Lambert, Johann Heinrich (1728–1777)
German philosopher, described by Immanuel Kant
as "the greatest genius of Germany." Lambert also ranked among the leading
astronomers, mathematicians, and physicists of his day. In his Cosmological
Letters (1761) he arrived, independently, at much the same conclusion
as Kant and Thomas Wright, concerning the
disk-shaped form of the Milky Way and the existence of external systems
of stars (galaxies) throughout space. Lambert's Letters which reached
a wider audience in 18th century Europe than did the works of either Wright
or Kant, is also replete with the most extreme kind of speculation about
extraterrestrial life. No object in the universe, as far as Lambert was
concerned, is devoid of life – and life, moreover, of every conceivable
kind. "The Creator," he asserts in his Letters, "... is much too
efficient not to imprint life, forces and activity on each speck of dust...
[I]f one is to form a correct notion of the world, one should set as a basis
God's intention in its true extent to make the whole world inhabited ..."
The principle of plenitude he adopts without
restraint: "all possible varieties which are permitted by general laws ought
to be realized ... " Yet Lambert is reasonable enough to acknowledge that
he is being purely speculative: "And truly, have I not already rambled somewhat
beyond the limits of what is credible? I drew conclusions. and surely enough
without having in each case appropriate observational evidence on hand ..."
Like Wright and Kant, Lambert was driven to his extraterrestrial conclusions
by the conviction that God, in his omnipotence, could not fail to populate
every corner of the cosmos with all manner of beings. Indeed, these three
pioneers of galactic and extragalactic astronomy seem to have been motivated
as much by their desire to expand the number of planetary systems available
for habitation as they were to populate the heavens with more stars.
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• MATHEMATICIANS
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