Instead of travelers fearing the idea of falling off of the edge of the Earth, they realized that there was no such possibility and therefore, discovered and conquered the entire planet. One of the most famous of these travellers is Christopher Columbus. Contrary to popular belief, he did not think that the Earth was flat, which gave him the idea to travel west in order to arrive in India. The discoveries of many different territories, such as "The New World," only happened because of contributions from great astronomers of the time. Although at first this was considered heresy, it greatly helped to shape the future of humankind. Indirectly, this simple discovery also led to many other scientific breakthroughs.
Since it's discovery in the early twentieth century, nuclear science has been a powerful source of energy, as well as a worldwide controversy. Many scientists doubted its abilities, until the discovery of nuclear fission. This can be both a natural process and a man-made process. In nature, nuclear fission occurs when a radioactive element decays and splits into smaller parts. Although this does occur in stars, the energy that it creates is minimal. While this is true, that minimal amount of energy is a very powerful tool on Earth. The controversy began during World War II, when the American military decided to use nuclear energy for bombs. When speaking about the issue, Winston Churchill stated that, "there are voices which assert that the bomb should never have been used at all. I cannot associate myself with such ideas. [] I am surprised that very worthy people-but people who in most cases had no intention of proceeding to the Japanese front themselves-should adopt the position that rather than throw this bomb, we should have sacrificed a million American and a quarter of a million British lives." These bombs certainly killed many non-military Japanese citizens, but it saved countless other American and British lives, for the good of the rest of the world.
