Three Misconceptions
Here are three misconceptions with which you may be familiar—each is completely wrong: Columbus discovered America; an apple landed on Isaac Newton’s head, giving him the idea that helped him understand gravity; putting butter on a burn helps.
Each misconception is slightly different. For example, observation is all that is needed to sort out the first misconception. The thousands of people who already lived in America at the time of Columbus were easily observed. The rigour of science can play a supporting role here. Carbon dating of fire pits shows that people have lived in North America for at least 12 000 years, and DNA analysis shows they are descendants of early Asian peoples.
The story that Isaac Newton sorted out gravity by watching an apple fall in the 1600s is really just a children’s tale. It also gives an incorrect view of the process of science. Newton was well prepared for his discoveries. He is regarded as the greatest mathematician of his day—and most of his mathematical knowledge was self-taught. His ideas about gravity took many years to develop; and he did his work in consultation with others, including Kepler, who encouraged Newton to release a book on the topic.
The last misconception—that it is helpful to put butter on a burn – is best sorted out using experimentation. This is where science shines, because no amount of discussion or argumentation can change the fact that tests show putting butter on a burn is ineffective. In fact, experiments show that butter actually holds the heat in, and makes the burn worse.
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Greek astronomer Aristarchus said in the 3rd century BCE that earth revolves around the sun - but the idea was not accepted…
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