Chapter 8 - The Quest Continues

Human credulity takes some believing

Chapter 8 - The Quest Continues

Holy Writ was intended to teach men how to go to Heaven, not how the heavens go. Galileo (1564-1642)

         

 

The historical events that guaranteed the demise of the Ptolemaic model are probably familiar to most readers.  Many famous historical names were coupled to that demise �" Copernicus �" Brahe �" Kepler �" Galileo Galilei �" to mention but a few.  Nevertheless, it should be remembered that many others, less well known, also contributed to the scientific progress that took place over those particular periods of history.  Such is the nature of human advancement.

 

Even with the combined proofs provided by the aforementioned notables, culminating with the conclusive evidence offered by Galileo Galilei, the Catholic Church still refused to abandon its policy that the earth was set at the centre of the universe. 

 

In 1623, history seemed to swing in favour of sanity and science, when Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, was elected to the papal throne as Pope Urban VIII.  The new pope and Galileo were old associates, having attended the same university in Pisa.  The long-time friendship led to Galileo clarifying his theories in, what proved to be, one of the most divisive books ever penned in the history of science: ‘Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems’.  (Available on the Net in both eBook and PDF)

 

The Dialogue took ten years to reach the publishing stage, and whilst it had originally won papal endorsement, the intervening years had changed both the political and religious environments.  The consequences of those changes, coupled with mischief created by fellow astronomers aggrieved by his recognition, combined to ensure Galileo’s downfall.  Shortly after the Dialogues’ publication, the Inquisition ordered Galileo to appear before them on a charge of ‘vehement suspicion of heresy’.  The charge led to his trial in Rome, in April of 1633.   By the end of the trial, Galileo was forced to abandon and deny the truth of his argument; and so one of the darkest chapters in the history of science was brought to an ignominious end. 

Galileo was confined to house arrest; a relatively light sentence given the savage reputation of the Inquisition.  He eventually lost his eyesight in 1637, possibly as a result of observing the sun through his telescope.  Galileo died on January 8^th 1642.  In a final act of bastardry, the Catholic Church refused to allow his burial in consecrated ground.  The Inquisition added the Dialogue to its Index Librorum Prohibitorum (List of banned books); where it stayed until Pope John Paul II issued an apology and finally lifted the proclamation in 1992.

 

Humanity scarcely batted an eyelid at the passing of Galileo; however, with advances in technology over the following century, the world slowly came to accept the heliocentric model.  Another consequence of the passing of time is the passing of those with more conformist views; those who had opposed changes to the Ptolemaic system.  With their passing, a gradual realisation permeated the church hierarchy; it realised continued opposition to the new ‘reality’ made the church look silly.  The Catholic hierarchy eased its position towards both astronomy and science; a new period of intellectual freedom was finally under way.

 

The periods in history, named respectively �" the Enlightenment, followed by the Industrial Revolution �" gave rise to meteoric changes in our understanding of the world around us and the world beyond our earthly limits.  Supernatural myths that had held sway for centuries literally crumbled.  Philosophical mistakes and religious doctrine were replaced with precise, rational, demonstrable, natural explanations.  Science blossomed as discoveries opened human eyes to the true wonders of the natural world that surround us.

 

In spite of all the frenetic scientific activity, no one seemed keen to address the ultimate question: how had the universe been ‘created’?  The question itself seemed off-limits as scientists restricted themselves to explaining natural phenomena.  The ‘creation’ of the universe was the final bastion of the supernatural.  A bizarre mutual respect developed between science and religion which allowed that position to remain throughout the eighteenth century.

 

 

Indeed, such was the strength of the stalemate position that serious debate was entered into regarding the actual date ‘God’ might have created the universe.  Mankind, in spite of some amazing scientific advances, seems almost wedded to an innate need for the supernatural. 

 

That need for a spiritual element was never more evident than in the quest to confirm a ‘start date’ for the ‘creation’ of the universe.  Scholars sifted through endless lists of biblical quotes and references.  Royalty, church authorities and scientists alike contributed to a growing speculative inventory of possible dates.  Alfonso X of Castile and Leon suggested a very precise, 6904BC, whilst Johannes Kepler favoured, 3992BC. 

 

James Ussher �" later the Bishop of Armagh �" after an enormous effort finally pronounced the exact date for ‘the creation’:  Saturday, 22^nd October, 4004BC �" at precisely 6:00pm.

 

Such was the authority of this pronouncement that in 1701, the Church of England officially recognised Ussher’s assertion.  Thereafter that date was published in the opening margin of the King James Bible all the way through until the 20^th century; even scientists and philosophers accepted Ussher’s dates well into the 19^th century! 

 

Naturally, all this tomfoolery with dates couldn’t prevail in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.  Ussher’s date, whilst happily accepted by religious authorities, only put the earth at some 6000 years old.  With the publication of Charles Darwin’s - Origin of the Species �" promoting an excruciatingly slow system of evolution, requiring millions or billions of years to occur, the inadequacy of Ussher’s date and time eventually became crystal clear.  Once again, religion and science were heading for a head-on clash; a clash still unresolved to this day in many minds!

 

By 1897, Lord William Kelvin had developed a technique, which produced a result showing the age of the earth to be at least 20 million years old.  Within a few years, John Joly (1857-1933) took a different view again, when he suggested the world’s oceans had started off as pure water. 

From that point forward he attempted to estimate how long the oceans would have taken to reach their current salinity levels.  His results implied an earth age of approximately 100 million years. 

 

In the early 20^th century, physicists demonstrated how radioactivity could be employed to date the earth.  By 1907, refinements to this new technique increased the estimated age of the planet to over a billion years.  Clearly, each new development amplified the age of the earth dramatically.  With those rapid changes in the awareness of earth’s age came the obvious association relating to the age of the universe itself.  An ‘obvious conclusion’ began to form amongst scientists; if the earth was over a billion years old, then the universe must be infinitely older!   The general consensus in fact was that the universe might be ‘eternal’. 

 

The new modern age was dawning; the more questions that were answered produced ever more complex unanswered questions.  Cosmologists developed an array of tests and models which they hoped would provide some of the answers to the growing list of puzzles.  Amongst these questions were: what materials did the universe consist of and how did they behave?  What was gravity and how did it effect interactions between the stars and planets?  What was ‘space and time’?  Most significantly, answering those elementary questions would only be possible once the speed of light itself had been determined!

 

Human arrogance is often highlighted by those quick to criticize the human race; some seeing ‘arrogance’ as a negative aspect of human nature.  On reflection, I suggest, without ‘human arrogance’, one person would never offer an opinion that he or she thought was ‘better’ than the existing one.  It is arrogance combined with confidence and self-belief that has driven many individuals onward in the face of massive odds; even to the point of giving their lives to prove a point.  Of course, there is a negative aspect �" the sort of ignorant arrogance which suggests ‘might is right’ - and the more powerful the ally the greater the chance of winning the argument.  What greater ally than a supernatural one that can neither be seen, nor argued with!

 

 

Refs:

Koestler, A. (1959). The sleepwalkers. New York: The Macmillan Company.

Singh, S. (2005). Big bang. London: Harper Perennial.

The Free Resource. (2011). Galileo: Fun facts, quotes, and resources. Retrieved May 3, 2011, from TFR Educational Resource Center: http://www.thefreeresource.com/galileo-fun-facts-quotes-biographical-timeline-resources.