Donato, Josiah Hans N.

BSA-1A
Activity #2
1.) Describe the ancient war between science and society, science
and politics and science and superstitious Christianity strictly
based on the movie and cite examples to earn points.

The war between science and society in this movie is

presented in that breakthroughs in science not coinciding with the
established beliefs of the majority lead to adversity such as what
transpired when Hypatia was forbidden to teach at the school due to
investigating the heliocentric model. For science and politics, it is
presented in that science is dangerous if it does not support one’s
agenda which is seen when Cyril targeted Hypatia for having too much
influence on Orestes. For science and superstitious Christianity, it was
blatantly presented in that superstitious Christianity went against and
decimated anything and anyone who were contrary to their beliefs
seen in the destruction of the library of the Serapeum and also the
death of Hypatia.

2.) What kind of woman is Hypatia?

She was a kind, strong and inquisitive woman. She firmly

clung to her beliefs up until the end and openly spoke of her
observations even in the midst of adversity.

3.) How does Hypatia describe the motion of the planets and the
sun? Compare this with the works of Kepler.
She described them as having an elliptical orbit with the sun as one of
the two foci by applying the principle that the center of a circle has
always the same distance from any point along its perimeter so by
dividing the center into two but keeping constant the sum of their two
distances to the perimeter, the result would be an ellipse. This is exactly
one of the laws of planetary motion Kepler proposed but he proved it
using mathematical equations.

4.) Beyond historical importance of the movie, cite 3 good insights

intellectually and philosophically necessary to maximize the
progress of science, technology and society.
First, we should always keep an open mind to the ideas of
others. Second, treat one another equally since we are all
people and third, do not be afraid to question your
preconceptions and perceptions in life.