bigthink.com
When I signed up for this post I began thinking of all the possible things to write about and felt inspired to share with the Trinity community my ability to connect phrases and words in lovely syntax and prose that they would, undoubtedly, praise. This morning, I could not think of anything that I had learned. “You’re being authentic!” my coordinator said. Oh, um yes, “authentic,” I thought. Surely inspiration would hit me; a column of light shining from above would appear and I would be saved! Since that encounter this morning I’ve gone through a list of things that I could (should) write about. The frustration built. Nature, family, freestyle canoeing (Google it), and growth were all considered, but alas, I am too literal for that and I figured I would share what I really learned this afternoon. I came across the video below while looking for the source of the picture above. The picture has become associated with an “Internet Meme” (again, Google) and the person has become somewhat of a folk hero in the subculture of several Internet communities because of his forward, progressive thinking.
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson is a recognized American astrophysicist who is currently the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. In the video, Tyson answers why he thinks Sir Isaac Newton is the greatest physicist. He mentions many of Newton’s famous discoveries, but his main evidence of why Newton was so great is the following. When asked for an explanation of why the planets orbit in ellipses, Newton did not know. Taking a few months to think and ponder the problem, he came back with the solution that the orbits were parts of conic sections, thus the ellipse shape. To find that information, Newton ended up creating what we now know as integral and differential calculus. “Then he turned 26.” Pretty astounding.
Learner, Thinker, Writer: Jack Parrish teaches language arts and social studies in Fifth Grade.