Humanity has come far in the last few hundred years – extremely far. Here are six scientific achievements that we once thought to be impossible.
History is full of naysayers. For every out-of-the-box thinker who wondered if something might be possible, there were a hundred voices to shout them down. Imagine the wonder of someone transplanted from a mere 300 years ago to the present day. Daily life would be virtually unrecognizable.
The miracles modern humans take for granted every day: instant light in the dark, trans-oceanic travel in hours, transmitting voices through the air, let alone the masses of information broadcast by Wi-Fi. These things would be inconceivable to Benjamin Franklin, let alone Julius Caesar. Considering humanity has trod the earth for nearly 200,000 years, the last few hundred have been unprecedented in technological advancement. What is commonplace to us is beyond the wildest imaginings of yesteryear.
The inventors of these technologies have not always had an easy road. Pioneers and dreamers are often met with the sneer of impossibility from those who lack the imagination to see something a new way. Fortunately, the scope of human curiosity trumps that of skepticism, and we can enjoy the fruits of thinkers who cast aside the pessimistic and forged into new realms. Join us as we examine seven scientific achievements that were once thought to be impossible fantasies.Heavier-than-air flight
Earthbound for most of history, we once thought we were destined to stay on the ground. After all, how could something heavier than air leap into the sky and fly about like a bird? Other than birds, of course. The idea of a contraption that could defy the laws of gravity was so absurd that in 1903, the New York Times claimed such an invention would take « from one million to ten million years — provided we can eliminate … the existing relation between weight and strength in inorganic materials. »
On September 19, 1783, a pair of French brothers named Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier stitched a cotton canvas and paper balloon together, tethered it to the ground, and lit a fire beneath it, watching as it rose into the air. They repeated the feat a week later in front of King Louis XVI, attracting the attention of the Académie Royale des Sciences. After further experimenting, Pilâtre de Rozier, a physician, and François Laurent, the Marquis d’Arlandes, agreed to climb into a basket attached to the balloon. They were the first humans to take to the sky.
A skeptic might claim that lighter-than-air flight is a matter of natural law, but heavier-than-air flight violates the laws of physics. That skeptic would need to consider the concept of lift and the invention of the internal combustion engine. A mere nine weeks after the New York Times claim, the Wright brothers, bicycle mechanics from Ohio, took to the sky at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, forever changing the course of human history.Splitting the atom
Some ancient thinkers claimed that four essential elements — earth, water, air, and fire — made up all things. Greek philosopher Democritus argued that these four elements were not the basic building blocks of matter, preferring his theory that all things originate from tiny particles. In the early 1800s, British chemist John Dalton discovered that Democritus was right — all things are made up of tiny particles called atoms.
