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The Power of Imagination

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"A" is for Archeology

A Scientific Sidebar

Fortunately, for men like Heinrich Schliemann, they were living in an age when they were capable of carrying out their lifelong ambitions. But imagine being born too soon, during a time when the necessary technological know-how was still decades away, or even centuries. A long time ago, a friar by the name of Roger Bacon wrote that, "someday even the largest ships will travel at speeds that would have previously required an entire crew of sailors.

Selected Biographies

Roger Bacon (1214 - 1294 A.D.) English Philosopher and Scientist Work laid foundation for the Scientific Method.

Arthur C. Clarke (1917 A.D. - ) English Author of Science Fiction and Fact Wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey and Childhood's End. His ideas led to the development of satellite broadcasting.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519 A.D.) Italian Scientist and Artist Painted The Last Supper, The Mona Lisa.

Selected Glossary

Faith: an act or attitude, based on one's confidence in the providential care of God and His Word.

Logic: a science that deals the standards of valid thought, traditionally comprising the principles of definitions, classification, demonstration, and proper lines of reasoning; as opposed to rhetoric.

Science: the systematized knowledge of any one department of mind or matter; acknowledged truths and laws, especially as demonstrated by induction, experiment, and observation.

Technology: the science of the application of knowledge to practical purposes.

Selected Bibliography

1. Profiles of the Future: A Daring Look at Tomorrow's Fantastic World - by Arthur C. Clarke, p. 15

2. Ibid., p. 2

3. Ibid., p. 15
"And, even though these vessels are so huge, each one of them will be guided by a single man. Chariots will be built which move very fast, without the aid of animals. Men will create machines that will allow them to walk along the ocean floor. And, someday, their machines will even help them fly."1

Too bad this visionary lived, and died, in the wrong century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, scientists were still quite unanimous in their pronouncement that human flight was impossible.

Anyone who tried building an airplane would be considered a fool. That's why it is so startling to consider that Roger Bacon made his predictions in the 13th century. Leonardo da Vinci wouldn't be born for another 200 years.2

Everything Bacon described has come true, but, at the time he was writing, it was obviously more an act of faith than of logic. According to Arthur C. Clarke, in Profiles of the Future, "Here, we have yet another example of the triumph of the imagination over hard, cold facts."3

(read more about the role of the imagination in science...)

My Web Poll
To someone living before the 20th century, which device do you think would require the most imagination to understand?
Automobiles
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