some men endeavour to pull all the stars around in the ether as though they had put chains upon them

Categories: Comparisons

An example of simile used in scientific writing:

"But the men who endeavour to pull all the stars together around in the ether in accordance with their own opinion, as though they had put chains upon them, merit pity rather than resentment, in your judgement as in that of other true mathematicians and all good men."

Rheticus (1959) The Narratio Prima (1539, Translated by. E. Rosen), in Three Copernican Treatises (Ed. E. Rosen) Dover Publications (pp.107-196).

Read about similes in science

Read about examples of science similes

Many examples of science similes are listed in 'Creative Comparisons: Making Science Familiar through Language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

The notion of the stars being embedded in an 'ether' or 'aether' was a long-standing (and shifting) historical conception that would today be seen as an an alternative conception,

Read about the ether

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.