Myths about Science Part 1

1. That there was no scientific activity between Greek Antiquity and the Scientific Revolution. Contrary to the myth propagators, the late-antique/early-medieval figure Boethius (ca. 480-524 or 525), a high official from an old Roman family, had planned a large-scale translation of Greek natural philosophical and mathematical works into Latin.
2. That before Columbus geographers and other educated people thought the Earth was flat. Every major Greek geographical thinker, including Aristotle (384-322 BCE), Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 BCE), Eratosthenes (273-ca. 192 BCE), and Claudius Ptolemy (ca. 90-ca. 168), based his geographical and astronomical work on the theory that the earth was a sphere. Likewise, all of the major Roman commentators—including Pliny the Elder (23-79)—agreed that the earth must be round.
3. That the Copernican Revolution demoted the status of the earth. Copernicus, a canon in the Catholic Church, considered his heliocentric (sun-centered) astronomy to be compatible with Christianity, declaring on one occasion that God had “framed” the cosmos “for our sake.”
4. That alchemy and astrology were superstitious pursuits that did not contribute to science and scientific understanding. Although the exact mechanism and extent of action remained debated, there were no doubts about the reality of celestial effects. Astrology endeavored to gain useful knowledge and to prognosticate about weather, natural and human events, and especially human health. Many of the greatest names in astronomy were also involved in (or even inspired by) astrology.
5. That the apple fell and Newton invented the law of gravity, thus removing God from the cosmos. Those who promulgate the no-God fallacy fail to appreciate that Newton’s original version of Newtonian physics is not the same as the one that prevails now. Newton’s God did not create the universe and then retire; instead, he permeated his creation and intervened from time to time in its operation—which why critical contemporaries accused Newton of supposing God to be a sloppy clockmaker.

Source: Newton’s Apple and Other Myths about Science (2015) by Ronald L. Numbers and Kostas Kampourakis [editors].