“Under the stars,” she repeated. “I never noticed the stars before. I always thought of them as great big diamonds that belonged to someone. Now they frighten me. They make me feel that it was all a dream, all my youth.” “It was a dream,” said John quietly. “Everybody’s youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.” “How pleasant then to be insane!” —“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” A Short Story By F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
The Scientist
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Starting a new section in my reading guide on “Foundations of Science and Mathematics.” This song came to mind as it’s back to the start, reading through the ancient then 16th, 17th and 18th centuries sources, the founders of mathematical and scientific ideas (Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, et al.) Maybe the cooler nights will bring clearer skies for stargazing, to follow the moon and reflect on how we understand our world, to be a better person.
“Man is now a world traveler, who sees his motions projected into the sky and thus becomes the measure of all things.” — Curtis Wilson, Dean, St. John’s College
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