Show 106 STUDENT LIFE could be were they to turn their attention toward amassing wealth but as a rule they do not do so They have a divine mission to per- form and they cannot rest with that mission unperformed with their life’s work undone The)' may not leave behind them material assets but they leave behind a name which will live as long as the world and the results of theiv labors will mark lasting places in humanity’s struggle toward perfection Who now have brought about the world’s progress in science? There are many who have figured prominently but space permits mention of only a few Iv not wealthy Very likely they The first great scientist the man who merged the world from darkness into light was Copernicus a learned and observant monk of In 1543 when seventy Prussia of age and on his death bed years he published his great work on “The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies’’ — a work which changed the whole thought of the world The church then taught Aristotle the great Greek philosopher had taught and the world believed their teachings that the earth was the center of the universe and that the sun moon and stars revolved around it Then Copernicus put forth his theory which likely would have cost him his life had he not been on his death bed when it was His theory which is proclaimed the one accepted as true today is this : “The earth is a planet planets revolve around the sun the moon is a secondary planet and revolves around the earth the sun with its planets primary and secondary constitute one system called the solar system and this system is only a very small portion of the universe” In 1600 Giordano Bruno after six years of imprisonment was burned at the stake for teaching doctrines which were only corolaries from the demonstrations of Copernicus The second great scientist was Galileo born at Pisa Italy in 1564 He lived a short time after Copernicus and expanded and more firmHe was ly established his theory the inventor of the telescope and though it was far inferior to what we now have yet he was able to focus it on the heavens and see what mortal eye had never seen before Galileo also established the great fundamental laws of falling bodies which were improved and extended How by Newton in later years were Galileo’s doctrines received by the world? He was honored and regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the age Kings and princes did him homage but the then powerful Catholic church considered him a heretic and he was summoned to Rome in 1633 to make a defense But he had no defense to make he had simply uttered and published what he knew to be true Two things were before him submission and recantation or torture and death He was an old man now seventy years of age His health and spirit biokc down and on June 22 1633 he |