Behind every scientific discovery hides a piece of glass
Exactly!
Who knew that behind many scientific discoveries lies a piece of glass! Yet, that’s exactly what it is.
The period from 1543 to 1687, called the Scientific Revolution, is considered the beginning of science as we know it today. It is a period that saw the explosion of new awareness and discoveries that changed our society considerably.
What was needed for experimentation was a material suitable for the many needs of this field and glass became a fundamental tool. Thanks to the skills achieved in its processing, a myriad of tools were invented that could decompose light, zoom images and more. We are talking about important discoveries such as the construction of the first eye glasses and innovative microscopes. We begin to understand the complex world of bacteria, we discover DNA and we start a series of inventions in the field of genetics. There is also the invention of the telescope that allowed us to see the tiny celestial bodies of our galaxy, opening the field of research in space.
In short, these incredible discoveries change the setting of science itself. Now everything is based on the verifiability of experiments and their repeatability: previously the primacy was held by the word, the mind and thought. Now it is given to the eye and visible evidence.
Is it therefore a case that today’s society is based in a disproportionate way on visual perception?
This makes us realize how much glass may have influenced the world of knowledge from Galileo’s time to the present day.
Glass therefore gave people the possibility to see the world with new eyes and consequently to transform it at their own pleasure.
Glass therefore did not only make possible a series of sensational discoveries, but also created in human beings a feeling of POSSIBILITY, a feeling of curiosity that aimed to break down those notions taken for granted for many centuries. It spread in the population the curiosity to discover the great truths of the world that until then were silently accepted.
