Nero is not fiddling, but making ugly noises

Among the frightening news reports that fill our newspapers in our times, I came across one (on October 21) with the following lines: “A catastrophic reduction in the flow of the Colorado River — which mostly consists of snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains — has always served as a kind of thought experiment for water engineers, a risk situation from the outer edge of their practical imaginations. Some 30 million people depend on that water. A greatly reduced river would wreak chaos in seven states: Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California.”  

This is but one example of the ominous unimaginable water scarcity that, according to experts, is almost inevitable all over the world in the next few decades during which, ironically, there will also be an overabundance of sea-water that would wipe away many coastal regions.The predicted catastrophes, so say many who seem to know, are in the foreseeable future when many of today’s children will be in the peak years of life.

In this projected scenario we (ordinary citizens) have no alternative but to do our little to diminish the individual environmental disturbance that each one of us is causing at various levels of intensity, and go about our business and human relationships, while trusting political leaders, planners, and engineers to do the best they can to avert the evitable, and minimize the impact of the inevitable.

But what is sad and incredible to contemplate is that in this backdrop so many people are deeply engaged in intercultural squabbles, deafening debates on God and Religion, recriminatory ideological combats, tall claims of religious uniqueness, mindless convictions of sectarian and racial inferiority, pride in national histories, incessant intergroup hate, and the like.

Is this because the imminence of catastrophic global ecological disasters is so little understood and internalized, or because our passion for group elation and sensations of sectarian superiority far exceed our instinct for survival, I wonder. 

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I know that many of you are browsing through my musings.

I will appreciate your reactions, and would like to know something about you and your thoughts on some of these matters.

Thanks!

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Being Optimistic

A reader: “I tend to be a little optimistic and hold on to the belief that a little goodness exists in the hearts of the average, ordinary person in spite of all the prejudiced and pernicious propaganda and brainwashing they are subjected to.”

 Thank you for re-affirming what I used to feel very strongly in my earlier years.I am holding on to it even now, as something more than a straw whenever I experience a drowning sensation in my thoughts about the human condition today. Even as the divisive and parochial forces are fanning the fires of mutual anger and hate, there are, as we know, many men and women of goodwill who think in human rather than in parochial terms and strive to do in their different ways many little things beyond hoping and praying to instill a sense of humanity and mutual respect in all of us.

I am well aware that such people are branded as naive idealists at best and as unwitting agents of destruction of their own groups at worst.

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On Watson’s Comments

News item: “On 17 October 2007 one of the world’s most eminent scientists was embroiled in an extraordinary row last night after he claimed that black people were less intelligent than white people and the idea that ‘equal powers of reason’ were shared across racial groups was a delusion.” 

We live in an extraordinarily confused and insecure age. A long-range effect of colonialism, cultural hegemony, free-trade, globalization, color-blind immigration, and multiculturalism is that deep in the hearts of countless people in every race, religion, region, and nation, of every language, culture, and group, there lurks a fear to the effect that what they have considered to be theirs for many generations is now under threat of dilution or destruction, or will soon be taken over by others of alien vintage. Added to this is the great discomfort at the thought of the weakening and eventual dissolution of the most dearly held religious beliefs that have given comfort, security, and stability during countless generations. The fear and discomfort find expression in a hundred ways.

One mode of reaction to this predicament is to decry, degrade, or demean others (real or imaginary enemies and institutions) in explicit or implicit ways. Often this is done in the language of   religion, nation, or science so as to clothe the irrational (though in some instances understandable) fear in a framework of authority, collective self-interest, or empirical evidence.

The recent statements of James Watson sound shocking and are certainly unbecoming of a responsible scientist. But this is only one example of the manifestations of fears and cultural discomfort. It is important to realize that it has received considerable recognition mainly because it was in English (a widely read language), and by an individual of considerable scientific reputation. Echoes of such views are expressed in direct or convoluted ways by thinkers and leaders in many other groups as well, and spilled out routinely in listserves which, with all their benefits, have also become powerful global networks for the dissemination of hate, misinformation, and pseudoscience. If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, when it is coated with hateful passions and diffused, it becomes toxic.

Awakened thinkers in enlightened societies recognize the untenability, anachronism, and potential danger in racist, xenophobic, sexist, and other distorted convictions that were public and widespread in ages past, and they challenge and condemn the propagandists of pernicious and prejudiced views, even while giving them to right to speak out their minds. It is too early say how far or for how long they will be successful in shielding the world from the resurgence of culturally stifling and harmful thoughts all over the world.  

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Science and Poetry

Let us look into some of the common elements between science and poetry. To the superficial observer, indeed sometimes even to the devotees of the fields, the two may strike as contrasting endeavors, as different from each other as day and night. Yet the two have a great deal in common: In both instances creativity plays a fundamental role, and even as in a hundred versifiers there may be but one genuine poet, so too in the realm of science the routine searchers are many and mechanical; the truly great scientific minds are few and far between.

In poetry, as in science, the urge to create is stronger than the plans to execute. When the poet Poe said that for him poetry was not a purpose, but a passion, he was also expressing the feelings of the true scientist to his own field.

Both science and poetry are efforts to cast truth and nature in symmetry and harmony. To the poet, “poetry is truth dwelling in beauty,” and to the scientist science is truth dwelling in beautiful formulas. Truth, that elusive entity, is of significance only to the seeker.

Thus, the difference between poetry and science lies in the modes of perception and in the framework of the search, not in the inspiration of the quest.

Even when the poet speaks out against the scientific conception he comes closer to the scientist in his description. William Blake, that inspired mystic who regarded “Reason as the Devil, and Newton as its high-priest,” and who proclaimed that “Art is the Tree of Life…Science the Tree of Death,” did echo powerfully the romantic revolt against a mammoth mechanical view of the universe such as was being suggested by 18th century physics and astronomy. But when he spoke of the raptures as one strives

To see the World in a Grain of Sand

And Heaven in a Wild Flower

Hold Infinity in the palm of your Hand

Eternity in an Hour,

he was merely putting to rhyme and rhythm the thrills of the scientific investigator. For when the chemist analyzes the elemental constitution of a sand particle, or the physicist probes into its atomic structures, they too see a world in a grain of sand. When the botanist describes the magic of wild flowers, their forms and their colors, and the plant histologist uncovers the biochemical turbulences that provoke their emergence and their transformations, they too see heaven in action in a wild flower. When the cosmologist computes the very limits of the universe, and the astronomer captures electromagnetic subtleties from distant galaxies, they too hold infinity in their hands. And when the astrophysicist examines the evolution of stellar systems he too holds eternity in an hour.

No wonder then that the pure scientist has always been sensitive to the charms of poetry. Galileo was an admirer of Ariosto, and knew the entire Orlando furioso by heart, as Euler could recite the Aenid from beginning to end. The mathematical physicist Simon Poisson mastered long passages from Racine and Corneille. Newton, Davy, Watt, Maxwell, Lallande, Ampere, Faraday – to name but a few of the great scientific minds – all showed more than a passing interest in poetry. Some of then even composed verses themselves.

Yet, not many poets have been enthusiastic students of scientific disciplines. Indeed when they do write on science they often tend to disparage the scientific enterprise, and make pitying references to the inadequacies and emptiness of science as they see it. From the pathological contempt for the science expressed by some of the more extreme romantics to the modern schools of inquiry into the illogical and the irrational which venerate the absurd in the inspired, if mistaken conviction that magic and mystery-mongering would lead to higher levels of reality, many gifted poets have painted the methods and fruits of the scientific quest in terms and images that connote pity and ridicule.

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Agnosticism, Atheism, Religion, and Science

Agnosticism is an expression of humility, and does not imply an attack on what others believe in.Atheism is a strong attack on a deeply cherished and long-held-as-sacred belief (in the existence of a Divine Principle).

Therefore,   atheism sounds (even if it may not actually be) arrogant to the ears of believers, because it is an explicit rejection and repudiation of a belief that is dear and sacred to believers. With all the well-recognized negative impacts on society and civilization, religions have also done (and continue to do) much good for billions of people, at least as they see it. Atheists have every right, in a free society, to articulate their profound faith in the non-existence of any God, but if they do this with claims that science proves atheism, they should expect a diminution in respect for science from the public which may not be all that equipped to understand what is meant by their statement.One can be an atheist without knowing any science.One can be a theist while being a good scientist. There are ample instances of both kinds.Both atheists and religious people have the responsibility to condemn all the atrocities that have been done and are still being done in the name of God and religion. But atheists will be doing a great service if they don’t associate this with science, not only because there are a good many scientists who are theists, but also because one can make the atheist argument without hanging on to the coat-tails of science. Indeed, many keen thinkers from ancient Greece, China, and India to the modern world have written eloquently and convincingly on the atheist position without saying that atheism is the only possible or inevitable conclusion to which Science takes us.It is only when scientists explicitly attack religion that antagonism to science arises. So long as science goes about its creative and exploring business, people are not against science.

If scientists say that there is biological evolution which is one of wonders that Almighty God has wrought in the Universe, many deeply religious people would embrace evolution and respect science also. But when scientists (on however valid a ground) keep publishing books to the effect that God is a delusion, God is not great, or people who believe in God are under a spell, while they may make fellow atheists feel great for expressing their own disbelief more cogently and eloquently, they are also likely to turn more people against Science. Science is not an offensive word, but atheism is to many people. If anything, we need to use the word science more and more and explain to the public what a fine, noble, and enlightening enterprise science really is, rather than shy away from it because a few brilliant writers are using it as a weapon against people’s religious beliefs. Respect for science and a clear understanding of its framework are more important for civilization and more urgent for society than the cessation of periodic visits to church, mosque, synagogue,  and temple, or the termination of the celebrations of Christmas, the Ramadan, Hanukkah, and Divali.

Science and Culture

Science and Culture Science, as we all recognize, is one of the most lofty expressions of the human spirit. It is the consequence of the irrepressible urge in the human mind to explore, understand, interpret and explain the world of perceived reality. This urge and efforts to give vent to it have been there in all cultures at all times: thus arose all the magnificent mythologies and the ancient insights of pre-modern science. Since the 16^th century, however, germinating from countless fructifying factors, there emerged what has come to be known as modern science whose tools and methodologies have been significantly different from those of its counterparts of previous centuries. What distinguishes this science from all previous ones is that has transcended the boundaries of race and religion, of language and tradition. Today there is an international network of scientists that has no specific national or ethnic  affiliation. Culture is another manifestation of the human spirit an has various different expressions. There is language and literature, art and music, religion and tradition, games and food, custom and costume, politics and poetry: all these are culture-based. They are as varied and colorful as groups in the world. When we travel to different countries, or even to different regions of a single country, we recognize the variety and diversity in cultural expressions. Thus, we are confronted with the following situation: On the one hand we have science: the all-embracing unifying force in the world at large; and on the other hand we have culture: which is a powerful and enriching indicator of how different human beings can be. How can we put the two in the same bottle? The answer to this lies in the following: It turns out that practically every manifestation of culture has been affected in one way or another by the emergence of modern science. This is a very crucial point. Ordinarily we are inclined to think that scientists work in their laboratories, bankers in banks, actors in the theater, artists in studios, politicians in government places, etc. But what is interesting is that practically every other activity in human society has been profoundly affected by the rise of modern science. And these influences have been significant enough to transform every human enterprise. Let us consider a few instances of the impact of science on culture.

Technology: The most fundamental aspect of any society is its material framework. There can be no significant contributions to culture and civilization if all the people have to toil for the bare needs of survival. Whether in ancient Egypt or China, Greece or India, it was a handful of people of the privileged classes who created and left for posterity great cultural legacies. The founders of human culture and the contributors to it  could not have accomplished this but the fact that their material needs were taken care of by the labors of oppressed and less gifted individuals, and that one needed the blood and sweat of countless and now forgotten thousands for erecting the magnificent structures of temples and cathedrals, pyramids and great walls that have survived the ravages of centuries.

We all know how in many different ways the emergence of modern science has come to the assistance of human muscular exertion in every conceivable manner, and indeed added considerably to the overall quality and comfort of everyday life. The blending of science and technology is in fact a rather recent phenomenon in human history, for many generations in many societies impressive technology flourished without any serious scientific underpinnings. It was not until 19^th century with the rise of thermodynamics and the conscious application to the notions of efficiency, breakthroughs in the science of electromagnetism and the consequent invention of the electric motor and the generator, and in our own times, the harnessing of the electron and through our understanding of the laws of the microcosm that technology has become a rich harvest of science.

Literature: The literary traditions of the human family go back to very ancient times. From primitive poetry to the great epics and mythologies, ancient literature was largely religious visions, powered by the human capacity for fantasy and verbal expression that created great literature. Here again, the rise of modern science had an enormous influence. If, in the 17^th  and 18^th centuries, a poet like Pope extolled Newton and science, and a writer like Jonathan Swift parodied it, in the course of the 19^th, many rebelled against the rigid logic and consequent success and adoration of science, and called for a romantic abandon of proofs and experiments in the quest for truth. In the 20^th century there have been other efforts to go beyond the so-called realism on which the scientific search seems to be based.

But then, the views and discoveries of modern psychology as to the nature, intricacies, and functioning of the human mind have found rich expression  plays and novels. Even giving due credit to the these  matters produced some of the masterpieces of literature,  one will have to grant that a great many literary works of our own times have been inspired by modern scientific  understanding of human action and behavior. Then, of course, some poets and essayists have transformed scientific findings into literary compositions. Add to all this the considerable body of writing known as science fiction, and you have some idea of the role of science in literature. Here too, some ancient writers have leaped beyond the everyday reality of the world around, and fantasized on undreamed of possibilities of their times, to create some wonderful situations. However,  the science fiction of today is has solid science as its basis.

Philosophy, as a quest for truth and understanding,  has always been a hand-maiden of science. Indeed, science itself used to be known as natural philosophy. Its major theoretical branch of epistemology has been seriously affected by the rise of modern science. Indeed, Rene Descartes, who is sometimes regarded as a founder of modern philosophy, was no less one of the founders of modern science. In the course of the 18^th century, those who wrote on causality, determinism, freewill, induction, deduction, the capacity of the human mind to understand, etc., were all imbued in the science of the times. Hume, Kant, Laplace, were all versed in 18^th century physics.

Epistemology is one of the quintessential  components of philosophy. For ultimately, how we investigate truth, whatever it be, how can we know anything at all, if we do not know what knowing and knowledge is.   It is deep probing into the nature of human knowledge about space and time that inspired Ernst Mach and eventually enabled Albert Einstein to formulate the theory of relativity.

And of course we all know how our understanding of the microcosm with the rise of quantum physics and the associated principle of indeterminacy gave rise to a host of epistemological problems that have yet to be resolved to the  full satisfaction of everyone. Today no one can say or write anything serious or significant in epistemology without some familiarity with the discoveries and world views of quantum physics. Add to this, the cosmological discoveries of the 20^th century, and the astrophysical speculations on the fundamental constants, leading to the celebrated anthropic principle, and we have some idea of the role that science has played in the field of philosophy.

What about a field like Ethics which seems to be far removed from science which deals with matter and motion, electricity and magnetism, physiology and neurology? Certainly, most of the basic notions of ethics arose in the context of religions. But science too has played a role our formulation and understanding of ethics.

After all the scientific enterprise itself functions on the basis of certain value systems: such as the disinterested quest for truth, honesty in reporting, objectivity in evaluating situations, etc. Then again, advances in human physiology and psychology have revealed that adhering to some of the traditional ethical injunctions can only have a positive impact on our overall well-being.

Finally, and this is seldom consciously or overtly recognized: the spirit of the Enlightenment – which is not viewed very favorably these days in certain circles – has resulted in many positive changes in human societies. The sense of justice and quality and the rejection of the notions of superiority of one race or creed over others, for example, are new notions which have emerged only after the Scientific Revolution. Gender equality, the demand for human rights, decency in international relations, all these have come about as a result of the more universal system of values that are consonant with the scientific world view and are contradictory to traditional perspectives of the human family which tend to be more parochial.

Finally, and most importantly, as a result of the negative impacts of technology as well as the globalization of trade, information and education, we have become aware of the interconnectedness of the biosphere, of environmental factors, and of web of life. Thus, science becomes relevant in the discussion of global ethics too. A good deal has been said and written about science and religion. After all, at one time the two were intertwined in many cultures in inseparable ways. In our own times, as we all know, the relationships between science and religion has been drawing more and more attention by scholars. Whether one feels that the two have nothing in common,  or that they ultimately lead to the same insights, or that they blatantly contradict each other, one cannot be indifferent to the topic itself.

Less obvious topics for discussion are science and sports, science and music, science and politics, science and food, etc. for in each and every instance science has influenced the growth and development of the field. Through loud-speakers and the radio or  computer imitations of Bach, music has been influenced.  Through vacuum-packaging and the microwave oven, food habits and cuisine have been affected. The audio  tape-recorder has had significant impacts on politics.  

The point is, there is not a single domain of human activity or culture  in the modern world which has not been touched in one way or another by the rise of modern science. That is why a forum for the exploration of science and its impacts on and interrelations with the various aspects of culture would be of considerable interest in general, and of great importance if we wish to understand and appreciate the role that science has been playing during the past four centuries.

On Frank J. Tipler’s “The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God, and Resurrection.”

On Frank J. Tipler’s “The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God, and Resurrection.”

This daring book with a catchy title, written by a physicist at Tulane University, elaborates on the conviction of the author that the results of current cosmological theories have finally proved the existence of God, and much more. Readers of E. T. Bell’s Men of Mathematics may remember the questionable anecdote in which Euler reportedly told an unbelieving Diderot in Catherine the Great’s court, “Sir, (a + bⁿ )/n = x, hence God exists.” The mathematically untutored Diderot (so  the story goes) could not reply and promptly went back to France. This book may be regarded as a more serious, and considerably expanded, version of Euler’s quip. The book interprets the many insights of modern cosmology in terms that should be soothing to the average person who has been let down by the dismal long-range predictions of 19th century thermodynamics and 20th century astrophysics. Scientists like Pierre Duhem, Balfour Stewart, and P. G. Tait once tried to circumvent the ominous Clausius prediction of a heat death that would eventually consume the entire universe, but they did not carry the day. Now at last we have a more optimistic treatise whose cheerful thesis is developed on the “physical assumption that the universe must be capable of sustaining life indefinitely” (p. 11). Its message should also be exciting to theologians and others who speak with some authority, if not first hand experience, on afterlife, for it argues that an essential consequence of 20th century scientific probing is the discovery that heaven and purgatory do exist, as reported in some of the highly revered holy books of the world. More important, Tipler claims to have shown that resurrection of the dead will occur, as reiterated periodically in many dominical sermons. But before we rush to make special arrangements for our caskets on this basis, let us note that by “resurrection” the author means simulation of ourselves “in the computer minds of the far future” (p. 227).  It is all based on the picturesque Omega Point Theory. “Omega Point” refers to the final state of the universe. It is to the future what the Big Bang is to the past: a terminal point on the time axis. It is not some poetic metaphysical concept but comes in the context of quantum cosmology with wave function, boundary condition, and all. Tipler gives half a dozen (what he calls) experimental tests for his theory (pp. 139–153), although the final confirmation may not come in the next hundred billion years. The universal wave function is the Holy Spirit. The Omega Point not only will resurrect us but also will love us. Furthermore, there are aspects of Tipler’s theory (Turing-test-passing subprogram) that correspond to angels (p. 157). His theory also absolves “God of moral responsibility for evil” (p. 264), which has often been an embarrassment for traditional theologians. Tipler declares himself to be a non-Christian, indeed an atheist. He confesses that he does “not yet even believe in the Omega Point” (p. 305). But he assures the orthodox that he will attempt to avoid any of the standard heresies regarding the doctrine of the Trinity (p. 313) and is eager to prove that 20th century science is confirming Judeo-Cristain visions of the divine. Nevertheless, in conformity with the multicultural spirit of our times, Tipler is commendably inclusive in his references to religious beliefs. He shows that “the resurrection model in the Omega Point Theory is natural to the Chinese tradition” (p. 272). He assures us that “the afterlife predicted by the Omega Point Theory is quite consistent with the afterlife expected in most African societies” (p. 280). He quotes from Hindu scriptures to let us know that “the afterlife of the Rig Veda is completely consistent with the. . . Omega Point Theory” (p. 273). Similarly, though some Buddhist scholars may insist that their religion is atheistic, Tipler finds reasons to believe that “the Blissful Realm of Japanese Buddhism seems completely consistent with the Heaven predicted by the Omega Point Theory” (p. 278). Also, “The nature of resurrection according to the Qur’an is essentially the same as that outlined in this book” (p. 299); and his theory is “in agreement with the universal Muslim belief on the absolute oneness of God” (p. 304). Furthermore, unlike most other attempts at a United Nations approach to religions, Tipler’s does not ignore the religious beliefs of Amerindians. “If the Omega Point Theory is true,” he informs us, “the hopes of the Native Americans will be fulfilled” (p. 283). Tipler’s insistence that theology should be a part of physics (p. 10) is essentially a call to return to medieval scholasticism, in which there was indeed no distinction between science and theology. He correctly recognizes that “religion can be based on physics only if the physics shows that God has to be personal, and further, that the afterlife is an absolutely solid consequences of the physics,” and asserts that his Omega Point Theory accomplishes these feats ( p. 327). However outlandish some of Tipler’s claims may sound to the average practicing physicist, his arguments are based on both an understanding of current physical theories and a study of sister disciplines like philosophy and religion. Even when he talks of the soul and immortality, of resurrection and paradise, Tipler defines the terms using concepts like the Penrose c-boundary, the Poincaré recurrence theorem, and levels of implementation (computer jargon referring to processes within virtual machines). Immortality for him is when information processing never ends. Only here and there are his psychological motivations explicitly stated. For example, after giving a series of arguments in favor of Everett’s many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, he states that if this interpretation it true, “then we can prove to be true what most people would very much like to be true” (p. 172). Essentially, the Omega Point Theory conjectures the evolution of super-minds before the final dismal astrophysical catastrophe gobbles up the whole universe in one final black hole. These minds would then persist indefinitely, rejoicing in their own virtual reality. Besides being fascinating in its bold proclamations, this is, in fact, a very weighty book, filled with complex ideas and sophisticated results. Unlike some others who rush to these themes where angels fear to tread, Tipler displays an impressive breadth of knowledge and engages the reader in quite a bit of profound thinking. Unfortunately, many practicing physicists are likely to chuckle at Tipler’s claims without even going through his pages, and very few non-physicist readers will be able to decipher the bulk of his Appendix for Scientists, which demands more than a modicum of knowledge of global general relativity, current advances in high energy physics, and computer complexity theory: framework on which the Omega Point hypothesis rests. Tipler intends his work to be a “popular book,” and indeed it has been featured on at least one popular TV show. However, not too many people whose lives have been enriched by faith in God will even bother about the mathematical proofs for the divine principle. The ergo est formulation of God’s existence is of interest only to professors, authors of books and papers, and debaters, not to the spiritually awakened souls of the world. In 1888, when the positive sciences were on the ascendant, Madame Blavatsky published The Secret Doctrine, a massive tome replete with ancient writings and quotes from 19th century scientists, to establish that all the results of the physics and cosmology of her period lay implicit in the occult writings of ancient Egyptians, Hindus, and Buddhists. Tipler’s book is on target with our Zeitgeist. We live in an age when people feel they have had enough of science and rational thought, which have led us to theories that make God irrelevant and ethics a function of situations. Our sciences have dragged us to doubt and to atheism, while technology, with all its creature comforts, has engendered pollution, population problems, and the depletion of rain forests. Add to all this a degrading drug culture, crippling crime waves, promiscuous sex, broken families, and low SAT scores to boot: we have had it. It’s time to sing, “Give me that old time religion…” The only snag has been that (at least for the college-educated lot) it is difficult to be convinced de rerum natura by soothing songs and eloquent sermons. Most book-readers find it difficult to rid themselves of the suspicion that science tells it like it is, while religion and poetry are only meant to make us feel good. Now, if only science (not theology) can prove that there is indeed a Santa Claus, some of the deepest emotional problems of the modern world would be considerably alleviated. This calls for a rebirth of the old physics> Books like The Tao of Physics and the Dancing Wu Li Masters, condemnation of Descartes and the belittling of the Enlightenment, holistic medicine and multiculturalism, all have set the stage for such a paradigm shift, unwittingly spawning a resurgence of interest in astrology, telepathy and psychic revelations.

Tipler has written a masterpiece for the Age of Aquarius, conferring much-craved scientific respectability on what we have always wanted to believe in. His insight that “in the end, reason will sway emotion” (p. 9) may not be entirely correct, for often it is the opposite that occurs.

On Fred Watson’s “Stargazer: The Life and Times of the Telescope.”

The word science often conjures up visions of theories, concepts, ideas and explanations, rather than of the countless instruments that make science possible. One of the first instruments which instigated the birth of modern science was the telescope. Aiding Galileo and other pioneers in their quest, it has revealed to human perception celestial bodies from nearby asteroids to distant galaxies. Associated with every development of telescopes, from Lippershey’s simple TWO-LENS device to the OWL (overwhelmingly large) telescopes are mortals with dreams and problems, ideas and frustrations. The Stargazer in the title refers as much to telescopes as to astronomers. This fascinating book tells us all about telescopes, and a good deal about the men and women behind them.

After a brief look into telescopes in the new century, and after after a sketch of the last pre-telescopic astronomer-giant Tycho, known as the Eyes of Denmark, the author takes us on a fascinating tour of the world of telescopes: their forms and lengths, their stories and rivalries, all intertwined with people with genius, temperaments, and convictions. These included amateurs and experts, sisters and wives, chemists and mathematicians. As we get to know the telescopes we also get a glimpse of the human side of the telescope-saga: about Cavalieri’s pre-Newtonisn treatise (Lo specchio utorio: The burning mirror), which dealt with paraboloid mirrors and suggested the idea of a reflecting mirror before Newton,  about Newton’s adamant declaration that achromatic lens was impossible, about how lens-making monopoly drove many to bankruptcy and dismal prisons, about the humble beginnings and early death of Josef von Fraunhofer whose work initiated spectroscopy, about the sudden birth of astrophysics, and more.

As with other histories, in science history too only the very famous are remembered. Yet, the great ones of history needed many lesser known workers in the completion of their tasks. Watson gives them a place in the pages of history. Everyone has heard of Newton, but not many know of James Gregory who too had conceived the idea of a reflecting telescope and even tried to construct one before Isaac Newton. When Robert Hooke brought this fact to the attention of the Royal Socuety, it began “a long and bitter feud” between Newton and Gregory regarding reflecting telescopes. Gregory died at 36 of a stroke he suffered while observing a Jovian satellite. Many may have heard of William Herschel, but not many may know about the assistance the great astronomer received from his sister Caroline who lived to be a hundred, 25 years in loneliness after her brother’s death. Astronomers have heard of William Huggins’ work on stellar spectral lines, but not about the chemist William Miller who was his comrade on the path to astrophysics, nor about the support that Huggins got from Margaret his wife in his scientific endeavors.

The book is replete with fascinating facts, presented as a very engaging narrative on a great many people who had anything at all to do with telescopes. It tells us about the kinds of telescopes that have been built, the controversies and conflicts surrounding their design and construction, and about the location of some of the larger telescopes in the world today. Astronomer Watson reflects on his subject without refracting any facts, and by focusing on the rich history he throws much light on the subject with astronomic sweep.

On Louise M. Anthony et al.’s Philosophers without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life.

The essays in this book by mostly disillusioned Christians and Jews writing on topics like “From Yashiva to Secular,” “Overcoming Christianity,” “On Becoming a Heretic,” and “Divine Evil,”  imply that atheism is superior, more rational, and less prone to fanaticism. The concluding essay tries  to show that faith automatically leads to fanaticism, ignoring the facts  that non-religious fanatics have done no less havoc than religious ones, and that billions of religious people are not automatically fanatics. But the central point of atheism is that God is a human concept, useful perhaps to some, but quite unnecessary for the important things in life. One can be moral, respectful, reverential, caring, and compassionate and all the rest without believing in a supernatural punishing God. In so far as this point is explained well in the essays,  the book is worth reading. The standard arguments against atheism are also answered forcefully and intelligently by the authors. But it is not pointed out that one doesn’t have to be anti-religion to be an atheist; many balanced atheists have little interest in the gods of the religions. Only the fanatics among them are on a crusade to destroy other people’s faith. Fortunately, the authors of these essays don’t seem to belong to that category.