@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (1/n) At least in the relevant physics communities among members publishing in the peer reviewed literature, the acceptance of Einstein's special theory of relativity was rapid. A matter of a few years.
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (2/n) This was in part thanks to the efforts of individuals such as a Lorentz and Planck. And despite the complexity of his theory of gravity, it's acceptance in the peer reviewed literature was even more rapid.
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (3/n) There were of course antisemite scientists, particularly in Germany with the rise of Nazism, but there protests were almost entirely a matter of the popular press and politics, not peer reviewed literature.
Darwin? His case is a little more interesting.
Darwin? His case is a little more interesting.
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (4/n) Roughly at the time that Darwin, it was considered a recognised fact that the earth and the sun couldn't be more than a few million years old: the only fires known were chemical fires, ...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (5/n) ... and alternatively, the only other source of energy which we could conceive of for the sun was due energy being released as the result of gravitational collapse. On the basis of the latter, Lord Kelvin calculated that the age of the sun...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (6a/n). ... had to be in the range of millions of years, not thousands of millions. This required evolution to take place at a rate which seemed unlikely.
Similarly, a geologist discovered evidence that the rocks of the earth were in many cases older than the limit..
Similarly, a geologist discovered evidence that the rocks of the earth were in many cases older than the limit..
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (7/n) In addition, the theory of continental drift was proposed to account for similarities in the shapes of the continents: these enormous land masses seemed to have shapes which could fit together like pieces of a puzzle, but the fit was not perfect, ...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (8/n) ...and once again the apparent age of the earth seemed to count against the theory. Another problem with this theory was that there existed no known engine for the hypothesised movement of the continents: as far as scientists of the time knew, the earth was essentially...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (9/n) ... one giant, solid rock. Volcanos were simply a small, irrelevant side-issue.
However, special relativity, which was originally put forward to account for experimental results involving the motion of light, required an equivilence between mass and energy which...
However, special relativity, which was originally put forward to account for experimental results involving the motion of light, required an equivilence between mass and energy which...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (10/n) suggested that chemical fires were not that efficient.
The study of subatomic particles lead to the recognition that nuclear fires could exist which would be much more efficient than chemical fires. Nuclear fusion made it possible for us to recognise that...
The study of subatomic particles lead to the recognition that nuclear fires could exist which would be much more efficient than chemical fires. Nuclear fusion made it possible for us to recognise that...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (11/n)... the sun is much older than we originally thought it was. Nuclear fission explained the generation of heat internal to the earth's surface, and this made it possible for us to recognised the fact that the continents are afloat on a sea of molten rock...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (12/n) ... which exists beneath the earth's crust.
This provided us with a means to explain continental drift. In addition, both botany and zoology discovered similar populations at just the places the theory of continental drift argued were where the continents...
This provided us with a means to explain continental drift. In addition, both botany and zoology discovered similar populations at just the places the theory of continental drift argued were where the continents...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (13/n)... had once been together.
New evidence and once highly-controversial theories were fitting together like the continents once had. They were providing us with a unified view of our world. Whereas Karl Popper's fallibilism viewed distinct theories...
New evidence and once highly-controversial theories were fitting together like the continents once had. They were providing us with a unified view of our world. Whereas Karl Popper's fallibilism viewed distinct theories...
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 (14/n) ... as being tested against evidence independently of one-another, the history of science has shown a remarkable degree of interdependence between distinct theories existing in highly disparate areas of human knowledge.
@beuchelt @GYamey @rjar1980 Anyway, I have a confession to make. That wasn't off the top of my head but largely from a paper I wrote years ago. But it seemed appropriate.
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