Have you ever had one of those days were suddenly you see your Universe in a whole new light? A day when it happens like in a work of fiction where the protagonist receives an electric shock or a blow to the head and instantly sees his place in the world, his relationships with other people and the vastness of the Universe for what they “really” are? A day when you perceive everything inside out and sideways?
Some say that perception is everything. Some say that the only reality is the one each and every one of us individually constructs in our minds, formed from our accumulated experience. You may find believing along these lines has some merit, especially if you’ve ever had one of those days when everything changes.
These reasoners contend that Science, for example, explains nothing; that Science is only a framework which allows us to come to grips with how the Universe behaves. Science allows us to make testable predictions about the Universe, and all is good when we perceive the Universe to behave as we predicted.
A leading ancient Roman science/math/astronomer/philosopher man named Ptolemy went to great lengths to write up his Science of the Universe in the second century AD. His volume on astronomy, entitled “Almagast”, described his view of the Universe — the sun, moon, stars and the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Ptolemy’s model so accurately predicted the positions and complicated motions of everything that it worked nearly flawlessly for about 1,400 years.
The most notable attributes of Ptolemy’s model of the Universe are that it was earth-centered, and that the Earth was totally motionless, the absolute center of everything.
But then one day (figuratively), in the early part of the fifteenth century, it all changed. A polish astronomer named Nicolaus Copernicus saw the solar system in a whole new light. While not the first to have this idea, Copernicus was the first to lay out formally, for other scientists to ponder, the Science of a sun-centered Universe.
Copernicus’ best seller was entitled “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium”, which, in case your Latin is rusty, means something like “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.”
The most notable attributes of Copernicus’ model of the Universe are that it was sun-centered, and that the Earth spun and orbited the sun with the other planets, no special place at all, except that we are here.
So Ptolemy had it all wrong. Or did he? The facts are that even after the Copernican Revolution, Ptolemy’s model predicted more accurately the positions of the sun, moon, stars and planets. It was only after being tweaked by scientists down the road that the notion of a sun-centered Universe — the Universe that is now our reality — prevailed.
With this little story (told briefly and probably inaccurately) in mind, next time you have a chance, step out of yourself and try to have a look at your Universe from the side. I’ve found that it helps to have your mind uncluttered by your everyday perceptions, and to have a star-filled sky overhead.
You may also want to have nearby some Tylenol. If you’ve ever had one of those days where you suddenly see the Universe in a whole new light, you know how bad of a headache you get.
This column originally appeared in the Grand Haven Tribune on 14 November 2008.
