A scientific test of astrology is to examine the success of its predictions. It has failed in many spectacular cases. for example , a grouping of all known planets in Libra in 1186 led astrologers to predicts the disastrous storms, because Libra was associated astrologically with the wind. People dug storms cellars in Germany ; the archbishop of Canterbury ordered fasting the palace in Byzantium was walled up; people fled to cave in the near east. but the conjunction of planets passed without incident. Similarly , in 1524, all known planets clustered in Aquarius , the water Bearer. This time astrologers predicted a second Deluge, but the month of the conjunction passed without disaster and was reportedly drier than usual. Similarly, pseudoscientists and astrologers predicted cataclysmic earthquake and other disasters due to the so-called Jupiter effects - increased gravitational stresses caused by a rough alignment of jupiter, Earth, and other planets on the same side of the Sun in march 1982. The month and year came and went without the 'predicted' cataclysms. Some statistical studies of astrological predictions have been reported to see if these predictions are more successful than random predictions. Jerome(1975) reviewed several of these studies and concluded that legitimate statistical studies of astrology have found absolutely no correlation between the positions and motions of the celestial bodies and the lives of men."Still another test would be to search for forces exerted by planets or stars by which astrological influences could be manifested. Some modern apologists for astrology argue that these forces might be like gravity. So far, no such mysterious forces have been detected. Further more ,we can calculate that the gravitational influences of nearby objects on a newborn baby, such as that of the mother during birth, are greater than the gravitational influences of the planets.
5) Lavoieser:( Famous scientist) : France use to be the focal centre of scientific, philosophical ideas and development. French Revolution was in peak by both view political and chemical. Among all revolutionist Antoine Lavoieser was one of great leader of chemical revolution. But we must know that about Lavoisier is that he was a scientist who was beheaded during the French Revolution. What is not known widely is that he had dramatically transformed science of chemistry before reaching the guillotine. This he did by the help of his theory of combustion which asserted that combustion involved the combination with oxygen and not emissions of phlogiston(It's an imaginary matter which was proposed by German chemist Stahl and was supposed to help combustion ) as advocated by scientists of those days. He also brought exactness to chemical theory and formulations with his emphasis upon weighing and had taken initiative in introducing a new and more practical language for the science. By a coincidence Lavoisier book outlining his revolutionary ideas about chemistry was published in 1789,the year in which french revolution broke out. Lavoisier chemical revolution was a revolution against mysticism of the alchemists ,the authority of the scholastic and autocracy of the wrong notions of long-dead Greek philosopher Aristotle. The weapons he used were precise analytical measurement and exacting theoretical thought. What Lavoisier did was to redefine chemical elements as separate materials with separate identities and properties. In the long run, the age-old chemical theory based on impressions and speculations was replaced with lavoisiers theory based strictly on verifiable experimental results. Lavoisiers work is so profound and ever lasting in the history of science that he has long been given a place in the pantheon of scientific immortals along with copernicus,Galileo,Newton,Darwin,and Einstein. However,Lavoisiers interest was not limited to chemistry alone. He was a multi-faceted genius who equally loved the sciences of physics ,physiology,agriculture ,Agron also the supporting technologies. Besides ,he was also great econo mist and tax reformer of his time. Few men keep themselves busy in so many fields. The greatness of lavoisier was ,he made a mark in every one of them.
Early ages of lavoisier : lavoisier was born on August 26, 1743 in a prosperous French family in paris. His ancestors came from villier-cotterets , a town about eighty kilometers northeast of Paris . His father name was Jean antoine and mother Emilie punctis. Lavoisier was an adored,indulged,and idolized child . He was one of the two children . However , his sister Marie died in her teens. The mother died when he was five and although his father was aged only thirtythree at the time of mother death ,he didn't marry again. Antoine's maternal grandmother was widowed the year before the death of her daughter, and it was she who took over the care of her grand children . In this she was helped by her other daughter,constance. Antoine spent six years in this doting menage before starting his formal education as a day student at the college des quatre-nations. From his early childhood he was very fond of doing new things. Once at age of nineteen, he decided to find the effects of diet on health by ingesting nothing but milk only. As a result his health deteriorated so much that a concerned friend was forced into stopping the 'experiment' using the physical means. From these early years his behavior often exhibit the unreasonable ways in which intellectuals act. Later once again he prepared to put his health at risk for a scientific cause while carrying out experiments on street lighting. He wanted to shut himself up in a completely dark room for six weeks so that he could judge better the minute difference in the intensity of illumination. However , whether he succeed or not is not known. Yet he had done many other such experiment and one of them is in 1768 trying to determine whether water could be transformed into earth by repeated distillation. He heated a sample of water in a pelican (flask), a device that returns the condensed distillate to the liquid being distilled . The sample was kept at a temperature just below boiling point for 101 consecutive days,and the effort required continuous vigilance. Lavoisier had an insatiable appetite for recording meteorological information,mostly barometer readings,and for analyzing samples of well-water. He indulged into any work with unrestrained energy and concentration . Throughout his life he showed an enormous capacity for detailed and tedious work. In his later life as a scientist ,lavoisier brought to the science a vision of success that was both broad and complex. Like other scientists he saw science as an end in itself,but in,addition,additions as a means to other ends as well. Lavoisier obtained his bachelor's degree in law in 1763. He was now looking forward to commit himself to a career. He was not given to indecision and had decided himself destined for science,though he had studied law to satisfy his family's expectations. The law was a safe ,respectable profession,which he could enter anytime and so he decided to pursue first a career in science. If his fascination with science turned out to be an e perimeter in failure ,he thought ,he could always fall back on the law at a later date.
To be continue.....
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