Walking down the hallway on a perfectly unobstructed day at school or work…it happens: a voice shrieks out “Who is GALILEO?!?!” While the question may have merit for a person that missed out on this subject earlier in life and simply needs to learn the subject matter…those who have made it through the majority of their high-school careers without the simple knowledge of one of science’s greatest contributors, Galileo (the man that perfected out model of a heliocentric solar system, have a serious lack of scientific understanding.
In popular culture, misconceptions and erroneous beliefs about science abound. As my high school AP Chemistry teacher would say: “Chemistry is a trail of lies,” and even if I did not have great respect for this teacher, I would still have to agree with him. What he means by this is that over the course of a student’s scientific career, he’ll be taught a huge amount of theories over various subjects. The problem is that as the student progresses, many of these theories begin to conflict with each other. For example, many people make it through high school, even the entire educational career, with the assumptions that water is blue because it reflects the sky, or that the rays of sunshine from the sun are parallel with each other by the time they reach the earth, or even that gravity is non-existent in outer space!
Another common misconception is the idea that planes fly by creating suction above their wings. The opposite is true. Planes are not able to remain aloft not because of some great upward suction, but because their wings create a downwards force that in effect pushes them higher into the air. It’s much the same principle as if I were to push down on a table with 90 pounds of force, my petit 90 pound body would be lifted into the air.
However annoying they may be to a science fanatic such as myself, these misconceptions about scientific theories are partially forgivable because in many cases it is not the person’s fault that they have “faulty” knowledge about science. In most scenarios, the blame lies with the teachers who attempt to water down complicated scientific truths to something more easily digestible by a student’s mind. Only if the student attempts to make sense of it all, only if the student questions his teachers authority, and only if the student chooses a career path in the scientific realm will he or she realize that many of the basic scientific ideas they were taught early on are grossly flawed…and sometimes what they learned in kindergarten continues to persist even in their professional life. Misconceptions extend beyond scientific theories, though.
The entire scientific community has long been ridiculed by those who fail to see its importance and those who just don’t have a good grasp of science. Many people are too introverted to realize how much science affects them everyday...barely acknowledging that science exists. In extreme cases they think that science is a waste of time and that scientists’ time could be better spent updating their stereotypically lacking wardrobes. This is an obvious source of constant frustration and annoyance for intellectual circles. A scientist’s main goal in life is to expand our species’ knowledge of the universe and, yet, here are these people (who are in fact members of our species) that refuse learn!
So, next time you run into someone in a hallway at school or work, outside or inside that’s thrilled about a new scientific breakthrough, or is annoyed about how ignored he or she is in their love of science, treat them with respect and listen to what they have to say. It will certainly make their day. And, who knows? What they have to say might actually be interesting. And you’ll discover how empowering it is to know that you have knowledge that relatively few people do. Then you begin to notice beauty in things for which you would never have spared a second glance in the past. This feeling is the driving force in a scientist’s mind, the constant hunger for knowledge…and the expansion of human understanding.
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