Ethan Keyser
Mr. Blair
Science and Discovery
28 February, 2015
Often times today we take for granted the freedom of thought and expression that we are allowed in both our education system and the fields of science. This ability to think outside the box and challenge the existing opinions is a relatively new idea. For many thousands of years the models or ideas of a few long dead men defined science. This all changed thanks to the work of three great scientists who challenged the current theories and beliefs and brought science to the state it is today. These three men were Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin.
Although they were separated by many years these great men share similar stories. For all of them, science was not their original ambition. Galileo started as a medical student, and both Newton and Darwin were o their way to becoming ministers. Fortunately all three ended up in the sciences, Galileo had to study in secret, and Darwin received a lucky break with his trip on the HMS Beagle.
In many ways the work of each man built on that of the man that came before him. Galileo was the first to challenge the outdated thinking of Aristotle, “In these controversies university academics were Galileo’s main opponents, and at issue were points of science and Aristotelian natural philosophy” (pg. 228).
His quest for knowledge was guided by a desire to find a new philosophy. Newton carried on this work by finding new mathematical ways to understand and define the universe. He took Galileo’s work on the motion of bodies on Earth and in space and found the link between them. Our modern understanding of the motion of bodies is heavily based in the work of these two men. Darwin continued in the tradition of Galileo and Newton by taking on the most established truth, the origin of man, and the nature of life.
The real contribution that these men made was when they encountered resistance for their ideas. Galileo had to take on the Catholic Church when his views on the heliocentric system became clear. When Galileo was asked to change his writings so that his ideas were not shown to be any better then those of Aristotle, he continued to support his findings. This eventually led to his house arrest and his having to recant his beliefs. That said, Galileo pioneered a movement away from the old Greek philosophy and into a new age of enlightened thinking.
Newton worked in the age of enlightenment but non-the-less was the subject of criticism from his peers. Very self-conscious about his work, Newton kept many of his ideas a secret. For example, Newton kept his invention of calculus under wraps for several decades. It was not until a fellow scientist asked Newton how he could do some astronomical calculations that Newton revealed calculus.
Additionally, Newton believed that there needed to be a mathematical formula for the different claims of science. “Newton’s physics finally unified the celestial and terrestrial realms separated since Aristotle. Newton buried not only the moribund Aristotelian world, but also the newer mechanical alternative worked out by Descartes” (pg. 249). This precise method for conducting science is something still in use today.
Darwin had an experience similar to that of Newton in that he did not publish his ideas on evolution and natural selection until another scientist sent him a paper to review in which he had come up with ideas very similar to those of Darwin. Darwin had originally been afraid of the Church and what the response would be to his ideas. Once his ideas were public, they became incredibly popular.
For the first time science could operate independently from religion, opening up many fields of study.
The work of Galileo, Newton, and Darwin represents a major turning point in the history of science. Because off their work, science is no longer monopolized by antiquated thinking. Science has become a self-regulating entity, open to new ideas and criticism; this has led to a diversification in where the accepted
ideas come from. Rather than rely on one man or source as authoritative over all of science, we now appreciate the work of hundreds of individuals whose work has shaped the various fields of study.
Three individuals who led the way for freethinking in the sciences were Galileo, Newton, and Darwin. Daring to think contrary to the popular view at the time they prepared the scientific community for the world we have now.
Bibliography
McClellan, James E. III, Dorn Harold. “Science and Technology in World History.” John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore Maryland, 2006.