All language subtitles for Adam Ruins Everything s02e21 The Copernican Ruin-aissance.eg

(narrator)
The Renaissance...

the most innovative and hardest
to spell period in history.

During this era,
extraordinary scientific minds

broke free
from the chains of ignorance...

Minds like that of
Nicolaus Copernicus,

who redefined our understanding
of the solar system

in a flash of inspiration.

Actually...

Eureka! We aren't at
the center of the universe!

The Earth
revolves around the Sun!

(narrator)
Copernicus bravely published his theory

despite the inevitable
wrath he'd face

from the Catholic Church.

Copernicus! We're here
to burn you alive!

I shall not be silenced!

(gasps)

Aah!

(narrator)
It is a powerful story of one brave scientist

facing off against
the forces of ignorance.

(recording of
crowd clamoring)

Sorry.

(turns off recorder)
(narrator groans)

While Copernicus was
a remarkable astronomer,

this whole myth about
a lone rebel scientist

is complete malarkey.
In fact...

(narrator)
A lot of the stories we tell about the Renaissance are wrong?

I was gonna say
wrong and incomplete,

but thanks for setting me up!

I'm Adam Conover and
this is "Reanimated History."

?

(narrator)
Adam, you ought to love Copernicus!

He was the first thinker

to question the accepted
view of the universe!

Not true! Earlier scholars
criticized the accepted view

long before Copernicus did.

(narrator)
Here we go again.

(Adam)
Between the 9th and the 13th centuries,

many major scientific figures
in the Islamic world

questioned
the Greek astronomy

that the rest of Europe
accepted,

among them,
Al Battani and Al-Tusi.

Aristotle? Ptolemy?

Guess what, Greeks.

Just cause ya name
is hard to spell

doesn't mean
ya know what's up. You're right!

The planets aren't moving the
way the Greeks said they should!

We should do our
own observations.

(Adam)
And they did. Their innovative work

produced observational
data about the stars

and mathematical formulas
for how the planets move,

which Copernicus
later incorporated

into his own theories.

In other words,
he didn't do it alone,

he stood on the shoulders
of scientific giants.

Ah, I'll never figure out
how Mars and Venus move.

Use my diagram,
Nicolaus.

Thanks! Now I just need some
solid observational data.

Take mine.

(bell dings)

I've done it!
Heliocentrism!

The Earth revolves
around the Sun!

Just make sure history doesn't
forget our contributions!

Don't worry.
They won't!

(bell dings)
They did.

Today, we act as though

Copernicus'
revolutionary conclusion

came to him in a flash
of inspiration,

but the truth is,
his insight was supported

by hundreds of years of work
by many different thinkers.

He didn't do it without help.

(narrator)
Okay, silk tie, so he didn't do it alone,

but he still had
the courage to speak up

against the repressive
Catholic Church!

See? They are coming to
burn him alive right now.

(dramatic music)

Run, Copernicus!

Sorry, wrong again!

Copernicus himself didn't face
any opposition from the Church

because he worked for the
Catholic Church his entire life.

(narrator)
Wait... seriously?

(bell dings)
Copernicus,

how's your work going,
ya old church bureaucrat?

Finished early, boss!

In fact, I've been
working on my astronomy.

I have this new theory
I'm calling...

Don't care!

(narrator)
Well, maybe they didn't care at first,

but when he
published his book,

they saw the danger
it posed to their theology

and they burned him alive...
probably. Right?

(Adam)
Nope! In fact, the book barely showed up on the Church's radar.

Your Holiness,
Copernicus' new book

says that the Earth
revolves around the Sun.

Who cares? I'm trying
to figure out the miracle

of how Jesus
turned water into wine.

But he dedicated
the book to you!

Oh, what a sweetheart!
(book thuds)

(narrator)
Copernicus dedicated his book to the Pope?

(Adam)
Yep! In fact, the church

was so tolerant
of Copernicus' ideas

that some of his writings
were even taught

and read at major
Catholic universities.

Welcome to
"Not Blasphemy 101."

Today we'll be talking
about someone

the church has absolutely
no problem with... Copernicus.

(narrator)
Anyway, even if Copernicus and the Church were besties,

his theory still frightened
and confused the public.

It removed humans
from their place

at the center
of the universe.

Even Carl Sagan said

it was "a great demotion
to human pride"

and he was
a smarter nerd than you,

so I'm not wrong this time!

Sorry, but you are.

(narrator)
Didn't think your head could get any bigger,

but here we are.

Sagan was following a long
tradition of writers who,

since the 17th century,
have postulated

that the public was angry
that Copernicus

"demoted" them from
the center of the universe.

The only problem is,
the entire idea

is completely ahistorical,
because there's no evidence

anyone ever felt that way.

In fact, most people
at the time

were taught
the exact opposite!

Everyone from Christians
to Jews to Muslims

were actually taught that
the center of the universe

was a terrible place to be.

For Christians,
it was close to Hell

and far from Heaven's light.

Oh, the center of the universe
is a damned place!

Satan himself
nips at my heels!

Huh! Ha ha ha!

Wrong! The Earth
revolves around the Sun!

Huh! Not so bad!

No! Now I have to
commute to work!

(screams)

So Copernicus' theory
wasn't a demotion.

You could even say
it was a promotion!

(narrator)
So no one burned him alive, even once?!

Did the Catholic Church
even care?

Oh, they did eventually,

but not until long
after Copernicus' death,

after someone else made
it cool to hate on him.

It was actually
fundamentalist Protestants

who eventually
rejected Copernicus

because his work contradicted
passages in the Bible.

Wanna know about astronomy?
Check the Bible.

Why you can't fart in church?
Bible.

Does Copernicus suck?
The Bible says yes.

(hammering)

(Adam)
And when the Catholic Church saw how the Protestants

were gaining influence,
they started to get worried.

(wind blowing)

No one wants to be
Catholic anymore.

What do they have
that we don't? Cronuts?

Maybe we gotta switch gears

on this whole
tolerating science thing.

(Adam)
And when Galileo started looking through his telescope,

adding his observations
to Copernicus's theory,

that's when the church
really freaked out.

Now this guy is starting
with the telescope?

That's it!
Let's hate science

ten times more than
the Protestants ever did!

(Adam)
So the Catholic church turned from tolerance to suppression,

rejecting Copernicus' theory
and banning his book.

This class is now
"Blasphemy 101."

Please take out your textbook
and throw it in the fire.

(dramatic music)

But this didn't happen until
70 years after Copernicus died

and after other
scientists like Galileo

and Kepler
added to his work.

In his own time,
Copernicus suffered

none of the persecution
you've heard about.

It's so easy
to follow your dreams

when your church
supports you.

(narrator)
Well, you did it again, crater face.

Somehow everything
I thought I knew

about Copernicus
is wrong.

Well, sure,
the myth is wrong,

but the real story
is still impressive!

A church employee
from a small town

built on the work of
scientists who went before him

and changed the way we think
about the entire universe.

(narrator)
But I liked it better when he was a scientific badass!

Oh, well, if it's
a badass you want,

how about the story
of a Flemish dwarf

who revolutionized the
entire study of human anatomy?

(narrator)
So when I pitch a cool scientist, I'm wrong,

but when you do it,
it's gold?

Pretty much.

Now it's time
for the story of a man

who single-handedly
revolutionized

the study of human anatomy and
changed medical science forever.

Today's Unsung Badass of
History is a Flemish dwarf

by the name of
Andreas Vesalius.

In 1537,
Vesalius enrolled

in the University of Padua
in Northern Italy,

one of the best medical
colleges in the world.

Ah, the smell of knowledge...

(wheels creaking)

(crashing)
(sniffs)

...which smells a lot
like dried blood.

(Adam)
Medical colleges during the Renaissance

taught what
they thought to be

the most respected
medical science of the time.

The only problem,
lots of it was wrong.

Back then, the ultimate
authority on human anatomy

was a Greek physician
by the name of Galen.

His work had
dominated the field

for over a thousand years,
and Vesalius was a fan.

Whoa, you like Galen too?

Hell, yeah.
Galen rules.

(professor)
Welcome to medical school.

Lesson one will be on Galen,

lesson two
will focus on Galen,

and lesson three,
we will pivot

360 degrees to... Galen.

(Adam)
Teachers at the time literally thought

it was more important
to study Galen's books

than the human body itself,
so much so

that when they did
dissections in school,

the Professor would just
read a commentary on Galen

and an assistant
would point things out

as a surgeon
chopped up the body.

The professor never
even looked inside!

Now we will
remove the heart.

(students ohing)

Whatever you're
looking at is the heart.

(students ahing)

Uh, I love him too,

but aren't you going to
check if Galen is right?

(students gasping)

As if he'd ever be wrong.

He's Galen!
(laughing)

(laughing)

(laughing)
Idiot.

(Adam)
After graduating at the age of 23,

Vesalius was given the job of
Professor of Anatomy and Surgery

and started
doing his own research,

which is when
he started to suspect

that Galen wasn't as perfect
as everyone thought.

They may laugh,
but I'm going to do

my own dissections
and observations.

Let's see.

Strange.

Galen says there are
two bones in the lower jaw,

but there is very clearly
only one.

Well, simple mistake!
(cat yowls)

Hmm. Galen says there are
five lobes on a liver,

but I see only two.

What is happening?

(Adam)
Vesalius went on to identify more than 200 instances

where Galen got some aspect
of basic anatomy dead wrong.

This breast bone has
three segments, not seven!

Major blood vessels start
in the heart, not the liver!

Could it be Galen,
the father of human anatomy,

never dissected a human?

No! No! You're a liar!

I hate you! I
hate you, Galen!

(Adam)
Vesalius finally concluded

that Galen had done
his dissections

on monkeys, dogs,
and other animals

and simply theorized
that humans were similar.

Humans have two jaw bones,
soft floppy ears,

and their stomachs
are full of bananas!

(Adam)
And this incorrect anatomy

had been taught to physicians
for over a thousand years!

But when Vesalius
brought his discovery

to his fellow physicians,
many rejected him.

I have incredible news!

According to my dissections,
Galen was wrong!

Hold up. You opened up a body
to see how a body works?

It can't be wrong
if it's in a book, dummy.

That's it!
I must pursue the truth.

And to do that,
I'll need a lot of corpses.

(clatter)

Galen rules!

(Adam)
Vesalius initially stole the bodies of executed criminals

to perform his own
detailed dissections.

Just be cool, Vesalius.

If anyone asks,
this is your friend Bernie

and he's here
for the weekend.

(Adam)
But as Vesalius' reputation grew,

he was actually able
to convince magistrates

to execute criminals
on his schedule

THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,
THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,

THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,
THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,

THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,
THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,

THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,
THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,

THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,
THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,

THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,
THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,

THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,
THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,

THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS A TEST,
THIS IS A TEST.

(narra
I think I'm gonna be sick.

Yeah, well,
sometimes progress is gross.

(narrator groans)

(Adam)
After these pioneering dissections,

Vesalius was inspired
to write the greatest book

on human anatomy
the world had ever seen.

It was called
"De Humani Corporis Fabrica"

or "On the Fabric
of the Human Body,"

and it included
the very first

accurate drawings
of human anatomy.

Oh, now I see!

My foot bone's
connected to my ankle bone!

(Adam)
Over time, the book was recognized as a masterpiece.

I know we've had
our differences,

what with me dumping
trash on you and all,

but, uh, could you
sign my copy?

The book and its
dedication to Charles V

helped Vesalius land a job
as a court physician

to the Holy
Roman Emperor.

I feel sick.

Uh, were you
eating gold again?

It's just so tasty!

(Adam)
Vesalius's work was a turning point

in human anatomy
and medicine,

showing how the field
could move beyond Galen

by focusing on observation
and evidence,

and that's why Andreas Vesalius
is an Unsung Badass of History.

(narrator)
Impressive! Hmm.

It just goes to show that
the Renaissance was a time

when mankind developed
some of our greatest ideas.

Well, we also learned
some painful lessons,

like when the Dutch became
so obsessed with tulips

that they created the world's
first recorded economic bubble!

(narrator)
Tulips? What on earth do tulips...

Now there is
an interesting specimen.

Is your hair really that tall?
Or is it your skull?

I'll have to do some
dissecting to find out.

Aah! No, I just bl!

(R)
To see what is arguably the first modern economy,

look no further than the Dutch
golden age of the 17th Century.

It was a tolerant
and cosmopolitan society

that attracted traders and
immigrants from across Europe.

Welcome. Just FYI,

we will not kill you
if you are different.

Finally!

(narrator)
They had no aristocracy,

which allowed
for social mobility

and the development
of a middle class.

I know you are poor,

but if you want to
become rich,

that is a thing you
can do here. Herring?

(narrator)
They also had a powerful global trade network,

causing money to pour in
from around the world.

To support their
flourishing economy,

the Dutch helped develop crucial
modern financial institutions...

A commodity exchange, a lending
bank and a joint stock company.

In the Dutch, we can see

the seeds
of our modern economy.

And the beginnings

of one of our most
destructive economic forces!

(narrator)
Weirdly enough, this outfit works on you.

Thank you! You know,
the food's great, too.

Raw herring with
pickles and onions?

More, please!

(narrator)
Ew.

But the Dutch
weren't all progress.

They also created the first
recorded economic bubble!

Allow me to tell you the
strange story of Tulip Mania.

(narrator)
What is Tulip Mania?

Let's set the scene.

The success
of the Dutch economy

meant that the middle class had
cash to drop on luxury items,

and tulips were
one of their favorites.

(narrator)
Why in the world were flowers a luxury item?

(Adam)
Well, tulips were new to the Netherlands and hard to get,

which made them
a status symbol.

As you can see,
this man is very rich

and powerful...
Many tulips.

This family is doing
pretty well.

And this woman... oh, no,
she has but one tulip.

It is best not to
look her in the eyes.

(whistling sound effect
as tulip droops)

(gasping and crying)

(Adam)
And rarer tulips with multicolored petals

commanded
the highest prices.

They were basically
the Dutch version

of limited edition
Beanie Babies.

Rare tulips for sale!
Going fast, folks!

(Adam)
In the 1630s, tulip prices began to rise.

Oh, brother,
I can't keep up!

And then prices went from high
to completely insane,

partly because of
a unique feature of tulips.

See, tulips only bloom
in the spring.

The rest of the year,
the flowers turn back into bulbs

and can be resold,
but when they're flowering,

they can't be moved.

But that didn't stop people
from wanting to buy them.

So instead of buying the tulip
itself, they'd buy a contract

that meant they would get
the tulip in the future.

I must have that tulip.

I'll give you
500 guilders now,

and you give me a contract
I can redeem in six months.

That sounds like a perfectly
harmless solution. Sold!

(Adam)
This is what's called a futures contract,

and here's
the important part...

Once you had the contract,

you could resell it
to someone else,

potentially
for a lot more money,

and that little feature brought
out the financial speculators.

Hmm, if he paid 500 guilders
for a single flower,

I bet I can find someone
willing to pay even more.

I'll buy that contract
for 1,000.

Ho-ho! Sold!

Did you just make
a 500 guilder profit

off a single flower?

I've got to get in
on this!

I'll buy it
for 2,000 guilders!

(Adam)
In 1636 and 1637, the prices in this rickety market

took the heck off and
the result was "Tulip Mania!"

At its height,
a single tulip bulb

was trading for the same price
as 5,700 pounds of meat.

Totally worth it.

It's not like
I need food.

(Adam)
Or three times the annual salary of a skilled craftsman.

I worked for three years
just so I could afford

a piece of paper that
says I get one flower.

(Adam)
Even the equivalent of a luxury home in Amsterdam.

Ah, a flower I can look at
for a couple of months.

That's definitely worth
more than my house.

(narrator)
This is insanity!

Yes, it was.

The Dutch
completely lost track

of what the tulips
were actually worth.

Instead, they'd buy them
at crazy prices

because they could sell them
for even crazier prices.

This is what we now call
an economic bubble.

A bubble occurs when people are
so excited about making a profit

that the price of a good becomes
detached from its actual value,

and as prices got higher,
the bubble got bigger.

I've got
rare tulips to sell!

Who's willing to give me
12 boats for one tulip?

I've got red
mixed with white!

Looking to trade
for a small castle.

(narrator)
What in carnation? How long did this go on?!

(Adam)
Tulip Mania lasted for months, until one fateful day, when,

for reasons unknown,
the buyers disappeared.

Sir, can I interest you
in a rare tulip?

Sales are a bit slow.

No way. I've been trying
to unload mine all week.

Half off tulips!

Only 5,000 guilders!

4,000? 1,000? 50?

I'll trade this
for a herring sandwich.

(Adam)
In February 1637, the bubble burst

and the price
of tulips crashed.

I'm ruined!

Someone take pity on me!

(narrator)
It's just hard to believe

that all this happened
over flowers!

Yeah. The Dutch helped
birth modern capitalism,

but they also
showed how capitalism

could go totally haywire.

(narrator)
Well, at least we're smarter than those wooden-shoe-wearers,

aren't we?
Nope!

In fact,
economic bubbles

still plague us
to this very day!

(narrator)
Okay! Enough scary-talk, bubble boy.

No, seriously! We might
be in one right noooow!

(narrato I'm gonnad
I didn't hear thaaaat.

(narrator)
Hello, everyone.

It's time to learn
about bubbles.

Bright,
colorful soap bubbles

that float through the air
and never hurt anyone.

Sorry, but we're talking
about economic bubbles,

and since Tulip Mania,

they've only gotten
more destructive.

(narrator sighs)

In the 1980s, Japan suffered
an enormous real estate bubble.

Losses were upwards
of 9 trillion dollars,

and 14 years after it burst,

the country was only
starting to recover.

There is not enough sake
in Japan to numb this pain.

(Adam)
And in the U.S., when the dot-com bubble burst,

nearly a trillion dollars
in stocks

evaporated
in less than a month.

Who could have imagined
the Internet

would also have bad things?

(Adam)
Some experts even say we might be in a bubble right now.

Maybe it's tech or
student debt or even bitcoin.

But unfortunately, we won't know
we're in one until it pops.

We often think of history

only in terms of progress
and marvelous inventions,

but the fact is, not everything
we invent is a good thing,

and if we're ever going to fix
the problems of the present,

we need to acknowledge
the mistakes of the past.

You can't ignore the negative.

(narrator)
I guess you're right.

You really can't
ignore the negative,

especially when it
takes over your whole show

and never stops talking.

Yeah, you're getting it.

I'm glad we're finally
on the same page.

(narrator)
Speaking of pages, why don't you stay on this one?

Oh, you were talking
about me!

(laughing)
Aah!

I'm the negative.
Very clever.

Hi! I'm Emily Axford and this
is Same Time, Different Place.

?

At the height
of the religious wars

that raged throughout
Renaissance Europe,

a beacon of tolerance
was emerging in India.

Akbar the Great,
a Mughal Muslim ruler,

brought enlightened
religious tolerance

to his diverse subjects.

His rule was
unlike any in Europe.

Born in 1542, Akbar became
ruler of the Mughal Empire

when he was only
13 years old.

As a descendant of Genghis Khan,
conquering was, you know,

just kinda
part of the family business.

I hate choosing.
Just take over all of it.

(Emily)
By the end of his reign, he controlled an empire

that covered much
of modern day India

from Afghanistan to Bengal.

It was a territory

that included lots of
different religions and sects,

but, perhaps surprisingly,

as long as his subjects
embraced his rule,

he embraced
their diverse views.

All done. Shall we punish
everyone who isn't Muslim?

Hmm. No, in fact,
let's do the opposite.

Mmm!
There we go.

Doesn't that feel good
after all that conquering?

Yeah.

Yeah. You can practice
whatever religion you want.

(Emily)
The dude was crazy tolerant,

especially
when you compare him

to how intolerant the leaders
of Europe were at the time.

Just look at Ferdinand
and Isabella, who ruled Spain.

It's Friday night.
I'm bored.

Shall I get the jester?

No. Let's start
an Inquisition,

kick all the Jews
out of our country,

and kill anyone
who isn't Catholic enough.

TGIF!

(Emily)
Akbar, on the other hand, invited Hindus, Jains, Parsis,

and Christians to his court
to debate and discuss religion.

I may be a Muslim ruler, but
please, tell me of your Jesus.

Where to start?

First of all,
his mom never had sex.

I am hooked.

(Emily)
In 1575, he even built a special building

called the House of Worship,
which was basically a place

where guys could just
hang and talk religion.

So, your God is a Father,
his own Son, and a Ghost?!

Now, that is far out.

Hey, did you know that Jesus
is mentioned in the Koran?

(gasps and
imitates explosion)

(Emily)
Akbar even made non-Muslims full citizens of his empire.

Full citizenship for you
and you and you...

and you know what?
You, too.

(crowd cheering)

I don't care if you
believe in my God,

as long as you believe
in my reign.

(Emily)
While back in Europe, the Protestant Reformation

sparked a century
of religious wars.

(battle cries)

Tu vaya con dios! Ha!

(Emily)
But Akbar kept going full throttle on uniting religions.

In the 1580s,
he even invented

an uber-tolerant religion
of his very own!

All religions have a universal
basis, so we can all be friends.

(cheers and applause)

(Emily)
Akbar died in 1605,

leaving behind a unique
legacy of tolerance,

yet our history textbooks
barely make mention of him.

How about instead
of focusing solely on war,

intolerance, and plagues,

we occasionally mention
a guy like Akbar?

I mean, is that so much
to ask? Jeez!

?

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