There are many scientific and historical “facts” that people believe are true. I will not try to figure out why during the time when information is so easily available. The list of so called facts goes on and on, but I will concentrate only on the ones most people think are true.
#1 Mars is red; Earth is blue; Sun is yellow
First on the list are planets and the most famous stars of all. The color of the Sun is the long lasting lie people believed. Almost every person would say that the Sun is yellow in color. There is nothing wrong in thinking so because that is how we are seeing it every day. Only when humanity managed to send telescopes to space, we found out the truth. Sun is not yellow. The real color is actually white. The reason for believing otherwise is our own atmosphere. Depending on the time of day that is conditioned by the Earths orientation towards the Sun, we can see stars in different colors. It is mostly yellow, so we usually think of it in that way. When observing from space, it is clear that the real color is white. When the light passes through the atmosphere it only seems to be in some different color.
We started getting pictures of Mars pretty recently. On all of them we can see how red it is, can´t we? But, the planet itself is actually orange and the iron rich atmosphere is red. When we look at Mars we actually see its atmosphere´s color and not the planet´s. The same goes for Earth. It is obvious to anyone that the earth we are walking on is not blue, but the sky is. The sky we look at is actually our atmosphere which is colored in blue because of the color of ozone.
#2 Bulls hate color red
Some believe that bulls can see only one color and that it is red. It is quite obvious to everyone who ever watched the matador waving a red sheet and bull starts rushing towards it. That is not true! Bulls can actually see all the colors and not just red. Bulls are usually attacked due to the movements made by the matador and not the color. There were also experiments made when bull actually ignored red and attacked to some other color. Of course, when a different bull was tested he actually did prefer red. Normally the bull´s reaction is always to attack the one that is moving no matter what color it is.
#3 Napoleon was short
There are two reasons why people think that Napoleon was short. The first is because his height was officially listed as 5.2 feet. Ok, now you think that is short, but you are missing crucial information because French units are not the same as modern international units. When converted to modern international units his height is measured at 5.7 feet which is common. With that height he was actually above average in his time. Why did people call him “Le Petit Caporel” (The Little Corporal) then? It was because he was always surrounded with very high bodyguards and seamed short in comparison. Also, the nickname wasn´t intended as an insult rather as the sign of affection.
#4 Christopher Columbus discovered America
To say it plain and simple: He didn´t. He wasn´t in a search for a new land and he didn´t even know he reached America at first. Columbus planned to go to Asia, and wasn´t surprised how short the trip lasted because he thought it was located where America is. If, by chance it was not America, he and his crew would have died from starvation because he miscalculated the supplies needed for the trip. In fact, America was already known as a popular fishing site for rich Europeans at the time Columbus lived.
