Books of Philosophical Science – 'I imagine therefore I am'
Facts
Note: The information included in this section has been taken and edited from various on-line and hard copy journals. Although the assembling of the information and its presentation is original the content is not. It has been provided to offer the reader information about aspects of this novel that might not be commonly known. Some of the information is factual and some theoretical and every attempt has been made by the writer to identify for the reader the difference.
Albert Einstein
Born in 1879, Albert Einstein is known today for his incredible mathematical ability and… well, his wild hair. But more important than the physical attributes of his cranium, is the fantastic information which it provided. He will probably always be remembered as the greatest mathematical genius of the modern world. Honors he has received for his works include the Nobel Prize, which he was awarded in 1921, the Royal Society Copley Medal, which he was awarded in 1925, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1921, and he became an AMS Gibbs Lecturer in 1934. He also was a very vocal advocate against nuclear weapons, and spoke out for international peace. Fittingly, a letter asking that his name be put on a manifesto urging all nations to give up their nuclear weapons, was the last he wrote before his death in 1955.
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642 in Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England He was born the same year Galileo died. Newton is clearly the most influential scientist who ever lived. His accomplishments in mathematics, optics, and physics laid the foundations for modern science and revolutionized the world.
From time to time, a man arises like a bubble from the deep whose work changes the course of human thought pointing to the true path away from the trackless desert. Such a man was born in Lincolnshire, England in 1642. There entered the world one of the strangest and most baffling figures in the history of human thought. Einstein remarked that Newton was a more significant figure than his own mastery makes of him, since he was placed by fate at the turning point of the world’s intellectual development. Isaac Newton was to be the starburst of the Enlightenment.
God gave the prophecies, not to gratify men’s curiosity by enabling them to fore know things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and His own providence, not the interpreters, be thereby manifested to the world.
He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which produced the Christian statement of belief known as the Nicene Creed. On his orders, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built at the site claimed to be the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem and was deemed the holiest place in Christendom. He has historically been referred to as the “First Christian Emperor” but while he did favour the Christian Church, some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity.
Abu Simbel
Not only are the two temples at Abu Simbel among the most magnificent monuments in the world but their removal and reconstruction was an historic event in itself. When the temples (280 km from Aswan) were threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser, due to the construction of the High Dam, the Egyptian Government secured the support of UNESCO and launched a world wide appeal. During the salvage operation which began in 1964 and continued until 1968, the two temples were dismantled and raised over 60 meters up the sandstone cliff where they had been built more than 3,000 years before. Here they were reassembled, in the exact same relationship to each other and the sun, and covered with an artificial mountain. Most of the joins in the stone have now been filled by antiquity experts, but inside the temples it is still possible to see where the blocks were cut. You can also go inside the man made dome and see an exhibition of photographs showing the different stages of the massive removal project.
Neanderthal
Neanderthal, also spelled Neandertal, the most recent archaic humans, who emerged between 300,000 and 100,000 years ago and were replaced by early modern humans between 35,000 and perhaps 24,000 years ago. Neanderthals inhabited Eurasia from the Atlantic regions of Europe eastward to Central Asia and from as far north as present-day Belgium southward to the Mediterranean and southwest Asia.
Similar human populations lived at the same time in eastern Asia and Africa. Because Neanderthals lived in a land of abundant limestonecaves, which preserve bones well, and where there has been a long history of prehistoric research, they are better known than any other archaic human group.
The fate of the Neanderthals is closely related to the appearance of modern humans. Subsequently they spread northward sometime before 55,000 years ago, displacing or absorbing local archaic human populations. Even in western Europe—a cul-de-sac where the transition to modern humans took place relatively late—some researchers contend that there is fossil evidence for interbreeding between late Neanderthal and early modern humans.
The origin of the Welsh name “Arthur” remains a matter of debate also. Some suggest it is derived from the Roman nomen gentile (family name) Artorius, of obscure and contested etymology (but possibly of Messapian or Etruscan origin). Some scholars have suggested it is relevant to this debate that the legendary King Arthur’s name only appears as Arthur, or Arturus, in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius (though it should be noted that Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects).
Nano Technology
Nano manufactured products are made from atoms. The properties of those products depend on how those atoms are arranged. If we rearrange the atoms in coal we can make diamond.
The recent launch, from a Californian airbase, of a pair of ‘picosatellites’, the size of a pack of cards, is a critical test of nano engineering in space, and presages a future of nano satellites.
The tethered pair of “picosatellites,” designed by The Aerospace Corporation under a project funded by the MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) Technology Office of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. In addition to validating MEMS technology, the picosats are able to communicate with each other and a third picosatellite at the ground station.
String theorist Michio Kaku suggests molecular nanotechnology as one way to deal with the heat death of the universe: “There is nothing in the rules of science to prevent the regeneration of an advanced civilisation from the molecular level.”
Kaku also said, “Using wormholes which would normally be too small, too unstable, or the radiation effects too intense, we could send only atom-sized particles through a wormhole. In this case, a civilisation may embark upon the ultimate solution: passing an atomic-sized “seed” through the wormhole capable of regenerating the civilisation on the other side.
“An advanced civilisation might want to send enough information through the wormhole to create a “nanobot,” a self-replicating atomic-sized machine, built with nanotechnology. It would be able to travel at near the speed of light because it would be only the size of a molecule. It would land on a barren moon, and then use the raw materials to create a chemical factory, which could create millions of copies of itself.
Based on these theories it is feasible even now to imagine assembling space craft using nanotechnology that can self build on reaching a destination. It is also theoretically feasible that once we know more about wormholes in space that these nano-space vessels will be able to enter these holes to traverse enormous distances in both time and space.
Moses
Hebrew liberator, leader, lawgiver, prophet, and historian, lived in the thirteenth and early part of the twelfth century, B. C.
Of Levitic extraction, and born at a time when by kingly edict it had been decreed that every new male offspring among the Israelites be drowned he the “goodly child” Moses, was concealed for three months in a basket on the banks of the Nile.
An elder brother and sister, Aaron and Mary, had already graced the union of Jochabed and Amram. The second of these kept watch by the river, and was instrumental in inducing Pharaoh’s daughter, who rescued the child, to entrust him to a Hebrew nurse. The one she summoned for the charge was Jochabed, who, when her “son had grown up”, delivered him to the princess. In his new surroundings Moses was schooled “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”.
Moses next appears in the bloom of sturdy manhood, resolute with sympathies for his degraded brethren. Inadvertently he hews down an Egyptian who was trying to appease the wrath of two compatriots who were quarrelling. He is misunderstood, however, and, when upbraided with the murder of the previous day, he fears his life is in jeopardy. Pharaoh has heard the news and seeks to kill him.
Moses flees to Madian. An act of rustic gallantry there secures for him a home with Raguel, the priest. Sephora, one of Raguel’s seven daughters, eventually becomes his wife and Gersam his first-born. His second son, Eliezer, is named in commemoration of his successful flight from Pharaoh.
After forty years of shepherd life, Moses speaks with God. To Horeb in the heart of the mountainous Sinaitic peninsula, he drives the flocks of Raguel for the last time. A bush there flaming unburned attracts him, but a miraculous voice forbids his approach and declares the ground so holy that to approach he must remove his shoes. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob designates him to deliver the Hebrews from the Egyptian yoke, and to conduct them into the “land of milk and honey”, the region long since promised to the seed of Abraham, the Palestine of later years.
During later years he confronts the Egyptians and supposedly ifests them with three plagues before leading his people to the promised land with pharaoh in pursuit. The pharaoh is believed to be Ramesses II.
From Mount Nebo — on “the top of Phasga” — Moses views for the last time the Promised Land, and then dies at the age of 120 years. He is buried “in the valley of Moab over against Phogor”, but no man “knows his sepulchre”. (His burial place is unknown)
Ramesses II
Ramesses II (also known as Ramesses the Great and alternatively anglicised as Ramses and Rameses) was an Egyptian pharaoh. He lived from c. 1314 BC to 1224 BC and reigned from 1290 BC to 1224 BC, He ruled for a total of 66 years, becoming pharaoh at the age of 24 and dying in his 90th year. Ancient Greek writers (such as Herodotus) ascribed his accomplishments to the semi-mythical Sesostris.
He was the third king of the 19th dynasty, and the son of Seti I and his Queen Tuya. The most memorable of Ramesses’ wives was Nefertari. Others among his wives were Isisnofret and Maetnefrure, Princess of Hatti. The writer Terence Gray stated in 1923 that Ramesses II had as many as 200 sons and 200 daughters; more recent scholars, however, believe his offspring, while numerous, were far fewer. His children include Bintah (Bintanath) (princess and her father’s wife), Setakht (Sethnakhte), the Pharaoh Merneptah (who succeeded him), and prince Kha’emweset.
It is widely believed that it was Ramesses II that was the Pharaoh depicted in the fables of Moses.
Rainbow Serpent
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as a creator godand a common motif in the art and religion of AboriginalAustralia. Not all of the myths of the ancestral being link a rainbow with the snake, and not all describe the being as a snake, but there is usually a link with water or rain. Some scholars have suggested that the link between the two suggests the cycle of the seasons, for example blue (winter), red (summer), yellow (spring) and orange (autumn), and the importance of water in human life. When the rainbow is seen in the sky, it is said to be the Rainbow Serpent moving from one waterhole to another, and the divine concept explained why some waterholes never dried up when drought struck.
There are many names and stories associated with the serpent, all of which communicate the significance and power of this being within Aboriginal mythology. It is viewed as a giver of life, through its association with water, but can be a destructive force if angry. The Rainbow Serpent is one of the most common and well-known Aboriginal stories, and is of great importance to Aboriginal society. It is one of the oldest continuing religious beliefs in the worldand continues to be a cultural influence today.
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Over the centuries there has been many spectacular cultures with their own unique symbols and alphabets but there has been none as spectacular as the Egyptians with their hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were used as a written language. Each of the symbols stood for a sound, unlike English, hieroglyphics were used phonetically.
Numbers were written as many times as was necessary to make up the full number. Emphasis was always on laying them out as neatly as possible.
The Egyptians only used addition and subtraction and didn’t use abstract theorems to calculate their numbers, instead they used tangible everyday objects – such as the number of bricks that will be needed, how much will be needed to fill a jar, etc. These objects were standardize at a very early date so would supply accurate results for the Egyptians.
They had no concept of zero but did use fractions (written by using an ‘R’ with a number under it i.e. 1/… )
The Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London began on the night of September 2, 1666, as a small fire on Pudding Lane, in the bakeshop of Thomas Farynor, baker to King Charles II. At one o’clock in the morning, a servant woke to find the house aflame, and the baker and his family escaped, but a fear-struck maid perished in the blaze.
At this time, most London houses were of wood and pitch construction, dangerously flammable, and it did not take long for the fire to expand. The fire leapt to the hay and feed piles on the yard of the Star Inn at Fish Street Hill, and spread to the Inn. The strong wind that blew that night sent sparks that next ignited the Church of St. Margaret, and then spread to Thames Street, with its riverside warehouses and wharves filled with food for the flames: hemp, oil, tallow, hay, timber, coal and spirits along with other combustibles. The citizen firefighting brigades had little success in containing the fire with their buckets of water from the river. By eight o’clock in the morning, the fire had spread halfway across London Bridge. The only thing that stopped the fire from spreading to Southwark, on the other side of the river, was the gap that had been caused by the fire of 1633.
The standard procedure to stop a fire from spreading had always been to destroy the houses on the path of the flames, creating “fire-breaks”, to deprive a fire from fuel. Lord Mayor Bludworth, however, was hesitant, worrying about the cost of rebuilding. By the time a Royal command came down, carried by Samuel Pepys, the fire was too out of control to stop. The Trained Bands of London were called in to demolish houses by gunpowder, but often the rubble was too much to be cleared before the fire was at hand, and only eased the fire’s way onward. The fire blazed unchecked for another three days, until it halted near Temple Church. Then, it suddenly sprang to life again, continuing towards Westminster. The Duke of York had the presence of mind to order the Paper House demolished to create a fire break, and the fire finally died down.
Numbers
Before primitive man had grasped the concept of number, the written word or even speech, he was able to count. This was important for various reasons, including keeping track of food supplies, sending messages, trading between villages or even keeping track of how many animals were in a herd. There were various ways in which this was done. However, whether these primitive people realised it or not, the underlying principle behind their methods of counting was one-to-one correspondence. This correspondence between the objects being counting and their counting aid, enabled primitive man to make the first important steps towards an abstract counting system.
Over time and at varying places around the world different methods for counting arose. With the use of counting aids such as collections of pebbles, tally sticks and knotted strings, primitive people were able to count and keep records. However, all around the world the use of the hand was common as a way of representing numbers. In some cases, such body counting was extended to counting with other parts of the body. There were some cultures that used points over the entire body to aid in counting.
