Space Race: The Revolution Of Inventions
The Revolution of Inventions Since the beginning of all mankind, humans have always had the ambition to improve their lives. They desired their civilizations to grow and advance, so they initiated methods to make their lives easier. In addition, many greatest contributions were invented by ancient people; however, these inventions such as Gothic Cathedrals sometimes took a lifetime to finish. Stepping into the 21st century, almost everyone is living on the edge of technological and scientific advancements. Many breakthroughs of inventions and discoveries have been made by many great scientists whose purposes were to make our life better than before. Surprisingly, ancient inventions had a powerful and indisputable impact on the modern world,
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as they stimulated progress from the past civilizations. In particular, the revolution of scientific breakthroughs of inventions and discoveries have changed the humans’ ways of building, travel and discovery. First of all, the inventions in design of Gothic Cathedrals have led to a new way in constructing buildings for next builders’ generation. Gothic Cathedrals were a century-long project in the 12th to 16th centuries in Europe because in these centuries “technology was rudimentary, famine and disease were rampant, the climate was often harsh, and communal life was unstable and incessantly violent” (Scott 90). In these hard conditions, ancient builders had faced a lot of difficulties in building Gothic Cathedrals because they wanted to build a church that was much larger than previously built, and had bigger windows to allow more light inside the cathedrals. Before building Gothic Cathedrals, builders made an overall plan, sought a location that was cleared, and needed a workforce which had essential skills and would be instructed (Scott 91). In addition, in order to create bigger windows for Gothic Cathedrals, builders devised a new way to make vaults which used heavy stones stacked on top of each other to create tall arches. However, builders must understand those two opposing forces which are called gravity and thrust if they wanted to prevent from the vaults collapsing. Finally, the builders had found a way to counteract the tall arches collapsing by adding buttresses and flying buttresses to provide more support for the stone columns (Scott 92). From the ancient time to present day, people have admired Gothic Cathedrals for their beauty. Furthermore, the Gothic Cathedrals’ design has become a model for builders today, and the builders have still used and improved its techniques and advances for other cathedrals. For example, in the world today, there are many famous buildings with even larger windows, bigger spaces and taller spires such as Crystal Cathedral, Burj Khalifa, and One World Trade Center. With the breakthrough in design of Gothic Cathedrals, a new era of innovative architecture today has been created. In addition to invention in design of Gothic Cathedrals, the revolution of the compass has impacted the world today. The original compass, which was first invented early in the 11th century by Chinese, used a magnetic needle for indicating direction and simply pointed North. After that, the magnetic compass had been refined by Flavio Gioia that allowed it to indicate several directions, and it had a printed card under the needle to show these directions. Later on, from the seaman’s experiences, magnetic compass had been refined one more time in terms of wind by dividing directions into 16 directional points, so it became more accurate or precise than previous compasses (Wilford 99). In those days, the magnetic compass had helped many sailors and explorers by telling them which direction they were going to, and helping them not to get lost or to keep them on track to their destinations. Nowadays in the 21st century, an accurate magnetic compass is inadequate for modern people’ needs. Therefore, with the high and advance technology, the most accurate system in indicating directions called GPS has been created based on the satellite system. Although compass and GPS both indicate directions, GPS has much more utility such as calculated speed, bearing, distance, weather or even tracking sunrise and sunset time. In addition, GPS also indicates exactly the position where we are, and calculates how far away GPS receivers are from the destination because it receives signals of at least three satellites at the same time. GPS now becomes an important tool for all people around the world, especially explorers, travelers and military. The revolution of the compass has inspired people in creating highly accurate GPS. Besides the breakthrough of inventions of Gothic Cathedrals and compass, advances in space exploration have changed the life of modern man today, as man has dreamed for centuries.
Space exploration has always been fascinating, and it gives us hope of finding something new. According to the video “Space Race: 20th Century Timeline and Firsts,” “though the idea of space travel was discussed for hundreds of years, the field of rocketry got its first big boost in the early 20th century.” A century ago, space exploration was just a concept or a dream for mankind, but this idea had been accomplished by the developed of powerful rocket which overcome the force of gravity. In the beginning, on March 16, 1926 an American physicist, Robert A. Goddard, launched the first liquid fuel rocket in history. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union created their own missile programs. On October 4th 1957, the Soviets launched the first satellite into space. Later on, a national goal of “Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth within a decade” was set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 (Space Race). On July 20, 1969, Astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first man walking onto the moon. The space exploration improved for the century, and now the advances of technology have pushed space travel to go further and discover other planets in solar system. However, in order to explore universe in details, many scientists have endeavored very hard to invent more new high technologies. Therefore, with its high technologies, space exploration has a lot of impacts on us today. For example, with the satellite system put up in the space, the weather forecast today has a high accuracy level, and this accuracy has helped in preventing many calamities. Besides the weather forecast, the satellite system also helps people to transmit the news or media all over the world almost instantly. Moreover, the researching space becomes a high paying jobs for many
scientists, and the field of space exploration has drawn many youths in the world. Also, it has given them opportunities to learn and research new areas. The benefits of space exploration have impacted us almost all aspects of life, and it will advance in the future. With the curiosities of humans, they will change the future world by invention or discovery, as they stimulated the world in the past days. Like the quotation “Necessity is the mother of invention” when man needs something new, he will invent, discover or create it. Therefore, people will work hard and devise new ways in satisfying their needs. In addition, the breakthrough of inventions has pushed people today to live in a world of high technologies.
Work Cited
Scott, Robert. “A Great Human Endeavor: Building the Gothic Cathedrals.” Longman Academic Reading Series 5. Ed. Lorraine C. Smith. New York: Pearson, 2014. 90-91.Print.
Wilford, John Noble. “From Stone to Satellite: Finding Our Way.” Longman Academic Reading Series 5. Ed. Lorraine C. Smith. New York: Pearson, 2014. 99-100. Print. “Space Race: 20th Century Timeline and First.” Online video clip. Watchmojo. Mojo Supreme, 2014. Web. 11 March 2014.
as they stimulated progress from the past civilizations. In particular, the revolution of scientific breakthroughs of inventions and discoveries have changed the humans’ ways of building, travel and discovery. First of all, the inventions in design of Gothic Cathedrals have led to a new way in constructing buildings for next builders’ generation. Gothic Cathedrals were a century-long project in the 12th to 16th centuries in Europe because in these centuries “technology was rudimentary, famine and disease were rampant, the climate was often harsh, and communal life was unstable and incessantly violent” (Scott 90). In these hard conditions, ancient builders had faced a lot of difficulties in building Gothic Cathedrals because they wanted to build a church that was much larger than previously built, and had bigger windows to allow more light inside the cathedrals. Before building Gothic Cathedrals, builders made an overall plan, sought a location that was cleared, and needed a workforce which had essential skills and would be instructed (Scott 91). In addition, in order to create bigger windows for Gothic Cathedrals, builders devised a new way to make vaults which used heavy stones stacked on top of each other to create tall arches. However, builders must understand those two opposing forces which are called gravity and thrust if they wanted to prevent from the vaults collapsing. Finally, the builders had found a way to counteract the tall arches collapsing by adding buttresses and flying buttresses to provide more support for the stone columns (Scott 92). From the ancient time to present day, people have admired Gothic Cathedrals for their beauty. Furthermore, the Gothic Cathedrals’ design has become a model for builders today, and the builders have still used and improved its techniques and advances for other cathedrals. For example, in the world today, there are many famous buildings with even larger windows, bigger spaces and taller spires such as Crystal Cathedral, Burj Khalifa, and One World Trade Center. With the breakthrough in design of Gothic Cathedrals, a new era of innovative architecture today has been created. In addition to invention in design of Gothic Cathedrals, the revolution of the compass has impacted the world today. The original compass, which was first invented early in the 11th century by Chinese, used a magnetic needle for indicating direction and simply pointed North. After that, the magnetic compass had been refined by Flavio Gioia that allowed it to indicate several directions, and it had a printed card under the needle to show these directions. Later on, from the seaman’s experiences, magnetic compass had been refined one more time in terms of wind by dividing directions into 16 directional points, so it became more accurate or precise than previous compasses (Wilford 99). In those days, the magnetic compass had helped many sailors and explorers by telling them which direction they were going to, and helping them not to get lost or to keep them on track to their destinations. Nowadays in the 21st century, an accurate magnetic compass is inadequate for modern people’ needs. Therefore, with the high and advance technology, the most accurate system in indicating directions called GPS has been created based on the satellite system. Although compass and GPS both indicate directions, GPS has much more utility such as calculated speed, bearing, distance, weather or even tracking sunrise and sunset time. In addition, GPS also indicates exactly the position where we are, and calculates how far away GPS receivers are from the destination because it receives signals of at least three satellites at the same time. GPS now becomes an important tool for all people around the world, especially explorers, travelers and military. The revolution of the compass has inspired people in creating highly accurate GPS. Besides the breakthrough of inventions of Gothic Cathedrals and compass, advances in space exploration have changed the life of modern man today, as man has dreamed for centuries.
Space exploration has always been fascinating, and it gives us hope of finding something new. According to the video “Space Race: 20th Century Timeline and Firsts,” “though the idea of space travel was discussed for hundreds of years, the field of rocketry got its first big boost in the early 20th century.” A century ago, space exploration was just a concept or a dream for mankind, but this idea had been accomplished by the developed of powerful rocket which overcome the force of gravity. In the beginning, on March 16, 1926 an American physicist, Robert A. Goddard, launched the first liquid fuel rocket in history. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union created their own missile programs. On October 4th 1957, the Soviets launched the first satellite into space. Later on, a national goal of “Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth within a decade” was set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 (Space Race). On July 20, 1969, Astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first man walking onto the moon. The space exploration improved for the century, and now the advances of technology have pushed space travel to go further and discover other planets in solar system. However, in order to explore universe in details, many scientists have endeavored very hard to invent more new high technologies. Therefore, with its high technologies, space exploration has a lot of impacts on us today. For example, with the satellite system put up in the space, the weather forecast today has a high accuracy level, and this accuracy has helped in preventing many calamities. Besides the weather forecast, the satellite system also helps people to transmit the news or media all over the world almost instantly. Moreover, the researching space becomes a high paying jobs for many
scientists, and the field of space exploration has drawn many youths in the world. Also, it has given them opportunities to learn and research new areas. The benefits of space exploration have impacted us almost all aspects of life, and it will advance in the future. With the curiosities of humans, they will change the future world by invention or discovery, as they stimulated the world in the past days. Like the quotation “Necessity is the mother of invention” when man needs something new, he will invent, discover or create it. Therefore, people will work hard and devise new ways in satisfying their needs. In addition, the breakthrough of inventions has pushed people today to live in a world of high technologies.
Work Cited
Scott, Robert. “A Great Human Endeavor: Building the Gothic Cathedrals.” Longman Academic Reading Series 5. Ed. Lorraine C. Smith. New York: Pearson, 2014. 90-91.Print.
Wilford, John Noble. “From Stone to Satellite: Finding Our Way.” Longman Academic Reading Series 5. Ed. Lorraine C. Smith. New York: Pearson, 2014. 99-100. Print. “Space Race: 20th Century Timeline and First.” Online video clip. Watchmojo. Mojo Supreme, 2014. Web. 11 March 2014.