RE: [asa] History of Science article

Two things come to my mind:

1. There's no need to determine "the greatest scientist." It comes from a need to create idols and celebrities. The world would be nowhere without the tremendous accomplishments of many notables, including all their helpers. However, I love the idea of the Nobel peace prize... scientific peers finding a peer to honor.

2. I found this interesting:

"He was the first scientist to give a correct account of how we see objects. He proved experimentally, for instance, that the so-called emission theory (which stated that light from our eyes shines upon the objects we see), which was believed by great thinkers such as Plato, Euclid and Ptolemy, was wrong and established the modern idea that we see because light enters our eyes."

Ok- that makes sense of a Bible verse:

Matthew 6:22
"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light."

I guess that Bible verse was relying on the old concept of the eyes emitting light? This verse now kind of makes sense to me...

...Bernie

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of Christine Smith
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 6:03 AM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: [asa] History of Science article

Hi all,

Thought you'd find this BBC article of interest--any history-of-science buffs out there want to comment on this?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7810846.stm

In Christ,
Christine (ASA member)

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Received on Mon Jan 5 12:17:29 2009