Page 12 - Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism

Sun, Moon and the stars all rotated around it. His writings at-
tracted much attention, were translated into many languages,
and had a great influence, especially on European culture. The
Catholic Church based its theology on Ptolemy's Earth-cen-

tered model. Within a short time, some people noticed dis-
crepancies in his theory, but were forced into silence because
of the wide popularity that Ptolemy enjoyed. Once noticed,
Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism
however, these discrepancies could not be easily ignored. By
the 15th century, Copernicus had shown the errors in
Ptolemy's ideas and came out firmly against the idea of an
Earth-centered universe. As the centuries went on, it became
known that the Earth was a planet revolving around the Sun,
which was only one star among millions of others in the Milky

Way, and that the Milky Way was just one example of count-
less other galaxies composed of stars.
Humans had always been fascinated by fire and the flames
it gives off, but its secret had not yet been discovered. Towards
the end of the 1600s, a German sci-
entist, G.E. Stahl, tried to discover
the source of fire. As a result of his
experiments, he proposed that fire
was caused by an invisible substance
called phlogiston, which he believed
could penetrate and emerge from

objects. Any object that contained
phlogiston burned quickly,
while substances lacking
phlogiston did not burn at

Claudius Ptolemy

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