William Herschel's greatest triumph was discovering a new planet — Uranus. His greatest folly was as egregious as his scientific triumph was great. But it was a beautiful folly, and so let's pay tribute to the cultured lunar civilization he was sure he had discovered.
Cosmic Pluralism: How Christianity briefly conquered the solar system
By the 1700s, there could no longer be any doubt. Earth was just one of many worlds orbiting the Sun, which forced scientists and theologians alike to ponder a tricky question. Would God really have bothered to create empty worlds?
