There’s an old saying that goes “nature abhors a vacuum.” It’s commonly attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

Although Artistole’s views played a profound role on the development of science and learning, a lot of what he wrote turned out to be wrong. Nature, it now appears, loves vacuums. There are vacuums in outer space, glass barometers, toilet plungers, and radio tubes. It was a 17th century German scientist who figured out a way to produce them whenever and wherever we need them.