rouse. “Sir Isaac Newton.” A Short Account of the History of Mathematics. 4th ed. Print.
Thomas More’s Utopia and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World , are novels about societies that differ from our own. Though the two authors have chosen different approaches to create an alternate society, both books have similarities which represent the visions of men who were moved to great indignation by the societies in which they lived. Both novels have transcended contemporary problems in society , they both have a structured, work based civilization and both have separated themselves from the ways of past society. It is important when reading these novels to focus on the differences as well as the similarities. The two novels differ in their views of love, religion, and the way to eliminate social classes. These differences seem to suggest that if we do not come closer to More’s goal in Utopia, we will end up in a society much like that of Huxley’s Brave New World.
Albert Einstein was undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest physicians and mathematicians of all time. Einstein’s theories of relativity completely changed the world and have had a huge impact on how we currently live our lives. From how we heat our homes to how we are able to use GPS navigation systems. His theories have greatly changed how we must view the world around us. His theories of relativity and his works during the world wars earned him a Nobel Prize in physics, to name one of the many he deservingly received.
Around 190 B.C, Greek thoughts were dominated by Aristotelian cosmology. However, when the Greek mathematician and astronomer Hipparchus calculated the heliocentric system, it contradicted Aristotle’s idea of the orbits being perfectly circular. Hipparchus abandoned his work because Aristotle's cosmological was believed to be mandated by the science of the time, even though, Aristotle's model was questioned by certain observations such as changes in the brightness of the planets. Nonetheless, this did not stop Hipparchus’s curiosity in Astronomy. Using the Chaldean and Babylonian astronomical knowledge and techniques, many of his discoveries were widely accepted and proven to be right. Not only did he contribute to Greek Astronomy, he is
6. L. Pearce Williams and Henry John Steffens, The Scientific Revolution, vol. 2 of The
The first record of the movement of the planets was produced by Nicolaus Copernicus. He proposed that the earth was the center of everything, which the term is called geocentric. Kepler challenged the theory that the sun was the center of the earth and proposed that the sun was the center of everything; this term is referred to as heliocentric. Kepler’s heliocentric theory was accepted by most people and is accepted in today’s society. One of Kepler’s friends was a famous person named Galileo. Galileo is known for improving the design and the magnification of the telescope. With improvement of the telescope Galileo could describe the craters of the moon and the moons of Jupiter. Galileo also created the number for acceleration of all free falling objects as 9.8 meters per second. Galileo’s and Kepler’s theories were not approved by all people. Their theories contradicted verses in the bible, so the protestant church was extremely skeptical of both Galileo and Kepler’s
Ptolemy, was a Roman astronomer who lived about 100 years after the time of jesus created a diagram of how he thought the universe worked, geocentric. On the contrary, Nicolaus Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543 relied mostly on mathematics, referring to the universe as being heliocentric. Copernicus's theory of the universe was upsetting to the church on account of his ideas being based more on mathematics rather than the church’ beliefs. Copernicus made the perspective of man's dominance in a powerful world show to be no longer
"Albert Einstein - Questions and Answers". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 25 Dec 2013.
Utopia is a reflection of More’s thoughts, feelings and opinions on politics and society at the time. While it may appear that Utopia is a representation of More’s ideal society and world, only some aspects are supported and agreed upon by More. He generally opposes and objects to certain trends of the Utopian society which he feels are ‘ridiculous.’ Despite this More still provides a comment on the social standards, ethics, operations and functions of the time. In doing this he presents his passion of ideas and art.
Although there are other very interesting physicists who have contributed to the scientific world, I decided to do some research on Albert Einstein. You may have heard funny stories of his quirkiness like not wearing socks, or you may have seen posters of him with his wild, untamed hair.
Albert Einstein was a world renowned scientist that may be considered one of history’s greatest scientist with his creation of the Theory of Relativity or, E=MC^2. He was born in Ulm, Wurttemberg, Germany on March 14, 1897. His father’s name was Hermann Einstein and his mother’s name was Pauline Einstein. (Hasday) Though despite his outstanding success he had very many problems throughout his life that he had to struggle greatly to overcome. Albert Einstein overcame failure by pursuing his intellectual dreams, working hard to make a life for himself, and achieving the nobel prize in physics.
In 1513, Nicholas Copernicus, composed a brief theory that stated that the sun is at rest and the earth is in rotation around the sun. In 1543, just days before his death, Copernicus published this theory in On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. This theory was meant to dissolve the long lived belief in Ptolemyís theory which stated, "The earth was at the center because it was the heaviest of objects(Kagan331)." This was a common belief at that time, which supported the religious beliefs that the earth was the center of the universe and God in the heavens were surrounding the earth. Copernicusís theory was shocking, but he published such a controversial theory without sufficient evidence, it had to be considered invalid.