Philosopher's 'Hilarious' Theory About Life On The Moon Could Now Be A Reality
On a clear evening, looking up at the night sky evokes feelings of awe and wonder. After all, who’s to say what’s actually lurking up there among the stars? Well, we do — humans nowadays have explored so much of the galaxy that we’ve named it — but back in the 1600s, the black expanse above us was as much a mystery as life itself. One man, however, had an idea, one that would’ve labeled him a genius in his time, but crazy today...
Touching The Stars
People have always tried to make sense of the seemingly random spattering of stars in the sky. The ancient Greeks assigned stories and characters to the stars and called them constellations, for instance. And in the 17th century, men of science were determined to touch the stars themselves, once and for all. Looking back, some didn't go about it in the best of ways.
Dr. John Wilkins
One such man was Dr. John Wilkins. A lesser-known polymath from the 1600s, Wilkins nonetheless greatly influenced science, religion, and philosophy. Though he was a respected philosopher at the time, in the hundreds of years since his death, his ideas have become, well, the butt of more than a few jokes.
World In The Moon?!
And the theory of his that gets the most laughs is actually the one he was the most confident about. He described his vision in his 1638 book Discovery of a New World: A Discourse tending to Prove that ‘tis probable there may be another habitable World in the Moon. Yep, you read that correctly.
Ancient Space Travel
Wilkins indeed devised a grand theory in which the Moon was hollow and housed another planet inside. Of course, if you thought there was another planet just beyond our reach, the logical next step would be getting there. That’s where Wilkins’ questionable science came into play.
