The Elegant Universe

Although technically not invented in the Golden Age of Islamic Culture, the Astrolabe developed its full potential of varying uses during such time. Although no models are known to survive, it is believed that the astrolabe was first developed by the Greek in around 150 BCE. The evidence to support this comes in the form of documented use by the famous astronomer Hipparchus who had used this device to help create a 2D representation of a 3D sky. Moreover, it wasn't until the growing scholarly…

sides of the same coin. While some deeply respect and even fear the gods, others, however, seek to become involved in them. In the short story “The Last Question,” Asimov’s proposed future shows mankind struggling to outlast the eventual decay of the universe by forming a collective consciousness. Herman Hesse explores a similar idea in “Siddhartha,” in which our main character Siddhartha attempts to reach enlightenment. Analyzing the two of these works shows that humans seek to obtain unity,…

Achieving Author’s Purpose: A Successful Creation Myth Have you ever wondered how Earth came to be? Everyone has heard of different creation stories whether they were fictional or reasonable stories. “The World on the Turtle’s Back” is a an Iroquois creation story that displays the Earth beginning, and the balance of “good” and “evil.” “Creation stories often serve many purposes. According to Larry Evers and Paul Pavich, scholars of Native American literature, such stories’ remind people of…

The beginning of the world and human existence have always mystified people. Human nature compels human beings to understand, put things in order, and explain the unexplainable. In ancient times creation stories answered the questions that confounded and bewildered the people living in those societies. Modern science and technology did not exist to help; no scientific experiment could be performed. Ancient societies used myth instead of analysis to answer the questions of existence and purpose;…

” (Long) and that it is its own class of higher power. Anaxagoras claimed that nous is what caused the start of things. He believed that nous is what triggered the kosmos and everything that it holds inside. The kosmos, being the origins of the universe, from the stars to the planets, and everything in between. Anaxagoras stated that the kosmos is made up of parts, comparable to a recipe. In a recipe, there are different measurements of different ingredients that all need to come together to…

Technology and science have progressed a lot ever since the U.S. decided to launch the first Earth satellite, or Sputnik. With the help of new devices and well prepared astronomers, we have been able to expand our knowledge in regards to space, starts, planets, and other unidentifiable objects that we are still studying. Yet, even with all the information that we have, we are not yet completely knowledgeable of what other things exist out there in space because there is another world out there…

The Open Boat is a story written by Stephen Crane that portrays a main focus of naturalism in the lives of man, and how that nature is portrayed as malicious, through the sources A Man Said to the Universe and I Explain the Silvered Passing of the Ship at Night. Stephen Crane’s The Open Boat considers three stages of quotes in which the men are affected by nature itself; the storm, the survivors, and the rescue. To begin, Crane starts his anecdote with a miraculous life threatening storm. Crane…

I must be there right? My part is of the same importance as any other of my other classmates, I was sure of it. No I’m not Mary or Joseph, but of the disciples I had an equal amount of responsibility. My lines were a crucial part of the story, essential to explaining the birth of my then savior, Jesus. Only I had practiced to say the two sentences assigned to me. This is what my third grade self led me to believe the night before the presentation of St. Bernard School’s Christmas show. Hours…

think is real, and how they could ever know the difference. Numerous beliefs were once accepted by society as the absolute truth but are now known to be completely false, such as the shape of the earth or the idea that the earth was the centre of the universe. Some philosophers such as Rene Descartes encourage us to question the existence of almost anything. For instance, when we were children we were told to believe in figures like santa and the tooth fairy, but we, later on, found out that…

Time is a concept that for a long time was thought to be untouchable. This was until black holes were discovered. These collections of matter hold the seemingly supernatural effect to alter time as we know it. A black hole is a star that has collapsed and become so dense that it creates a gravitational field strong enough that nothing, not even light, can escape. When a star dies it leaves behind a very dense remnant core. If the core’s mass is more than three times the mass of the sun, the…