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IYL- Elucidating light (2)

By J. K. Obatala
16 April 2015   |   12:31 pm
Under the laws of nature, therefore, remoteness and abstractness do not confer immunity. We are susceptible to influences from immense distances in the universe—whether it is elementary particles (cosmic rays) whizzing in from other galaxies at near light-speed, or the pattern and periodicity of starlight.

BulbUnder the laws of nature, therefore, remoteness and abstractness do not confer immunity. We are susceptible to influences from immense distances in the universe—whether it is elementary particles (cosmic rays) whizzing in from other galaxies at near light-speed, or the pattern and periodicity of starlight.

The corollary ought, by now, to be clear: The abstractness of light, its lack of materiality, neither diminishes its relevance, as subject matter, nor the cogency of IYL, 2015. Nor does it relieve us of our responsibility to explore and elucidate with the rest of the world: Albeit from our own perspective.

There is, of course, a common ground. “Light plays a central role in human activities,” the IYL Blog reminds us. “On the most fundamental level through photosynthesis, light is necessary to the existence of life itself, and [its] many applications…have revolutionized [human] society…”

“Photosynthesis,” is the process whereby plants use the energy of sunlight to drive a series of chemical reactions. In these reactions, high-energy organic molecules (particularly carbohydrates) are synthesized from low-energy inorganic molecules (usually carbon dioxide and water).

This process is the source of most atmospheric oxygen, Earth’s protective ozone layer and the animal protein higher organisms consume. Hence the IYL Blog urges that “Daylight is the best kind of light there is for us humans and deserves to be recognized more, both in our everyday lives and in our profession”.

In addition to focusing attention on light and light-based technologies, such as photonics, IYL is also commemorating the 100th anniversary of the theory of General Relativity—which, according to Physics World, incorporates the speed of light “as an essential part of our description of space and time”.

Among the other important anniversaries this year marks, the magazine said, are: A millennium since the publication of Ibn al-Haytham’s work on optics, during the Islamic Golden Age; two centuries of the wave theory of light; and 150 years after James Clerk Maxwell introduced the theory of electromagnetism.

But with the exception of al-Haytham’s opus, the anniversaries are highly Eurocentric. This underscores the need for Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan countries to stage commemorative events, from Africa’s own vantage point—celebrating, for instance, the earliest controlled use of fire and the evolution of Astronomy.

It was artificial—rather than natural—light that “revolutionized” human society, as the Blog put it, making possible culture, entertainment, communications and medicine. That “revolution” began in Eastern Africa, where humans first learned to make fire and put it to practical and creative uses.

Writing in Discover Magazine, Kenneth Miller notes that at Koobi Fora and Chesowanja, both in Kenya, small patches of reddened soil—indicating the use of fire— were found in areas containing stone tools up to 1.5 million years old.

But the earliest solid evidence, he says, turned up at Wonderwerk Cave, in South Africa, and dates back a million years. It appears that Home erectus, a forerunner of modern Homo sapiens, used fire for cooking at the site a million years ago.

Africans in various biological, cultural and technological stages started to colonize Eurasia (the continents of Europe and Asia) nearly two million years ago. First was Homo erectus. Then, 60,000 to 50,000 years ago anatomically modern Africans swept across Europe and Asia.

Driven, perhaps, by a combination of necessity and curiosity, and guided by the stars, these early Black explorers were purveyors of the planet’s oldest science—the light-based science of “Astronomy”.

Tools typical of the Egyptian and Nile Valley cultures of Ethiopia and Sudan, where the science of astronomy originated, have been found strewn along the route they took, across Saudi Arabia, into the Middle East and Israel.

To be continued.

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