Great Scientists //Nicolaus Copernicus //Isaac Newton //J. C. Bose //Ka...

 

Great Scientists:

Nicolaus Copernicus
Kalpana Chawla
James Cook

Isaac Newton

J. C. Bose

Christopher Columbus

Marco Polo

Abraham Lincoln

 

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543): 

Born in Poland, Copernicus was the first to propose the idea that the centre of the universe was near the sun. He also proposed that the Earth rotated about its axis and revolved around the sun. 

Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727): 

 One of the greatest scientists of all time, Newton was the first to propose the idea of gravity. His book ‘Principia Mathematica’ is regarded as one of the most important scientific works ever written.

 J. C. Bose(1858 – 1937): 

Indian scientist J.C. Bose proved through experiments that plants have life. He also invented several instruments to study plants.

 Kalpana Chawla (1961 – 2003) : 

Kalpana Chawla was the first woman of Indian origin to fly in space. She died when her space shuttle, Columbia, crashed while coming back to Earth.

James Cook 

(1728 - 79) was a British explorer, navigator, and cartographer and rose to the position of Captain in the Royal Navy.

Early Life:

James Cook was born in Marton, England and his father was a Scottish farm worker. Cook worked as an apprentice on boats carrying coal when he was eighteen and became interested in navigation. He joined the British Royal Navy and took part in the Seven Years' War.

Expenditions:

•  James Cook led his first expedition to Tahiti on the ship the Endeavour. This was planned by Royal Board and the Royal Navy.
•  He left in August 1768, stopped first at Rio de Janeiro, and proceeded to Tahiti.
•  He then explored New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. He went on to the East Indies
•  (Indonesia) and across the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.
•  It was an easy voyage from Africa to home and he arrived home in July 1771.
•  After the success of the first voyage, Cook was promoted to Captain and he was given the task of finding Australia as it was believed that there was more land that lay in the south which had not yet been discovered.
• James Cook started with two ships, the Resolution, and the Adventure in July 1772 and made his way to Cape Town and proceed to the south of Africa.
•  He then sailed to New Zealand for the winter and in summer proceeded south again past the Antarctic Circle.
•  By exploring the southern waters around Antarctica, he concluded that there was no habitable southern continent. 
• During this voyage, he also discovered several island chains in the Pacific Ocean.
• Cook was now asked to explore the possibility of a waterway that would allow sailing between Europe and Asia.
• Cook set out in July 1776. He rounded the southern tip of Africa and headed east across the Indian Ocean. He passed between the North and South islands of New Zealand and reached the coast of North America.
•  He sailed along the coast of what would later come to be known as Oregon, British Columbia, and Alaska and proceeded through the Bering Strait. His navigation of the Bering Sea was halted by his impassable Arctic ice.
•  Cook now concluded that a waterway did not exist and continued his voyage.
• His last halt was in February 1779 at the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) where he was killed in a fight with islanders over the theft of a boat.

Contribution:
1. As an explorer, Cook brought about increased awareness of the world as it existed.
2. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in detail.
3. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time.
4. He inspired many explorers to seek the unknown.

Word Trove:
1. Comprehensive = covering completely
2. cartography = map making
3. navigator= the person in a vehicle who decides on the direction in which the vehicle travels
4. archipelago = a group of small islands
5. impassable = incapable of being traversed

Q. 1. James Cook had a sound knowledge of cartography as ...............................................................................................................................................
Q.2. How was James Cook suitable for leading the expedition to Tahiti?

..............................................................................................................................................

Christopher Columbus:

Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506) was an explorer and a navigator. Under the sponsorship of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages and was responsible for making Europe aware of the American Continents.

Early Life:

Christopher Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa which today forms northwestern Italy.
He set out for Japan on his first voyage in 1492 but instead of reaching Japan, he landed in the Bahamas Archipelago. His father was a wool weaver and had a cheese stand at which Christopher Columbus worked as a helper. He learned Portuguese, and Latin as well as Castilian and read astronomy, geography, and history. Many people at that time believed that the Earth was flat and Columbus could not get support for his plan easily. He had a very good knowledge about the trade winds and that helped him to complete his first voyage successfully. 
At first, Columbus received no royal support for his plans but after negotiating for two years, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain promised him that if he succeeded in his explorations, he would be made the Admiral of the Ocean and the Viceroy and Governor of all the new lands he would claim for Spain.

Columbus' Voyages:

1. Columbus set off on his first voyage on the sixth of September on his ship Santa Maria and spotted land on the twelfth of October.
2. He called the island San Salvador and found the people easy to handle as they had no modem weapons.
3. Christopher Columbus explored Cuba and finally stopped at the New World. He kidnapped about 25 slaves who made quite an impression on him when they landed.
4. His second voyage followed a southerly direction and the ship was well equipped with supplies to establish permanent colonies in the New World. They set off on September 24, 1493 and during the course of the journey, they sighted many islands and gave names to them.
5. Columbus started for his third trip on May 30, 1498 and after crossing the Atlantic, his ships landed on the southern coast of trinidad where the ships were restocked. Then sailing further, Columbus reached the mainland of South America at the Praia Peninsula.
6. Columbus made a fourth voyage in search of the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean.
7. After a brief stop at Jamaica, he proceeded to Central America. He explored the islands of Honduras, Costa Rica and landed in Panama where he and his men were caught in a terrible storm. During his journey to the north, they were  stranded in Jamaica for almost a year but were finally rescued and reached Spain on 9th November, 1504.
Death:

He died on 20th May, 1506 at the age of 54.

Contribution:

1. Columbus is regarded as the person who drew the attention of Europe towards America. Though he was not the first person to prove that the earth was not flat, his achievement as an explorer cannot be doubted.
2. Columbus has been considered as the founding figure of New World nations and the use of the Word ' Columbia', or simply the name 'Columbus', spread rapidly after the American Revolution.
3. In 1812, the name 'Columbus', was given to the newly founded capital of Ohio.
4. Columbia is also the name of NASA's first space shuttle.

Q.1.  Columbus was well versed in sea faring and astronomy which........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Q.2. Columbus is regarded as the person who drew the attention of Europe....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Q.3. What were the difficulties that Columbus faced in gaining support for his voyage? Who finally helped and what were the terms?
Q.4. How do you know that Columbus was influenced by Marco Polo?
Q.5. How was Columbus honored for his contribution to the world of exploration?

Marco Polo:

Marco Polo (1254 - 1324) was a Venetian merchant traveler. When he was seventeen years old, he set out on a voyage to Asia with his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo. They were away for 24 years. During this period they had a series of adventures and returned with many treasures and riches. They had traveled 15,000 miles. On reaching home they found that Venice was at war with Genoa. The Genoese admiral Lamba D'Oria captured a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Curzola and Polo was taken, prisoner.

Marco Polo, the writer:

1. Marco Polo spent several months in prison. During this time he started dictating a detailed account of his travels to a fellow inmate.
2. The book soon spread all across Europe in manuscript form, and became known as The Travels of Marco Polo.
3. It depicts Polo's journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into the world of the Far East, including China, India, and Japan.

Contribution:

1. Polo was finally released from prison in 1299 and he continued his trading activities along wiht his father and uncle.
2. he financed other expeditions but he himself never left Venice again.
3. The account of his travels to the Far East inspired Christopher Columbus to visit those lands and he carried a copy of Plo's book with him.
Marco Polo died in 1324 and was buried in San Lorenzo.

Summary:

a) Marco Polo started his first voyage at the age of seventeen with his father and uncle.
b) They travelled 15,000 miles and were away for 24 years.
c) The Travels of Marco Polo gave the Europeans their first glimpse into the world of the Far East, including China, India and Japan. 

Q.1. The Travels of Marco Polo depicts Polo's journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first...................................................................
Q.2. Marco Polo was a great narrator who influenced other explorers because..........................................................................................................................
Q.3. Write three sentences on the first voyage undertaken by Marco Polo.

 

Abraham Lincoln 

(1809 – 1865) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky and was raised on the frontier, primarily in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. Congressman from Illinois. He reentered politics in 1854, becoming a leader in the new Republican Party, and he reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates against Stephen Douglas. Lincoln ran for President in 1860, sweeping the North to gain victory. Pro-slavery elements in the South viewed his election as a threat to slavery, and Southern states began seceding from the Union. 

Abraham Lincoln is famous for the Gettysburg Address, abolishing slavery, and being one of the four presidents who were assassinated. Abraham's father remarried and, as the frontier expanded and became more populated, so the quality of life increased. 

Among American heroes, Lincoln continues to have a unique appeal to his fellow countrymen and also to people of other lands. This charm derives from his remarkable life story—the rise from humble origins, the dramatic death—and from his distinctively human and humane personality.