"Eppur si muove" "And yet it moves"
Galileo Galilei
(15th Feb, 1564-08th Jan, 1642)
Today my head bows in respect for the great man who despite the sheer tyranny and the stupidity of the Catholic Church held his position and upheld the truth. Despite being accused of heresy and hence getting house arrested in the later part of his life, despite being forced to accept the wrong model of the universe by the Church, he kept preaching the Copernican model. Salute to the true genius.
For me he was a prophet (a real one) sent by the God (the real god) to teach the world how to decipher the mysteries of the universe. To tell us how and why the things are the way they are.
To preach us the cosmic laws of the nature. To show us the beauties of the nature hidden in mathematical relations and to understand and appreciate them. To expand the horizon of knowledge to the very limits of the human understanding of that era.
His contribution to the world of science is truly magnanimous and few can argue with that. They indeed are of great significance, and in physics that makes him stand out as a giant, far beyond the reach and capability of any other scientists, except a possible few exceptions. And I being an amateur astronomer is highly indebted to this genius for he was the first one in the unprecedented history of the mankind to see the heaven more closely than anyone ever has done before him. In 1609 he first pointed his telescope towards the sky and it felt as if Heaven was waiting there to shower the wonders upon its child. The uneven surface of the moon, the revolving moons of the Jupiter, and the infinite amount of unseen stars.
The time might blur the significance of his contributions in the eyes of the normal man, but in the scientific community he shall always be remembered as a great hero and a martyr. And his contributions shall always be cherished.
Happy Birthday to the genius….
Ahmad Ryan
No comments:
Post a Comment