Light Fantastic: The Light of Reason

In the previous episode of this magnificent documentary series we explored the fascinating history of the human attempt to understand the nature of light, from the ancient Greeks to Newton's battle against Descartes, beautifully proving that colored light is simple and pure, and white light a mixture.

Today's episode traces the technological innovations designed to manipulate light, and how these seemingly innocent gadgets consistently served to challenge and steadily undermine the authenticity of religious beliefs about the nature of the universe, as well as to provide new insights into the structure of the universe.

Dethroning our planet from the center of the universe would only be the first step; confirming that the universe is old enough to seamlessly account for Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection, and consequently rob us of the last vestiges of our self-appointed notion of divine importance, would be one of the last. Everything in between is just as epic and interesting.

Click on the links to learn more about nuclear physics, the science of the sun, the invisible world, great transformations in evolution, Newton, Darwin, more about The Elegant Universe, and a brief history of atheism.
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