[ WP ] A person with a high school education gets sent back into the 1600s and tries to explain science and technology to the people .

( EDIT: Fixed a couple paragraphs ) 
 
 John was careful to wear renaissance clothes. He put the things he needed in his leather backpack and activated the time-plane destruction device, a.k.a. Time Machine. 
 
 `` I really hope I do n't end up messing the timeline. But I really want to be part of this'', he thought. 
 
 He pressed the switch, and he found himself in... Rome. 
 
 `` Rome! What an excellent opportunity to know Leonardo Da Vinci himself!'' 
 
 Lucky for him, he was carrying enough food to maintain himself for a while. A bunch of ham in a thermal container made sure it would n't rot for a few days. And he was carrying a full package of breads. 
 
 So he walked as a common peasant and walked to the Sistine Chapel. He entered, knelt, and made the sign of the cross ( he would n't like to be mistaken for a heretic - that would be a major mistake ). 
 
 To his surprise, the chapel was already painted and completed. 
 
 This should n't be. Did he arrive in the wrong time? Dammit... 
 
 He checked his watch. 1670?? No! He wanted to go to 1470! 
 
 `` I did n't arrive to the beginning of the renaissance'', he muttered to himself. `` Instead, I arrived at the Enlightenment! But wait... does this mean I'll get to meet sir Isaac Newton?'' 
 
 John knew that taking his magical device aka Android ( TM ) where people could see him would be pretty dangerous. So he took out a few coins to rent a room at an Inn. 
 
 The first thing he noticed was that the locals were dressing completely different from what he had expected. 
 
 `` Shit... I'm dressed for the Renaissance period... but I'm in the Baroque!'' 
 
 Removing and adjusting his clothes he now looked like an out-of-fashion but still acceptable guy. 
 
 John was lucky to have enough money to buy a few Troy ounces ( silver AND gold ). He then proceeded to fuse them in the appropriate shapes. Thank God for wikipedia. 
 
 Speaking of, this was the app ( offline, of course ) that he opened while he was alone in his room. 
 
 `` Let's see. Isaac Newton. 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727. Excellent. Let's see what he was doing in 1670. 
 
 Ah hah! He had n't yet published his works on calculus! This will be an excellent idea! But now this means that I have to go to Cambridge University... ah God... let's see what other geniuses of the time I can meet.'' 
 
 Pressing the touch screen on his android tablet, Johnny typed `` Age of Enlightenment''. 
 
 `` Let's see...'' 
 
 `` Italy.'' 
 `` Giambattista Vico. He's just a baby right now. Nope.'' 
 `` Antonio Genovesi. Not born yet. Damn. Who are these guys, anyway?'' 
 
 `` Baruch Spinoza. 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677. He dies 7 years from now? Man... so what am I going to talk with him? Philosophy? No. Let's search for someone else.'' 
 
 Surfing around wikipedia, John kept searching for philosophers and mathematicians to meet. 
 
 And he realized that just a few miles away from him, a famous astronomer called Giovanni Cassini was studying the planets and comets with his telescope. 
 
 He would only have to go to Bologna. 
 
 Bologna, there we go! 
 
 With the local coins he had acquired, John traveled from Rome to Viterbo, Sinalugna, Florence, and Bologna, stepping by plazas to admire the art the people around would draw. And the sculptures! He managed to contemplate Pluto and Proserpina by Bernini. This was just beautiful. 
 
 He spent a few weeks more than he had imagined, but it was all worth it. Finally, he was in Bologne. 
 
 When he arrived at the University of Bologna, he asked for professor Cassini. 
 
 `` No, figliolo, il professore è andato in Francia l'anno scorso.'' 
 ( No, kid, the professor went to France the last year! ) 
 
 `` L' anno scorso!?!? Dove?'' 
 
 `` A Parigi.È andato per fare una richiesta al re di Francia per costruire un'osservatorio.'' 
 ( To Paris. He went for a petition to the king of France to build an observatory ) 
 
 `` Grazie tante.'' 
 
 ( Note: The above dialogue was translated to modern Toscano, but in reality in Bologna, a very different dialect was spoken at that time. Luckily, John was carrying his automatic translator, which the time traveler had also given to him as a very necessary tool, as he learned ) 
 
 Great. He was going to meet his first enlightened mind and he went already to Paris. `` Fuck it'', he thought. He hid behind a bush and traveled using his time machine again. 
 
 `` Paris Observatory. 48.8364 degrees North, 2.3365 degrees East.'' 
 
 When the professor went to offer the young man some water, he realized that the kid had already gone. 
 
 But John had just arrived there. A few dozen meters from where he arrived, there was a man with a long black curly wig looking at his telescope. It was already the evening. 
 
 `` Professor Cassini?'' 
 `` Yes, just a minute. ``, he said in very good french. After the professor had finished taking notes, he looked at the young man. `` You must be a foreigner. What's a young man from Germany doing in here?'' 
 `` No, I'm from... Britain. Actually, I came all the way from Bologna looking for you.'' 
 `` Oh... please, have a seat.'' 
 
 The professor grabbed a nearby chair. `` Sorry for the mess. It's from the construction.'' 
 `` Yes, I can see.'' 
 `` How can I help you?'' 
 `` I just wanted to meet you, professor, and talk about science.'' 
 
 The professor smiled. `` It's hard to see young men interested in science. What kind of science? Astronomy, I suppose. Where did you say you came from?'' 
 `` England.'' 
 `` I suppose you've met professor Newton.'' 
 `` No... not yet.'' 
 `` I wrote to him about my observation about his theory of Universal Gravitation. I suppose you've heard of it?'' 
 `` Yes, of course!'' 
 `` Did you know it's flawed?'' 
 
 John was frozen solid. 
 
 `` Wait, flawed? In what sense?'' 
 `` I did an experiment a few years ago. It turns out the Earth is elongated at the poles.'' 
 `` Professor... what about heliocentrism?'' 
 `` You mean that crazy idea of Copernicus? NONSENSE! If you want to know the truth, know this: The Earth is at the center of a cosmic vortex, and the celestial bodies are dancing around that vortex. This is what I'm going to prove when this observatory is finished.'' 
 
 A few seconds passed, and John was left speechless. 
 
 `` Do n't feel that way, son. People make mistakes.'' 
 `` Thank you, professor'', said John, recovering his composture. `` I'll visit this observatory when it's finished.'' 
 
 Disappointed at the ignorance of one of the brightest astronomers of his time, John decided to go back to the US in his time machine. `` At least'', he thought, `` in the present we all know the Earth revolves around the sun.'' 
 
 And then he realized that what he tried to do - teaching science to the ignorant - was impossible for a high school student, even if he had the knowledge of wikipedia available at the touch of a button. If he wanted to teach Science, he could do it after becoming a teacher himself. 
 
 After all, how could he manage to rebuke Cassini, if he lacked the mathematical tomes or the astronomical observations required?
