What we cannot see with the naked eye has always driven us forward in our quest for understanding.

The limits to our vision have limited us for centuries until we began to question just because we cannot see it

does that truly mean it isn't there? That inquiry changed the way we viewed the world

and beyond. Telescopes picked up faraway galaxies

and opened our minds to more questions,

including opening the door to conversation

about intergalactic intelligent life.

Microscopes honed in on miniscule organisms,

answering long-pundered questions about disease

which puzzled us for most of human history.

Spectrum analyzers helped us see radio waves so we could better

understand the function of our hearts. We take this knowledge and these devices

for granted now, but before their invention anyone who poised theories about what is One of history's best exemplifications of this is Ignaz Semmelweis.

The Hungarian physician who noticed women in the maternity ward were dying at an alarming rate

after being treated by doctors who performed autopsies.

His hypothesis of death particles that were somehow being

transferred from cadavers to new mothers during delivery

was literally laughed at.

Today we remember him as the father of hygiene and

washing our hands is second nature. But at a time where so much of what we consider to be

valid rode on what we could literally see right in front of us,

Somelweis only earned widespread acceptance years after his death.

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