The speed of light is one of the mysteries that has intrigued scientists for centuries. The ancient Greeks had the hypothesis that human vision was an active event initiated by the eye.
From this hypothesis they concluded that the speed of light was infinite, as one could see arbitrarily distant objects the moment the eyelids are opened.
As early as 429 BC, the Greek thinker, Empedocles believed that light travels at a finite speed though it seems to arrive instantaneously. He drew the logical conclusion that light takes a certain amount of time to travel from the source to the surface showing the shadow.
Empedocles thus stated that the speed of light is finite. He was, though, a notable exception among the ancient thinkers, for most agreed with Aristotle that the speed of light was infinite.
The first attempt to challenge this assumption and measure the speed of light was made by Galileo in 1667 using a very primitive method. Galileo, with his firm belief in the experimental approach, was one of the first 17th century scientists to attempt to calculate the speed of light.
The first precise measurement of the speed of light was made in 1849 by the French physicist Hippolyte. His value was only 5% greater than modern one.
Measure speed of light by Empedocles
Showing posts with label Aristotle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aristotle. Show all posts
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Aristotle born in 384 BC at Stagira, a Greek town not far from the borders of the semi barbarian kingdom of Macedonia.
Aristotle grew up under the influence of the Hippocratic tradition of medicine which is father practiced and which may well have influenced him but its emphasis on empirical investigation and respect for the evidence of concrete particularities.
Aristotle arrived in Athens in 367 to join Plato’s Academy as a student. He stayed, so the tradition goes, for twenty years and these two decades formed the first great phase of his intellectual career.
Aristotle followed closely after Hippocrates and although not himself a physician, had a profound effect on medical thought and practice for succeeding centuries.
Indeed he can regarded as one of the greatest scientific geniuses the world has ever seen.
Although Aristotle never dissected a human being, he carried out anatomical studies of a wide range of animals, laid the foundation of embryology by studying the developing chick, and gave an accurate account of the life of bees.
He laid the basis of the doctrine of evolution, describe a ladder of nature ascending through lower plants, higher plants, insects, fish, mammals to man.
This period of Aristotle’s life came to an end with the death of Plato and the succession of Plato’s nephew Speusippus to the headship of the academy.
He left Athens, accompanied by Xenocrates and went to Atarnea, in Mysia, to his friend and fellow disciple, Hermias, the ruler of that town , whose sister or niece, Pyhtias, h subsequently married.
After the fall and death of Hermias (345 BC) Aristotle went to Mytilene. From there he returned to Athens and open the school of rhetoric, in which he set up as an opponent to Isocrates.
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Aristotle born in 384 BC at Stagira, a Greek town not far from the borders of the semi barbarian kingdom of Macedonia.
Aristotle grew up under the influence of the Hippocratic tradition of medicine which is father practiced and which may well have influenced him but its emphasis on empirical investigation and respect for the evidence of concrete particularities.
Aristotle arrived in Athens in 367 to join Plato’s Academy as a student. He stayed, so the tradition goes, for twenty years and these two decades formed the first great phase of his intellectual career.
Aristotle followed closely after Hippocrates and although not himself a physician, had a profound effect on medical thought and practice for succeeding centuries.
Indeed he can regarded as one of the greatest scientific geniuses the world has ever seen.
Although Aristotle never dissected a human being, he carried out anatomical studies of a wide range of animals, laid the foundation of embryology by studying the developing chick, and gave an accurate account of the life of bees.
He laid the basis of the doctrine of evolution, describe a ladder of nature ascending through lower plants, higher plants, insects, fish, mammals to man.
This period of Aristotle’s life came to an end with the death of Plato and the succession of Plato’s nephew Speusippus to the headship of the academy.
He left Athens, accompanied by Xenocrates and went to Atarnea, in Mysia, to his friend and fellow disciple, Hermias, the ruler of that town , whose sister or niece, Pyhtias, h subsequently married.
After the fall and death of Hermias (345 BC) Aristotle went to Mytilene. From there he returned to Athens and open the school of rhetoric, in which he set up as an opponent to Isocrates.
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
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