1609-1859

2009/01/07 Carton Virto, Eider - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Historia

Galileo. Painting by Justus Sustermans in 1636.

Galileo worked in astronomy, observed planets and stars with the help of the telescope, and explained phenomena never seen - and impossible -, as Tycho Brahe and his successor Kepler, who then did not say it, but the last two were contemporary, Kepler's laws on the motion of the planets are of the Galilean telescope. Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and a little later, Newton put Earth in place, and with them arose and developed what is known as modern science.

The new sciences based on observation, data, facts, measurements, and strong mathematics took their first steps in astronomy and physics, but since its creation it became clear that it was much more than that. It was a new and innovative way of dealing with the mysteries of the world, leaving aside superstition and dogmas, and, necessarily, the models of power that feed on them. There is no more to remember the warm welcome you received from them.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the publication of 150 On the origin of species.

But by the attempt of the contrary there was no turning back. With the earth in place, the one born in astronomy spread to medicine, chemistry, biology and all corners, and in 1859 Charles Darwin published the work that has placed man in his place. The natural selection is the motor of the evolution of life and has no purpose, favors the best adaptation of the environment and the evolution in geological scale of time. It is a simple and extremely powerful idea, able to reasonably explain all the forms that have taken life since the time of its creation. He needs nothing more to explain all that we see in nature and, of course, enchanted the heirs of Galileo's enemies. He was the last strong and natural selection made nothing the miracle of creation.

No one could think that they are old things, that the heliocentric model and the theory of evolution are totally internalized and that only a despicable minority questions. And on the skin it is true, but in the background not so much. And it is not enough for a broad majority to accept both theories. The arguments and values that support these theories are the real key, they are the true antidote against all kinds of beliefs and dogmas, and unfortunately there the vast majority is not yet so extensive and the rejected minority is still less rejectable. That is why it is worth remembering in 2009 the works of Galileo and Darwin and shortening to his light the shadow of belief until his disappearance.

Published in Berria