(Mozi and Confucius were actually just two of the many Chinese philosophers of the time who wrote about history, morality, human nature, and the political philosophy most likely to promote stability in that war-torn time.
Tyson correctly reported that China’s Mozi likely developed a camera obscura centuries before anyone else and that he also promoted the idea of “universal love” and opposed oppression. Historical Noteįor the sake of historical accuracy, we must mention that Tyson’s scriptwriters failed him a bit this week. Critical thinking skills include the ability to discern the difference between observational science, such as that which has led to the discoveries of the properties of light and so many other phenomena, and historical (origins) science, which interprets observations through the lens of a scientist’s worldview. This is particularly ironic given the current climate in which many mainstream evolutionary scientists, educational associations, and popular personalities wish to restrict academic freedom and prevent students from learning to critically examine the unverifiable claims of the evolutionary version of our origins. China’s 5th century BC philosopher Mozi (Mo-Tzu), the 11th century Arabian Ibn Alhazen (Ibn al-Hasan, Ibn al-Haytham), 17th century British genius Isaac Newton, 18th century Hanoverian astronomer William Herschel, and the 18th–19th century Bavarian Joseph von Fraunhofer all lived long before Einstein and observed many principles foundational to our modern understanding of light.Īll the biographies are told in a way to emphasize the importance of an open exchange of ideas in order for scientific progress to continue building on itself. While today we realize that scientific discoveries come through controlled, repeatable tests that objectively consider the various components of a problem, not every culture has embraced the scientific method-but these men intuitively did. The first portion of the Cosmos episode “Hiding in the Light” points to a few of them. Shoulders of GiantsĪ multicultural array of people made discoveries relevant to components of light and the way light can be used to transmit an image. The speed of light was covered in last week’s episode, leaving this week’s episode to focus on other properties of light, carrying viewers from prisms to spectral examination of stars. See Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey for reviews of other episodes and discussion guides for further study.Ĭosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey episode five, “Hiding in the Light,” though opening and closing with allusions to the supposed big bang birth of the universe billions of years ago, devotes most of its airtime to observational science.