In the year 1202 the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci worked out a problem about rabbits having babies and discovered a pattern of numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144,233,377, and so on. Every number in the pattern was the addition of the two that came before it: 0+1= 1, 1+1= 2, 1+2= 3, 2+3= S, 3+5= 8,5+8= 13, 8+13= 21, and so on. We see these Fibonacci numbers showing up over, and over, and over in nature.
If you ignore the zero, and divide a Fibonacci number into the one before it you get: 1, 2, 1.5, 1.67, 1.6, 1.625, 1.615, 1.619, 1.617,1.618,1.617,1.618,1.618, etc. After the first few, the answer lS always close to 1.618. Now you might ask yourself, “So what? What does 1.618 have to do with anything?” Well, as it turns out, that’s a very special number – so special, in fact, that it’s called the “golden ratio“.
The ancient Greeks based a lot of their art and buildings on the golden ratio (often shown as the Greek letter Phi Φ). The length of the Parthenon, for example, is a rectangle 1.618 times as long as it is wide (known as a golden rectangle). They also designed much of their pottery with the same ratio. Now why did they do that? They did it because they believed that this special ratio was much more pleasing to the human eye than any other ratio. Many of the great artists used the golden ratio in their art. For example, Mona Lisa‘s face is 1.618 times as long as it is wide. Beautiful symphonies also have the same golden ratio. The first movement is usually 1.618 times as long as the second one.
So why do we find that number so pleasing to the eye and to the ear? Do we find it beautiful because it copies creation, the work of the Master Artist, God? Could it be that the golden ratio is one of the blueprints God used in His creation? Let’s look at a few of the other ways that the number 1.618 shows up over, and over, and over again throughout the universe.
ΦEach segment in your finger is roughly 1.618 times as long as the next one.
Φ Your forearm is approximately 1.618 times as long as your hand.
Φ People with mouths 1.618 times as wide as their noses, are often considered the most beautiful.
Φ In addition, the distance between their pupils is about 1.618 times as wide as their mouths.
The leaves and stems of some trees are arranged at 137.5 degrees from each other. That angle lets the sun shine on the greatest number of leaves. When you draw that angle inside a circle, you get two pieces. Divide 137.5° into 222.5° and you get … 1.618!
If you make a spiral based on Fibonacci numbers, where every quarter turn is 1.618 times as far from the center as the previous one, you get what is known as a “golden spiral”. Amazingly, most of the spirals found in nature are golden spirals.
The list of golden ratios goes on and on and on. From art and music to nature and science, 1.618 keeps showing up over and over. It is almost as if “Somebody” used that number as a measuring stick for the universe. It just can’t be an accident. Many people call the golden ratio the “divine proportion” because it is clear only God could have done it!
The above document was published by Alpha Omega Institute, Kids Think and Believe, March-April 2006 and authored by Lanny & Marilyn Johnson.
The eye is an incredibly complex organ that moves 100,000 times in an average day. Numerous muscles and tear ducts are in place to keep the eye constantly moist, protected, and functional. Our eyes process 1.5 million bits of information simultaneously and provide 80% of the sensory stimulation sent to the brain. They receive light images traveling at 186,000 miles per second through the iris, which opens or closes to let in just the right amount of light. These images travel through a lens, made of transparent cells, which focuses them on the retina at the back of the eyeball. The retina covers less than one square inch of surface, yet this square inch contains approximately 137 million light-sensitive receptor cells. Approximately 130 million are rod cells (designed specifically to see in black and white), and 7 million are cone cells (allowing color vision). Finally, the image is sent at a rate of 300 miles per hour to the brain for processing. How could all of this have come about by some step-by-step, random-chance evolutionary process?
