Physical Sciences

If the word hydraulics is understood to mean the use of water for the benefit of mankind, then its practice must be considered to be even older than recorded history itself. Traces of irrigation canals from prehistoric times still exist in Egypt and Mesopotamia; the Nile is known to have been dammed at Memphis some six thousand years ago to provide the necessary water supply, and the Euphrates River was diverted into the Tigris even earlier for the same purpose. Ancient wells still in existence reach to surprisingly great depths; and underground aqueducts were bored considerable distances, even through bedrock. In what is now Pakistan, houses were provided with ceramic conduits for water supply and drainage some five thousand years ago; and legend tells of vast flood-control projects in China barely a millenium later. All of this [1] clearly demonstrates that men must have begun to deal with the flow of water countless millenia before these times.

The Armillary Sphere
A drawing of a demonstrational armillary sphere, from Libros del saber de astronomia del rey D. Alfonso X De Castilla.
Large image (188K).
Very large image (1.6M).
Armillary spheres can be divided into two main categories: the observational armillary, as used by Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe; and the demonstrational instrument. Both types consist of a number of rings (Latin: armillae) which are arranged so as to model the circles of the celestial sphere. Typically, armillary spheres used for observation were larger and possessed fewer rings than those which served as demonstrational instruments; this made them more accurate and easier to use. Often the rings of demonstrational armillaries, like those of the observational spheres, were divided, and some incorporated sights which could be used to orient the instrument appropriately.

The Agnostic Christmas by Robert Ingersoll (1892)
Becoming a Freethinker and a Scientist by Albert Einstein (Off Site)
The Bigotry Of Colleges by Robert Ingersoll
The Brooklyn Divines by Robert Ingersoll (1883)
Conversation on Religion and Antisemitism by Albert Einstein (Off Site)
Crumbling Creeds by Robert Ingersoll
The Development of Religion by Albert Einstein (Off Site)
The Foundations Of Faith by Robert Ingersoll
Effect Of The World's Fair On The Human Race by Robert Ingersoll
Note About Einstein's use of the word "God"; Albert Einstein (Off Site)
On Prayer, Purpose, and the Soul by Albert Einstein (Off Site)
Religion and Science: Irreconcilable? by Albert Einstein (Off Site)

Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 (300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. His parents' house was in north London, but during the second world war Oxford was considered a safer place to have babies. When he was eight, his family moved to St Albans, a town about 20 miles north of London. At eleven Stephen went to St Albans School, and then on to University College, Oxford, his father's old college. Stephen wanted to do Mathematics, although his father would have preferred medicine. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he did Physics instead. After three years and not very much work he was awarded a first class honours degree in Natural Science.

Edward O. Wilson is the founder of Sociobiology and is widely regarded to be the world's most famous living scientist. Recently, Wilson seized the word "consilience" from deep within the history of science and reintroduced it into our language by emblazoning it across the cover of his latest best-seller, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. In this book, Wilson offers to unify the "two cultures" of literature and science for once and forever, as "the way to renew the crumbling structure of the liberal arts" (12). It is an offer many of my colleagues find attractive, for Wilson carries enormous authority both as a natural scientist and as an eloquent speaker for the environmentally appealing concepts of "biophilia" and "biodiversity." He has well-nigh captured the Thoreau Society: for example, in June 1998 he joined Bill and Hillary Clinton as a featured guest at the opening of the Thoreau Institute, delivering a brief address which has been reprinted as the Preface to the Thoreau Society's collection of Thoreau's writings on science, which I edited and entitled Material Faith.

he Christian church has had a continuing concern for the for the relation between God, man, and nature. Western science emerged in cultures dominated by Christianity. The question arises how Christianity influenced attitudes toward nature and the practice of what was later to be called science. It is also important to discover the ways that an increasing knowledge of nature has influenced Christian thought.
Our keynote paper by English, Chemist-Historian Colin Russell aptly focuses on the value of history in understanding toady's science/faith concerns. American historians of science David Lindberg and Ronald Numbers offer a seminal statement on the 'conflict thesis' in Beyond War and Peace: A Reappraisal of the Encounter between Christianity and Science.

Tesla Memorial Society of New York is celebrating its 25th anniversary. It was founded in Buffalo, New York in 1979. It is the oldest Tesla society in North America dedicated to keeping the memory of Nikola Tesla alive. We are committed to the pursuit of science, progress and brotherhood among all nations and religions around the world.

This web site is dedicated to Richard P. Feynman, scientist, teacher, raconteur, and musician. He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb, expanded the understanding of quantumelectrodynamics, translated Mayan hieroglyphics, and cut to the heart of the Challenger disaster. But beyond all of that, Richard Feynman was a unique and multi-faceted individual. Feel free to explore this site to find out about Feynman, what he was and why he remains one of the most celebrated and revered scientists of modern times.