Two Scientists
Science
has always interested me, more than anything else. I started reading
science fiction novels and science fantasies at a very young age.
Since then I cannot say how much science fiction literature I have
read. And my interest in science got a heavy boost in 11th
standard, when I read the collection so aptly named "science
speaks" by McMillan Publishers. In that book, eminent scientists
starting from Roger Bacon to Albert Einstein had written on what they
mean or understand by the word "science".
As any educated person would know, all the progress that we see around us is due to science, but we seldom openly acknowledge it.
Today, I pay tribute to two scientists whom I consider to have played pivotal role in ushering modern age and rational thinking in the west.
The first scientist whose name comes to my mind is Charles Darwin.
At that time, and even now also, people are brought up with the belief that all the creatures that we see,including human and animals are created in their present form and shape by some unknown force, and they have been in this shape and form since beginning of time. Then, in 1859, a British scientist by the name of Charles Darwin declared result of years of study. He travelled to different parts of the world on board a ship "HMS Beagle" and studied variations within the various species. After a thorough study he came to the conclusion that no species on this earth is static, i.e. they evolve based on various factors like available food, nature of habitat etc. The book was aptly names "The Origin of Species".
In this book he explained how all the specifies evolved and how they survived by the law of natural selection (not by grace of supreme being).
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species had been met with a firestorm of controversy in reaction to Darwin's theory, largely because it clearly implied that human beings were evolved from animals, contradicting the biblical story in the Book of Genesis. Darwin chose not to make the link explicit in Origin, and although he first thought of the idea in 1837, he put off publishing it for a generation.
So, that was the moment when centuries old inhibitions about life and creation got a heavy jolt. But he did not put it so directly. He was happy to explain only how the species evolved from single cellular organisms. But that itself lay the foundation of evolutionary biology.
His encounters with the natives of the Tierra del Fuego on his Beagle voyage made Darwin believe that civilisation had evolved over time from a more primitive state.
And
when today some scientist tries to explain how early life evolved on
this earth, he is simply basing on Darwin's theory of evolution. And
further, it does not shock anyone anymore. The basic job was done by
Darwin. The entire world had no option but to accept facts.
The second scientist whom I consider pivotal in ushering rational thinking, is of course, Louis Pasteur.
Before his time, everyone thought all diseases occurred due to natural reasons or due to curse etc.
It was Louis Pasteur who demonstrated that all diseases are caused by germs.
But this simple fact was difficult for all the scientists of France to accept. When Pasteur published a leaflet announcing that the doctors who are attending to women giving birth to children, and they are the ones who are carrying disease and contaminating one women after another, and thereby causing their death, he was banished from Paris by the order of the Emperor of France.
Only after the monarchy was abolished in France and when France became a republic (10 years later), and after he had invented a cure for Anthrax, was he able to come back to Paris.
And, was his invention of cure for Anthrax accepted unquestionably? No, many famous scientists celebrated their drinks with the slogan "to Pasteur, the high priest of Germs", "Pasteur's private menagerie of Germs" was the standard jibe given against him.
But fact is, due to his invention of cure or vaccine for anthrax, France was able to repay the heavy penalty imposed upon it by Prussia after France - Prussia war.
And what about his invention of cure for Rabies? Was it a smooth passage? No, to the contrary. The top doctors and scientists refused to accept his cure. They also pointed out that Pasteur was not a doctor, but was merely a chemist. And when the Czar of Russia had sent his private letter to Pasteur to provide his cure to a group of Russian farmers who had been bitten by wolves, the French government refused to allow them treatment according to Pasteur's invented medicine, citing reason that this new treatment has not been proven.
Only after 3 of the patients from Russia had died and Pasteur had suffered a stroke, did the French government relent, and allow these patients from Russia the treatment according to Louis Pasteur's invented medicine.
And when the treatment became successful, it was evident that Pasteur was always correct in saying that all diseases are caused by germs.
Since then, all the doctors follow the precautionary steps of washing their hands and boiling their equipment before delivering babies, and thereby saving thousands of lives every year. Now everyone knows, boiling the surgical equipment are a necessary step for not only child birth but also for any surgery.
So that's my reason for choosing these two scientists ahead of Einstein or Stephen Hawking or Galileo, because the two of them helped us understand the most basic things about nature, evolution and reason of all illness.
As any educated person would know, all the progress that we see around us is due to science, but we seldom openly acknowledge it.
Today, I pay tribute to two scientists whom I consider to have played pivotal role in ushering modern age and rational thinking in the west.
The first scientist whose name comes to my mind is Charles Darwin.
At that time, and even now also, people are brought up with the belief that all the creatures that we see,including human and animals are created in their present form and shape by some unknown force, and they have been in this shape and form since beginning of time. Then, in 1859, a British scientist by the name of Charles Darwin declared result of years of study. He travelled to different parts of the world on board a ship "HMS Beagle" and studied variations within the various species. After a thorough study he came to the conclusion that no species on this earth is static, i.e. they evolve based on various factors like available food, nature of habitat etc. The book was aptly names "The Origin of Species".
In this book he explained how all the specifies evolved and how they survived by the law of natural selection (not by grace of supreme being).
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species had been met with a firestorm of controversy in reaction to Darwin's theory, largely because it clearly implied that human beings were evolved from animals, contradicting the biblical story in the Book of Genesis. Darwin chose not to make the link explicit in Origin, and although he first thought of the idea in 1837, he put off publishing it for a generation.
So, that was the moment when centuries old inhibitions about life and creation got a heavy jolt. But he did not put it so directly. He was happy to explain only how the species evolved from single cellular organisms. But that itself lay the foundation of evolutionary biology.
His
second book, The descent of Man, was published in 1871.In The
Descent of Man,
Darwin applies evolutionary theory to human
evolution,
and details his theory of sexual
selection.
The book discusses many related issues, including evolutionary
psychology, evolutionary
ethics,
differences between human races,
differences between sexes, the dominant role of women in choosing
mating partners, and the relevance of the evolutionary
theory to
society.
Darwin
opposed the polygenism theory,
developed by scientific
racist discourse,
which postulated that the different human races were distinct species
and were likely separately "created".
To the contrary, Darwin considered that all human beings were of the
same species, and that races, if they were useful markers at all,
were simply "sub-species" or "variants." This
view (known as "monogenism")
was in stark contrast with the majority view in anthropology at the
time.
His encounters with the natives of the Tierra del Fuego on his Beagle voyage made Darwin believe that civilisation had evolved over time from a more primitive state.
The second scientist whom I consider pivotal in ushering rational thinking, is of course, Louis Pasteur.
Before his time, everyone thought all diseases occurred due to natural reasons or due to curse etc.
It was Louis Pasteur who demonstrated that all diseases are caused by germs.
But this simple fact was difficult for all the scientists of France to accept. When Pasteur published a leaflet announcing that the doctors who are attending to women giving birth to children, and they are the ones who are carrying disease and contaminating one women after another, and thereby causing their death, he was banished from Paris by the order of the Emperor of France.
Only after the monarchy was abolished in France and when France became a republic (10 years later), and after he had invented a cure for Anthrax, was he able to come back to Paris.
And, was his invention of cure for Anthrax accepted unquestionably? No, many famous scientists celebrated their drinks with the slogan "to Pasteur, the high priest of Germs", "Pasteur's private menagerie of Germs" was the standard jibe given against him.
But fact is, due to his invention of cure or vaccine for anthrax, France was able to repay the heavy penalty imposed upon it by Prussia after France - Prussia war.
And what about his invention of cure for Rabies? Was it a smooth passage? No, to the contrary. The top doctors and scientists refused to accept his cure. They also pointed out that Pasteur was not a doctor, but was merely a chemist. And when the Czar of Russia had sent his private letter to Pasteur to provide his cure to a group of Russian farmers who had been bitten by wolves, the French government refused to allow them treatment according to Pasteur's invented medicine, citing reason that this new treatment has not been proven.
Only after 3 of the patients from Russia had died and Pasteur had suffered a stroke, did the French government relent, and allow these patients from Russia the treatment according to Louis Pasteur's invented medicine.
And when the treatment became successful, it was evident that Pasteur was always correct in saying that all diseases are caused by germs.
Since then, all the doctors follow the precautionary steps of washing their hands and boiling their equipment before delivering babies, and thereby saving thousands of lives every year. Now everyone knows, boiling the surgical equipment are a necessary step for not only child birth but also for any surgery.
So that's my reason for choosing these two scientists ahead of Einstein or Stephen Hawking or Galileo, because the two of them helped us understand the most basic things about nature, evolution and reason of all illness.
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