26/08/2015
Top 10 Important Blunders of Ancient Science
This list is our first prize winner for the site launch competition. Congratulations to the author, Tristan Bradshaw. One of the most tempting mistakes in studying history is to judge the past by modern standards.
This list is our first prize winner for the site launch competition. Congratulations to the author, Tristan Bradshaw. One of the most tempting mistakes in studying history is to judge the past by modern standards. Nowhere is this more easily seen than in the contributions of ancient science. When we laugh at geocentric cosmology, or the theory of four elements, we fail to realize that, while the theories were certainly wrong, they still advanced scientific knowledge. This list explores 10 such contributions.
Ptolemy (born A.D. 90), was an astronomer whose model of the universe became the standard geocentric theory, until Copernicus. Ptolemy’s writings proved influential in early astronomy, and he was revered throughout the Middle Ages in Europe and Arabia. He also provided the most authoritative compilation of constellations in antiquity. Although he helped to discredit Aristarchos’ heliocentric universe (more on that later), and ensured the geocentric model would be universally accepted for the next 1,000 years, Ptolemy did much to raise the standard of astronomy.
Ptolemy did this by highlighting the disjunction between mathematical models and actual, observed patterns in the stars. Because planets actually follow ellipses (a not proven until Kepler), ancient astronomers relied on epicycles (circles within circles within circles) to explain the motion of the planets. Epicycles can be quite accurate, but they are never perfect. Ptolemy’s work on astronomy did much to highlight the problems of epicycles, ensuring that later astronomers continued to search for better explanations.Euclid (born c. 330 B.C.), is most famous for his contributions to geometry, but he also wrote treatises on astronomy and optics. Euclid’s treatment of optics reflects his love of geometry. Euclid argued that vision occurs when rays emit from the eye to form a cone. From there, Euclid proceeds geometrically. Everything the rays touch is seen. If one reduces vision to a geometric exercise, Euclid’s treatment of optics is profound. Issues such as medium, light and whether there was a physical connection between the eye and the viewed object were passed over. Nevertheless, Euclid’s treatment of the subject would be influential until the age of Ptolemy.
Galen, born in A.D. 129 in Asia Minor, was the second most revered physician in antiquity, after Hippocrates. He served as the court physician for three Roman emperors and was one of the most prolific writers in the ancient world. His contributions to medicine, anatomy and physiology are numerous and profound. Not unlike the fictional Gregory House, Galen was known for being more interested in understanding the cause of a disease than the comfort of his patients, whom he tended to treat as specimens. The contribution to science that puts Galen on this list is not for any particular discovery or theory, but the absolute rigor and high standard he applied to developing medical knowledge.
Human dissection was outlawed in Rome, so Galen used pigs and monkeys to understand anatomy. His careful and meticulous dissections revealed many anatomical features that had been missed by others, such as his discovery that arteries contain blood. His theories of human physiology and disease were based directly on this research, leading to conclusions difficult for critics to dispute. Unfortunately, Galen’s careful research led him to conclude that excess blood was frequently the cause of diseases and he helped to popularize bloodletting, a traditional medical practice in the Eastern Mediterranean, that had never gained popularity in Italy. Modern medicine has shown that, except in a small number of situations, bloodletting is useless and actually harmful, but Galen’s authority and defense of the practice ensured bloodletting would become an accepted procedure until the 19th century. His careful work, while wrong in its conclusions, raised the standard of medical theory immeasurably.
Top 10 Important Blunders of Ancient Science August 24, 2015 This list is our first prize winner for the site launch competition. Congratulations to the author, Tristan Bradshaw. One of the most tempting mistakes in studying history is to judge the past by modern standards. Nowhere is this more easi…
