Remembering Moon landing

2009 is the 40th anniversary of first landing of man on the moon. On July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on moon and human being set foot on an extra terrestrial surface for the first time.

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

Indeed it was a giant leep. Result of the efforts of hundreds of thousands of poeple for over a decade. Several men sacrificed their lives during the various stages of mission, both in USA and USSR. It might be one of the most celebrated scientific ( technological, to be more precise) achievent in the history so far. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins became celebrities overnight. It was a technological achievement ahead of its time. 40 years later many other countries in the world are struggling to send even proto-moon vehicles to the moons orbit.

Moon had always been a poetic symbol to man. I was wondering who would ever had imagined travelling to moon and coming back safely ? As a child, I already knew that someone had already travelled to moon. But the complexity of the situation had never occured to me. How to overcome the gravity of earth ? How to get into moons orbit so precisely that the vehicle can be landed on a predetermined spot? When Newton formulated the gravitational theory had he imagined man ever landing on the moon? He might have, I am sure. Someone who can create thories as pure and eternal as gravity, or totally new branch of mathematics like Calculus might have easily imagined moon landing too.

Predicting the behavior of motions by mathematics !! Isn't it amazing? How does mathematics work? I always wonder. What is one? A single entity, right. Two, three, four.... I can understand that all. Something we can see and enumerate. But what is zero? Nothingness? Why 2 +3 is always 5? Why pi is alway 3.14....... Why the circuference of a circle is alway 2(pi)r ? Why the electrons moves in a fixed orbits? Why atoms forms bonds at fixed angles? Why the pH changes structer of molecules? How can I predict the concentration of solution? These are all the game of numbers!!

My life depends on the fixed turn and angle of DNA in my cells. A single change in one letter of my genetic code can change a single letter in my proteins. It can change the shape of the proteins, which in turn the behavor of my cells or my mind, myself.... .

We all are large reactors. Life is a chemical reactions that happens in it. Zillions of movements happening simultaneously, zilliions of interactions, zillions of molecules formed and zillions destroyed. Still, I am alive, that one letter change which could kill me didnt happen. The mathematics isso precise.. my cells can count the amount of hydrogen atoms and electrons. Change the angle between the atoms in the gates that guard my cells. Open up my DNA, recognize the specific nucleotide by its size, shape and charge......

Ah, I am alive because everything in me can count.... All the components from electrons to cells to neurons to my fingers, all are blind mathematicians !!! All can count and calculate. Why everything obey these numbers and rules ? What is the basis for this orderness in the apparent disordersness? Who knows?

Who can formulate a mathematical theory for life? Life as numbers? Life in binary form? A code for each living being?

It is true that mathematics is the mother of all science. All other science originate from it, there will be a time when everything can be expressed in terms of numbers and symbols. When my thoughts and mind can leave my body and move around freely from one space to another as electromagnetic waves. Why should I actually see or hear something if I can feel it as if it really exist.

Stop digressing !! Yes, the moon landing. It was just a beginning. Imagining the future of mankind, I would say that was a "small step for the Mankind!!!". We are just a sprouting civilization. Only hundred years since became airborn. Hardly half a century since the chemical nature of life was established. Only 40 years since travelled few thousand miles into space. The first human made radio signal would take at least several hundred years to cross out tiny galaxy 'Milky way' !!!! Can anyone imaging how long to go before we can even think about billions and billions of outer galaxies !!!!

Long way to go Man!! Many things to know."Known is a drop, unknown an ocean". Whoever said it, I do agree. I am here, now thinking about small things happen in a cells. That too totally lost !!! "As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm". By learing small I get a rough idea about the enormity of the large one !!! Some time knowing small things might help to fill at least a small piece of a big puzzle. Yes, I realize that what I am doing is infinityminisculth of the 1 by billionth of the knowledge out there. Sometime never useful !!! Sometime a piece of new information!! Anyway it is a chance worth taking. After all everything is a pursuit for the happiness, right?

Yes, moon landing is an event worth remembering- to be aware of a great achievement and to be equally aware of our humbling limitations !!!!

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stray-ideas.blogspot.com.

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