PASS Scripta Varia 21 - Pontifical Academy of Sciences

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE ON THE SCIENTIFIC LEGACY OF THE 20 th CENTURY
1 REVOLUTION
2 RACISM
3 UNIVERSALITY
4 ELEVATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL
5 INTELLECTUAL STIMULUS
6 HUMILITY
7 TRUTH
8 REFLECTION ON FACTS
9 GOODNESS AND TOLERANCE
10 FIGHT AGAINST PRECONCEPTIONS
11 GENEROSITY
12 FREEDOM OF THOUGHT
4.1. Revolution
Let’s begin with the concept of revolution. When a scientific discovery is
made, the dominant Culture loves to point out that a real revolution has
taken place.
Scientific revolutions have never produced deaths or injuries. The concept
of ‘revolution’ derives from the discovery that it was the Earth and the other
satellites of the Sun that move, going around in their orbits. It was the ‘revolution
of the orbits’ that gave life to Galilean Science. The term ‘revolution’
intended to emphasise the impact of the ‘revolution of the orbits’ of the planets
on the history of the world. With the passage of time, cultural mystification
went to work to change the scientific term ‘revolution of the orbits’
into the meaning of ‘socio-political revolution’, like the October Revolution
that led to the first example of a Republic with Atheism as State religion,
causing many millions of victims.
Instead, following a scientific revolution, everyone is richer than before. It
would be more correct to speak of construction, rather than revolution. In Sci-
The Scientific Legacy of the 20 th Century
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