New Worlds in Nuclear Physics

One of the primary reasons of maritime exploration during the 15^th-16^th centuries was to advance the commercial interests of nations such as Spain and Portugal. Indeed, Christopher Columbus searched for a westward route to the rich islands of East Asia. Ferdinand Magellan expanded this objective and reached the Spice Islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

Scientific exploration also seeks for treasure, but this treasure is the treasure of knowledge. As scientific experiments build our knowledge, we increasingly have a better idea of what the unknown is like.

One region of discovery in science today is the known isotopes of the chemical elements. These can be plotted by proton and neutron number. As we do a three-dimensional plot of proton number, neutron number, and the logarithm of the lifetime, we obtain what looks like a landmass with a mountain range in the middle. This is what nuclear physicists call the “nuclear landscape”. As each new isotope is discovered, we in a sense discover a new small piece of the nuclear landscape.

My Picture of Orcas Island, WA

A frequent criticism of nuclear physics is that all of the expense of experiments usually results in a small number of atoms of short-lived isotopes. Critics see the enormous cost of experiments as worthless considering the seemingly underwhelming results of fleetingly-lived atoms.

However, the study of nuclear physics has led to enormous technological advancements over the last 100 years. If Henri Becquerel never placed a piece of uranium on a photographic plate in the dark, then we would have never understood the concept of radioactivity. If Ernest Rutherford never bombarded that gold foil with alpha particles, we would have never entered the new world of nuclear physics. If Frederick Soddy never bothered to study the different lifetimes of a substance with the same chemical properties (which would later be known as protactinium), then our knowledge of different isotopes of uranium (fissile vs non-fissile) would never have come to fruition, and nuclear fission would never have become a major power source for the world. Therefore, the study of nuclear physics has given us profound technological advancements and advantages over time.

Likewise, if Christopher Columbus never sailed west to find a new route to the Far East, then our knowledge of the Americas would have been postponed. Instead, the discovery of the Americas eventually led to the creation of the United States of America, a beacon of freedom to the world.

The Consequential Age of Discovery

Since the beginning of time, humans have been led by an insatiable desire to explore the world. This is particularly evident during the Renaissance time period. While explorations in the past have not always brought great change, several of the discoveries have had astronomical effects on the world.

Trade routes dominated early European economies

Vasco de Gama was a Portuguese explorer. He was one of the first to sail around the horn of Africa and landed in India. What makes this voyage particularly significant is the trade routes that it opened up. The spice routes brought great riches to Portugal. The effects of controlling these trade routes would set in motion events that would change the world. I would argue that this is one of the most important events in history. This time of prosperity that Portugal enjoyed was an inspiration to rival nations that riches lay in undiscovered trade routes. This is one of the primary reasons Spain sent Christopher Colombus in search of a different route to the Indies. While watching their neighbors grow richer by the day, they were willing to take a bold step to find a better way.

The discovery of the Americas by Christopher Colombus led to a series of events that would change the world forever. Conquerors, missionaries, and explorers alike would be drawn to the New World for the unknown opportunities that could be discovered. The New world offered seemingly limitless land. Many an explorer left their homes in search of treasures in the Americas. Other notable explorers of the New World include:

• Hernan Cortez who conquered the Aztecs
• Francisco Pizarro who conquered the Incas
• Jacques Cartier explored Eastern Canada 

Jessie Bruner wrote a blog post titled "World Discovery: A Necessary Evil..?" about how the conquistadors and other ruthless explorers were a necessary evil to discover the new lands. their methods were inhumane, yet, it opened up a world of opportunity that would lead to the founding of many great nations. Spain would soon be plagued by war, which would tear the New World from the Spanish control, however, they have already left their mark as millions of South and Central Americans still speak Spanish today.

America would continue to draw explorers and settlers for centuries to come. Carter Shearer wrote a blog titled "Manifest Destiny"  about the people who would soon sweep the nation as they spread west. As America was settled by immigrants from across the world, it would soon become a land of opportunity like none before it. Unclaimed land was oftentimes given away by the government to motivate settlers to develop lands.

Despite all these incredible discoveries, I believe the most significant discovery was not of lands or people.  I would argue that the discovery of the printing press was the most consequential discovery of the Renaissance, and perhaps of any time.  It revolutionized the spread of information. The Protestant Reformation could have never succeeded without it, as many had tried before to reform the Roman Catholic Church. The common folk finally had access to books, including the Bible, which had never been possible before in history. This opened a world of discovery for the lower classes.

Image credit: TheAndrasBarta World maps 2015, by Andras Barta licensed under CC 2.0

True Devotion or Religiously Charged Politics...

Becoming a rather sarcastic-toned, sarcastic-loving human being over the years (probably from growing up in big cities in the Northeast and having the crassness of several angry New Jersians coursing through my veins) I am inclined to the departures of mainstream literature during the Reformation and what better way to deviate from the mainstream than to talk about “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus” written by Christopher Marlowe in the late 16^th century.

As we discussed in class, the Reformation was an extraordinary period for personal religious devotion and the ability to express such devotion with greater access to religious texts such as the Bible which were translated and circulated more frequently because of the printing press. “Dr. Faustus” is no exception. I have (mostly) read and (for the most part) enjoyed Marlowe’s personal devotion to God and the abhorrence of sin. Here is a brief synopsis of Marlowe’s play: the German Doctor Faustus decides that he is bored of traditional areas of knowledge, such as mainstream religion, and starts to meddle in the dark arts, which ultimately leads him to summoning a devil friend who convinces him to sell his soul to Lucifer and the Doctor goes through (mis)adventures for several years after making this deal and then (spoiler alert) dies.

What is interesting about this play is that it is difficult to pinpoint Marlowe’s sincere feelings towards his actual relationship with God despite this rather extensive play of religious topics; it is often comic, sarcastic, and in some parts political, very much unlike the sermons of John Colet and Hugh Latimer.

So did the invention of the printing press and mass publication of religious content improve all religious devotion during the Reformation era, or did this free-reign of personal devotion cause some scholars, such as Marlowe, to draw farther away from his faith?

Image Credit: Faustus Tragedy Title Page (public domain image via Wiki Commons) 

Manifest Destiny

In the process of reading about explorers during the Renaissance voyaging out to "Brave New Worlds" and experiencing new peoples and cultures I pondered on what may have prompted their voyages. Governments surely dispatched some for reasons such as trade or imperialism. Others were prompted by a desire to experience new things and bring that knowledge back to their homes. 

We all are explorers and adventurers facing our own Brave New worlds

Continuing on with this thought process I thought of others who left their homes to venture to new places and thought on their reasons. I ended up in America in the 1800s where Manifest Destiny was in full swing. Manifest Destiny was an attitude that America was a virtuous country who had an obligation to bring this virtue to the world and that this mission was divinely appointed to them from God. One of the big outcomes of Manifest Destiny was the settling of the west. I feel this expands the theme from the Renaissance of a Brave New World. While those who were settling the west weren't traveling oceans, they were expanding into their own new worlds and bringing American traditions with them. They were expanding their country and proliferating its values in new areas. Whether is was right or not for these people to spread and often force American culture onto the areas in which they settled is a discussion for another time. But their manifest destiny mindset and them traveling into their own "Brave New World" is something I think many people can relate to.

Many people grow up being taught values and principles which they hold close. In my own case, I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints and grew up with a specific set of beliefs and morals. I served a mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in a way went out with a manifest destiny mindset, feeling I had a mission from God to bring those beliefs and morals to others. I ventured out into the unknown, ready for new experiences and too meet new people, all the while desiring to bring my beliefs to them. I think many people have experiences and beliefs that connect them with the theme of A Brave New World and Manifest Destiny.

A Stranger at Home

Coinciding with the Renaissance era was a time of exploration by countries of Europe. In particular, Portugal and Spain pioneered the oceans for "God, gold, and glory", or in other words, for the sake of missions, economic prosperity, and global influence/political dominance. Naturally, their European neighbors followed suit. Today, we often discuss their adventures with a heavy grain of salt and a disdainful tone as we remember the harrowing exploitations that took place. But upon reading French explorer Michel de Montaigne's Of Cannibals, I've come to consider that not every adventurer sought to prey upon third-world countries.

A view of the outside world molds the lens in which we view our own. Just as Montaigne saw cannibalism as less savage than aspects of punishment in his home country, travel can lead us to question our morals and mannerisms. This shapes our identity-- and perhaps most of all, with whom we identify.

While living in Japan last August, I did more than just appreciate their culture-- I adopted it. This isn't meant to sound boastful, but to simply express how I related to certain aspects of their culture more than my own. Dignity, modesty, respect, diligence, politeness, kindness... all inherent parts of Japanese custom, and all values which I prize highly. I felt like a sound wave that had been tuned-in to the correct frequency.

This leads one to ask: did the conquistadors ever relate to the cultural ideals of their captive country better than their homeland? Did explorers ever long to live "tribally", or feel like a fish-out-of-water upon arriving home? Looking forward to the Enlightenment, it seems that the explorations of Europe paved the way for a new humanist empathy to take root in Europe.

Perhaps we'd do well to rethink our assumptions about the explorers. Maybe they, too, became strangers to their homelands, and in turn, propagated tolerance across Europe for the indigenous world. 

The Best of all Possible Worlds

It is fascinating that following the black plague in Europe, where nearly a third of the population died, the great thinkers of the renaissance put humans at the center of a universe created for them. Pico della Mirandola said,

I feel that I have come to some understanding of why man is the most fortunate of living things and, consequently, deserving of all admiration...

This idea that man is the most fortunate of all beings, despite the clear evils around characterized the great hope of the humanists in the 15th century.

A map of Guina by Jodocus Hondius (1598)

 It led to great explorations, pushing the boundaries into brave new worlds created for us, the humans. They exaggerated tales, but it seems like they truly did believe that this was the best of worlds, and that humans were at the center of it all. This seed of an idea idea of a best of all possible worlds stuck with humanity. The 17th century philosopher  Leibniz believed it, and argued that God has done all he can for us.

In the present, we have lost sight of mans place in the world. We look at the evils around us, the fighting and disease and wonder how we could be the "most fortunate of all living things". This attitude however was what carried Europe away the dark ages, above the awful plague, and across the oceans. If we too wish to conquer the evils of our day, rising above as a voyagers to brave new worlds, we too must live with the belief that we have been blessed, that we have the agency and ability to change our circumstances. Only then can we arrive at our El Dorado.