Mum in Canada with my brothers. My favourite photograph of the three of them!
The only thing I ever won in competition (it was a family effort) and we received a lovely bicycle. This telegram was brought from the post office by hand and it was so exciting! Strange to find it after all these years. The winning entry was
"People who pedal past petrol pumps save lives, save health and save money"
Re-reading my Dad's shelves of books and loving Cosmos. In it Carl Sagan describes Kepler (1571 – 1630), that awesome scientist who discovered so much about the movement of the planets. At a time when people thought these bodies moved in circles, Kepler came up with the notion of them being elliptical. He used the formula of an ellipse, first codified in the Alexandria library by Apollonius of Perga (262 BC – 190 BC) who had worked out the speed of the moon (one of the craters is named after Apollonius, in honour of his achievements). You've got to hand it to these guys and strange to think of all that knowledge being lost for so long.
Kepler worked out so much about the movement of the planets and three fundamental laws of physics remain named after him to this day. It is impossible to exaggerate his contributions to Astronomy. In Kepler's hometown of Weil der Stadt three women were tortured and killed as witches every year between 1615 and 1629. Many scapegoats were elderly women living alone who were blamed for illnesses suffered by others. It is perverse that Kepler's own cankerous 74 year old mother was carried off in a laundry basket in the middle of the night to face a charge of witchcraft. Poor Kepler had to leave his contemplation of celestial bodies and return to his home town to argue in his mother's defence. This, he was eminently capable of and he turned his logical and excellent mind to proving that in no way could his mother be responsible for the minor health complaints of neighbours. His argument won out and he freed her from the dungeon but she was exiled from the town of Wurttemberg for life and would have been executed had she returned. Kepler lost his benefactors who funded his research due to the Thirty Year War. During this period he also lost his wife and his son who both died. He was even excommunicated from his Faith due to his uncompromising individualism. Kepler envisioned 'celestial ships with sails adapted to the winds of heaven' navigating the sky 'who would not fear the vastness of space'. How sad that this brilliant scientist was reduced to constructing horoscopes for the rich nobility to earn a living. Today explorers of space use his laws of planetary motion and ride on the shoulders of this unique genius.
In 1542 Dominican Bartholome de Las Casas wrote a short account of the Destruction of the Indies and dedicated it to the future King Philip II. Arguments had started about whether the Spanish had a right to make war on the native people of South America to force them to accept Christianity. As Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos had so eloquently argued a few decades earlier,
'Are these Indians not men? Do they not have rational souls? Are you not obliged to love them as yourselves?'
Given the extent of slaughter of the native people these were important issues. A Council of Fourteen was convened to properly discuss the matter and in the meantime King Charles V ordered all Spanish conquests in America be stopped. Las Casas and the philosopher Sepulveda debated for five months. Sepulveda argued that native societies were devoid of civilisation and hence virtually devoid of humanity. Taking their gold, demolishing their political structures, acquiring their land and the widespread genocide was all justified. Las Casas who had, unlike Sepulveda, lived for decades in the Americas spoke eloquently and powerfully. Las Casa's arguments were,
- the world is indeed one
- human beings are the same
- all have the possibility of self fulfillment and achieving goodness
- no matter how rude, uncivilised and barbarous, savage or brutal a people could be, all can be persuaded into a good way of life - provided that the method used is proper and natural to men - namely love, gentleness and kindness.
Las Casas won the debate! This historic victory could have prevented much of the suffering that later happened in so many parts of the world to native people. This could have been a real milestone for humanity. However, power and greed became the real drivers and quickly trumped morality and conscience. Was it ever so?
Genius minds discovering the intricacies of the movement of the planets, great intellects urging respect of others, all so ahead of their day. With the passing centuries we see more clearly the truths they were urging others to accept. We also see the suffering that stupidity, greed and a lack of moral conscience brings to this world.
My grandfather fought in World War I. He was sixteen and the recruitment officer told him to walk around the table and come back and say he was seventeen. In order to enlist he needed to be a year older. He found himself in the Somme, was shot and awarded a commendation for bravery. He never spoke of his experiences much. He was the most fearless person I ever encountered.
My grandmother on the other side of the family painted this. She became a teacher and had five children. She never had time to touch a paint brush again. I reckon she had talent. But what do I know? Perhaps her five children were her real creative output.
