If people can now see further, it is because they stand on the shoulders of giants. Isaac Newton explained this to his scientific rival, Robert Hooke, which Newton borrowed from Bernard of Chartres. Indeed, mankind borrows from each others ideas and synthesizes it into new integrated ideas to see further. This has been done since the era of ancient Indians, Arabs and Chinese, moving westwards to Greece, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and America. Thus, man leapt forward from the works of Asia, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, NASA and Asia again.
Thousands of years ago, many ancients held a geocentric view, but some people challenged this perspective. While ancient Greeks like Aristotle (4th century BCE) believed that the earth is the center of the universe, with celestial spheres revolving around it, other Greeks, such as Aristarchus of Samus (3rd century BCE) believed in heliocentrism. But most people rejected his work, favoring Aristotle and Ptolemy (2nd century CE).
Some Indians and Arabs also held the heliocentric view. Aryabhata (5th century CE), an Indian astronomer, wrote the heliocentric Aryabhatiya, which was translated to Latin later for Europeans. Other Indian and Arab astronomers such as Brahmagupta, Varahamihira, Bhaskara II, Abu Rayhan Biruni and al-Sijzi had similar perspectives. Al-Sijzi (9th century CE) invented an astrolabe based on heliocentrism, but his scientific peers did not take his work seriously (Nasr 135).
But in the 16th century, the heliocentric view gained strength. Copernicus updated the heliocentric perspective using Arab tools from scholars such as Ibn al-Shatir, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Moayyeduddin Urdi, Arzachel, Averroes and Albategni. However, the Church was skeptical with it. Kepler would also reinstate Aryabhatas theory that planetary orbits are elliptic. Galileo would also continue the work of Brahmagupta, proposing more precise laws of gravity. He also marketed the heliocentric theory with passion, resulting in conflict with the Church government. Galileo spent his later years under house arrest because of this.
In the 17th century, Isaac Newton continued Galileos work. Protestantism was helpful in the advancement of science because scholars such as Newton were no longer bound by the Catholic Church. Scientific work was now taken seriously. He published the three elementary laws of motion namely, the law of inertia, the law that relates force, mass and acceleration, and the law that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. These laws help rocket scientists, for example, to know how much force is needed to propel a rocket into space. While in space, the rocket keeps moving without any additional force, but to navigate it, a force in the opposite direction is needed to move it to the other side. Without the knowledge of these laws, probes and rockets in space would become lost or out-of-control.
In the 20th century, Albert Einstein revolutionized astrophysics. Combining the work of his predecessors, he formulated the famous equation emc2 and produced the General Theory of Relativity, which is a precise theory about gravity. This theory helped predict anomalies in astrophysics. It is also used today regularly by hikers and motorists in the form of GPS satellite technology. Without his theory, GPS readings would become very imprecise. This is also true for probes in space. They would all possibly become lost without it.
In the later part of the 20th century, space missions became common. In 1957, after the successful Russian launch of the Sputnik satellite, America became alarmed and created NASA the following year. Motivated by fear, America used nationalized German Americans to develop manned and unmanned missions to space. Manned missions include Project Mercury (testing human survivability in space), Project Gemini (preparation for lunar missions), the Apollo program (eventually landing humans on the moon), Skylab (the first US space station), ASTP (the first US-Soviet mission), the Space Shuttle Program (using re-usable space vehicles) and the International Space Station (an orbiting research facility).
Unmanned NASA programs were also numerous. It includes the Mariner program (investigating Mars, Venus and Mercury), the Pioneer Program (the most notable explored the outer planets), the Voyager Program (exploring Jupiter, Saturn and the outer solar system), the Viking program (investigating Mars), the Helios probes (exploring the sun), the Hubble Space Telescope (looking deeper into space), the Magellan probe (exploring Venus), the Galileo probe (studying Jupiter and its moons), the Mars Global Surveyor, Pathfinder and Exploration Rovers and the New Horizons Probe, which is expected to explore Pluto and its moons by 2015.
Unfortunately, with the collapse of the US economy, US space missions are on hold while Asian missions accelerate. With its interest in mining Helium-3 from the moon, India launched a lunar probe in 2008 to search for it. China is also sending a manned mission to the moon in 2013 to prepare for possible Helium-3 mining operations. As Newsweek reports, it is expected to supercede all the Apollo missions.
Thousands of years ago, many ancients held a geocentric view, but some people challenged this perspective. While ancient Greeks like Aristotle (4th century BCE) believed that the earth is the center of the universe, with celestial spheres revolving around it, other Greeks, such as Aristarchus of Samus (3rd century BCE) believed in heliocentrism. But most people rejected his work, favoring Aristotle and Ptolemy (2nd century CE).
Some Indians and Arabs also held the heliocentric view. Aryabhata (5th century CE), an Indian astronomer, wrote the heliocentric Aryabhatiya, which was translated to Latin later for Europeans. Other Indian and Arab astronomers such as Brahmagupta, Varahamihira, Bhaskara II, Abu Rayhan Biruni and al-Sijzi had similar perspectives. Al-Sijzi (9th century CE) invented an astrolabe based on heliocentrism, but his scientific peers did not take his work seriously (Nasr 135).
But in the 16th century, the heliocentric view gained strength. Copernicus updated the heliocentric perspective using Arab tools from scholars such as Ibn al-Shatir, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Moayyeduddin Urdi, Arzachel, Averroes and Albategni. However, the Church was skeptical with it. Kepler would also reinstate Aryabhatas theory that planetary orbits are elliptic. Galileo would also continue the work of Brahmagupta, proposing more precise laws of gravity. He also marketed the heliocentric theory with passion, resulting in conflict with the Church government. Galileo spent his later years under house arrest because of this.
In the 17th century, Isaac Newton continued Galileos work. Protestantism was helpful in the advancement of science because scholars such as Newton were no longer bound by the Catholic Church. Scientific work was now taken seriously. He published the three elementary laws of motion namely, the law of inertia, the law that relates force, mass and acceleration, and the law that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. These laws help rocket scientists, for example, to know how much force is needed to propel a rocket into space. While in space, the rocket keeps moving without any additional force, but to navigate it, a force in the opposite direction is needed to move it to the other side. Without the knowledge of these laws, probes and rockets in space would become lost or out-of-control.
In the 20th century, Albert Einstein revolutionized astrophysics. Combining the work of his predecessors, he formulated the famous equation emc2 and produced the General Theory of Relativity, which is a precise theory about gravity. This theory helped predict anomalies in astrophysics. It is also used today regularly by hikers and motorists in the form of GPS satellite technology. Without his theory, GPS readings would become very imprecise. This is also true for probes in space. They would all possibly become lost without it.
In the later part of the 20th century, space missions became common. In 1957, after the successful Russian launch of the Sputnik satellite, America became alarmed and created NASA the following year. Motivated by fear, America used nationalized German Americans to develop manned and unmanned missions to space. Manned missions include Project Mercury (testing human survivability in space), Project Gemini (preparation for lunar missions), the Apollo program (eventually landing humans on the moon), Skylab (the first US space station), ASTP (the first US-Soviet mission), the Space Shuttle Program (using re-usable space vehicles) and the International Space Station (an orbiting research facility).
Unmanned NASA programs were also numerous. It includes the Mariner program (investigating Mars, Venus and Mercury), the Pioneer Program (the most notable explored the outer planets), the Voyager Program (exploring Jupiter, Saturn and the outer solar system), the Viking program (investigating Mars), the Helios probes (exploring the sun), the Hubble Space Telescope (looking deeper into space), the Magellan probe (exploring Venus), the Galileo probe (studying Jupiter and its moons), the Mars Global Surveyor, Pathfinder and Exploration Rovers and the New Horizons Probe, which is expected to explore Pluto and its moons by 2015.
Unfortunately, with the collapse of the US economy, US space missions are on hold while Asian missions accelerate. With its interest in mining Helium-3 from the moon, India launched a lunar probe in 2008 to search for it. China is also sending a manned mission to the moon in 2013 to prepare for possible Helium-3 mining operations. As Newsweek reports, it is expected to supercede all the Apollo missions.
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