Seeing the Universe in a New Light
I wonder who was the first person that understood something or had the very first aha-moment. I think it started since our beginnings as a species, and because of someone’s understanding, later generations understood, discovered more things and improved on previous knowledge. It’s a hypothesis, and it makes a lot of sense to me because I’ve seen it with examples in different fields of knowledge. Human beings are the creators of knowledge, of ideas, of everything we know. But, how does this development or building on other's ideas occur?
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. –Isaac Newton.
He was namely referring to Euclid, Galileo, Kepler, among others. He built his theory upon previous discoveries to take human knowledge and understanding further. Isn’t that wonderful? It’s like having a never-ending dialogue. Do you realize the power of that statement? Human knowledge will never end, well of course, it will end when we are no longer an existing species, but how long would that take to happen? It’s really breathtaking when you deeply reflect about how many human beings have created and shared knowledge that have improved our understanding about the universe; it really blows my mind away.
An essential factor to make a new discovery is to look at things differently, from a different perspective. Newton had in front of him an array of theories, discoveries and notions, but none of them explained accurately the motion of the heavens. Before him, people thought of the universe and Earth separately; there wasn’t a relationship between them. That thinking, of course, was influenced by Aristotle’s universe, which stated that the heavens are perfect while the Earth is chaos and disorder. Newton realized that this wasn’t the case, his most important insight was that what happens on Earth is the same that happens on the heavens. He made the relationship between the Earth and the universe, which lead him to his outstanding discovery that revolutionized human thinking.
Newton used a similar approach as Euclid did in geometry; he uses logic, axioms and creates general laws. His whole argument is based on those general notions, which have to be understood before understanding his greatest discovery: universal gravity. Bodies gravitating towards each other are proportional to the mass of each body as the square of the distance between the bodies. This law applies in both the earthly bodies and heavenly bodies: the force of the moon falling to the Earth is proportional to the force of a falling rock. How did he discover those laws?
“In this philosophy, propositions are deduced from the phenomena, and are rendered general by induction. Thus the impenetrability, mobility, and impetus of bodies, and the laws of motions of gravity, came to be known. And it is enough that gravity really exists and acts according to the laws set forth by us, and is sufficient [to explain] all the motions of the heavenly and of our sea”. – General Scholium, Newton.
Newton established the Law of Universal Gravitation by observing the phenomena, creating theories, and proving them using calculus. He is the father of this mathematics’ branch; he realized that he needed pioneering mathematics to prove what was happening in the real world. He set the basis for both calculus and modern physics. “Isaac Newton changed the way future astronomers, mathematicians, and scientists would understand the natural world and the universe”. His connection between the Earth and the universe illuminated humanity to understand the universe and our relation to it in a different way. “His discoveries and genius propelled science forward with such an impact that it still influences the science and technology of today”.
Human beings have built upon his discoveries, as he built upon other discoveries. Einstein built upon Newton. As I said before, it’s a never-ending dialogue of knowledge. We understand the universe in a different light today than a century ago, it may be that a century from now, people will see everything in a new light. Knowledge is not static; it’s dynamic. It’s always changing, evolving and going forward. This depends of course, on human beings being curious enough dive deeper into knowledge and understanding that they, as Newton, Einstein, Galileo and many other great minds, can push human understanding forward in unimaginable ways.
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. –Isaac Newton.
He was namely referring to Euclid, Galileo, Kepler, among others. He built his theory upon previous discoveries to take human knowledge and understanding further. Isn’t that wonderful? It’s like having a never-ending dialogue. Do you realize the power of that statement? Human knowledge will never end, well of course, it will end when we are no longer an existing species, but how long would that take to happen? It’s really breathtaking when you deeply reflect about how many human beings have created and shared knowledge that have improved our understanding about the universe; it really blows my mind away.
An essential factor to make a new discovery is to look at things differently, from a different perspective. Newton had in front of him an array of theories, discoveries and notions, but none of them explained accurately the motion of the heavens. Before him, people thought of the universe and Earth separately; there wasn’t a relationship between them. That thinking, of course, was influenced by Aristotle’s universe, which stated that the heavens are perfect while the Earth is chaos and disorder. Newton realized that this wasn’t the case, his most important insight was that what happens on Earth is the same that happens on the heavens. He made the relationship between the Earth and the universe, which lead him to his outstanding discovery that revolutionized human thinking.
Newton used a similar approach as Euclid did in geometry; he uses logic, axioms and creates general laws. His whole argument is based on those general notions, which have to be understood before understanding his greatest discovery: universal gravity. Bodies gravitating towards each other are proportional to the mass of each body as the square of the distance between the bodies. This law applies in both the earthly bodies and heavenly bodies: the force of the moon falling to the Earth is proportional to the force of a falling rock. How did he discover those laws?
“In this philosophy, propositions are deduced from the phenomena, and are rendered general by induction. Thus the impenetrability, mobility, and impetus of bodies, and the laws of motions of gravity, came to be known. And it is enough that gravity really exists and acts according to the laws set forth by us, and is sufficient [to explain] all the motions of the heavenly and of our sea”. – General Scholium, Newton.
Newton established the Law of Universal Gravitation by observing the phenomena, creating theories, and proving them using calculus. He is the father of this mathematics’ branch; he realized that he needed pioneering mathematics to prove what was happening in the real world. He set the basis for both calculus and modern physics. “Isaac Newton changed the way future astronomers, mathematicians, and scientists would understand the natural world and the universe”. His connection between the Earth and the universe illuminated humanity to understand the universe and our relation to it in a different way. “His discoveries and genius propelled science forward with such an impact that it still influences the science and technology of today”.
Human beings have built upon his discoveries, as he built upon other discoveries. Einstein built upon Newton. As I said before, it’s a never-ending dialogue of knowledge. We understand the universe in a different light today than a century ago, it may be that a century from now, people will see everything in a new light. Knowledge is not static; it’s dynamic. It’s always changing, evolving and going forward. This depends of course, on human beings being curious enough dive deeper into knowledge and understanding that they, as Newton, Einstein, Galileo and many other great minds, can push human understanding forward in unimaginable ways.