The Poincare Conjecture is a math problem from the late 19th century. A summary of the details may come from me over a scotch and a beer at a later date. It is pretty interesting, but can get a bit technical. If the conjecture is true (and it looks like it is), then we may be able to devise tests to discover the true shape of the universe.
Anywho...
A quick anecdote in an early chapter is the source for the titular realizations of this post.
Most Americans are taught that Columbus was trying to prove the Earth was a sphere, and King Ferdinand and his court of advisers were convinced it was flat. THIS WAS NOT THE CASE (1). Most every somewhat educated person was sure the Earth was a sphere, especially in the 15th century. The argument that Columbus was having with the Spanish Royal Court was over their opposing estimates to the size of the planet.
The King's advisers were using Eratosthenes estimate (24k mile circumference), claiming that the voyage would be far too expensive to outfit properly. Columbus was using Ptolemy's estimate(18k mi), claiming that the size of the planet would make outfitting such a voyage profitable.
History has shown that Eratosthenes was more accurate, but Ferdinand bought into Columbus anyway.
Now, Columbus was a lot of things. History has not viewed him well, and I have said many negative things about him and his legacy, things I wouldn't take back. But, other things that I've learned about should be in the same conversation. I'm talking about one of the last things Columbus wrote, an oft-ridiculed passage where he muses that the planet isn't spherical, but rather pear shaped--thin in the northern hemisphere and more bulbous in the south.
He got to this conclusion because, up until the end of his life, Columbus was convinced he'd reached the islands off the Indian subcontinent. Having arrived as quickly as he had (rather luckily for his near-starving crew), and knowing how long it took to get get around the southern tip of Africa, led him to reevaluate his understanding.
That's the important part here: (2) Columbus reevaluated his beliefs about the shape of the planet so they would fit the data he encountered. He didn't try to massage the data to fit his beliefs--he changed those beliefs. That's intellectually courageous. Not quiet making up for the wholesale slaughter of the Cubano Arawak, there, Chrissy, but it's an aspect I didn't know before.
This book also inspired the rabbit-hole trip into the history of Germany that I'll be putting into my upcoming "Watching the Gerries" post. Go Riemann!
Riemann ist der Raketenmench!
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