Rabbosai, there is much to say, but short of time. However, GavraAtWork alerted me to an earlier post of his which I had missed that is a watershed event. You all need to go back and read his post on Bava Basra 102, and the accompanying Rashbam and Tosfos. Look them up directly. It is clear that both of these Rishonim made a clear mathematical error. They did not know how to properly calculate the diagonal of a 4×6 rectangle. This, despite the fact that Pythagoras showed how to do it a thousand or so years before. They were unaware. Not only does it seem from there that Chazal were not ahead of their times, but were in fact behind their times. I was stunned when I saw it.
All of those arguing that Chazal knew all science need to give an answer here. Since this was math, and math is the underpinning and language of science, if one does not know basic math, there is no way to understand modern science.
The answers which are usually given such as nishtanah hateva cannot be used here. Has the diagonal of a rectangle changed in the last few thousand years? The other answers that have been used here that scientists change their minds, but that eventually we will discover that Chazal were right all along since they have absolute truth also does not seem to be possible here. Will mathematicians ever discover that the Pythagorean theorem was wrong? Very unlikely. A mathematical proof must be iron-clad, and there are many, many proofs of this theorem, of which even a single one is strong enough to guarantee its truth for all posterity. Furthermore, all you need to do is to go measure the rectangle with a ruler or string and see for yourself that Pythagoras was right.
It is absolutely clear from here that the claim that Chazal knew all about science is completely false. This will require a sea-change in hashkafa. If I had seen Gavra’s post earlier, I would not have used the examples I used about the size and trajectory of the sun and planets or the supposed heavenly spheres to make this point. Gavra’s proof is a million times stronger.
Again, you all need to drop everything and cease all posting until you read Gavra’s earlier post and then come back and discuss. It is pointless to continue until then, although there is plenty more to say.