Wednesday Wisdom

WHO?

Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers (1758-1840) was a German astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy during his lifetime. He is best known for his discovery of two asteroids, Pallas and Vesta Olbers and was a member of several prestigious scientific organizations, including the Royal Society of London and the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

What he produced? a logical question: Why is the sky dark at night? 

The sky is dark at night. This doesn't seem to be any mystery to anyone except perhaps a flat earther. However, Oblers followed the tradition of Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and Kepler who mapped out the galaxy and the movements of planets around the sun in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 18th century, Kant proposed the initial idea that certain cloudy patches of light observed in the night sky, known as "nebulae," might be other galaxies similar to our Milky Way. However, Kant's ideas were largely theoretical and lacked the observational evidence necessary for widespread acceptance. In the early 1920s, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble played a pivotal role in identifying other galaxies and establishing the idea that the universe consists of numerous galaxies. Hubble used the largest telescopes available at the time to observe and measure the distances to certain objects in the night sky called "nebulae." Through his observations, Hubble demonstrated that some of these nebulae were not part of our Milky Way but were actually separate galaxies located at vast distances from us. What we now know is that if you look up at the sky at night there 100-400 billion stars in our galaxy the milky way and 100-200 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

 The belief at the time of Obler in the early 1800's was the galaxy, which was the universe, was both finite and infinite. Finite meaning the space of the universe was fixed and infinite meaning an unlimited uncountable number of stars. So, if the universe is fixed and there is an infinite number of stars (suns), and light will travel at a constant speed across the universe, why would we not always be in an eye line with a star and thus always seeing light. For every line of sight from Earth would eventually intersect with a star, and the sky should appear as bright as the surface of a star. However, the night sky is dark, which seems to contradict this assumption. This was known as Olbers Paradox and although not a scientific inquiry, it was a logical question that sent philosophers and astronomers on a path to answer over the next few centuries.

2023 why do we care?

The resolution to Olbers' paradox lies in considering additional factors beyond a simple infinite and uniformly distributed universe. Scientists have investigated concepts such as the finite age and expansion of the universe ( Big Bang Theory), the presence of dust and gas that can absorb and scatter light, and the redshift of light from distant sources due to the expansion of space.

Ultimately, the resolution to Olbers' paradox lies in the belief that the universe is not only expanding but also finite in age. The finite age of the universe means that light from extremely distant stars and galaxies has not had enough time to reach us because they are moving away. The resulting consequences of these stars moving away from the earth is a dark sky at night. This phenomenon aligns with the Big Bang Theory and of an expanding universe while also providing a solution to the paradox. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing scientific explanation for the origin and evolution of the universe. It provides insights into the beginning of the universe, its expansion, and the formation of galaxies, stars, and other celestial bodies. It may help us one day to a unlock clues to the metaphysical question of how and why the universe was born and perhaps why we exist on a big rock floating through space and time.

As children, we always ask why? Obler and his question/paradox is a great example of how the search for truth starts with WHY? The Big Bang Theory gives us the understanding of the universe as we know it and gives a starting point known as Singularity (a starting point to as far as we can understand given our knowledge of physics). However, it does leave us asking more questions like if big bang is the start of the universe, who started the big bang? what came before it? who or what was the primary mover and does that prove the existence of God?

It seems that science and religion both look to answer the metaphysical although through different methodologies. But they both always start with great philosophical question of WHY?

And now you know...

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science.

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer the what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses.

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.