read the passage; plan your essay; write your essay; and revise and edit your essay. be sure to include a claim; address counterclaims; use evidence from multiple sources; and averly relying on one source.
In 1871, an adventurer named Heinrich Schliemann started digging
in the ground of a Turkish city, seeking the lost land of Troy.
Schliemann, a businessman and scholar, was born in Germany in 1822.
As a young man he dreamed of discovering the treasures of the ancient
world, and even made a plan for it when he was nine years old.
His youthful sense of adventure eventually brought him to
California, where he made a fortune in the gold rush. With his profits,
he began his second career in archaeology.
Archaeology was still a young science in the 1800s. In fact, it was
hardly a science at all. The promise of treasure and adventure in
foreign lands attracted people like Schliemann. Like a lot of treasure
hunters, Schliemann was smart, curious—and hungry for gold or fame.
On the other hand, he loved ancient cultures, especially Greek culture.
He loved learning and traveling. By the end of his life, he spoke
13 languages, including his native German. He loved Greek history and
culture so much that he and his wife Sophia named their children
Agamemnon and Andromache.
There was another, less likeable side to Schliemann. He has been
described as a trickster who didn’t always tell the truth. He was known
for changing or making up details in his stories of discovery. He wrote a
thrilling account of his experience in the San Francisco fire of 1849—
even though he was nowhere near San Francisco at the time. And as
much as he loved antiquities and learning, his love of attention and
money were equally strong. They may have been too strong in the end.
In 1868 he had been seeking the lost city of Troy for many years.
He found out that a British archaeologist named Frank Calvert owned
part of a site in Turkey. It was near the modern town of Canakkale.
Calvert believed that ancient Troy was founded at this site. He did not
have the funds to dig or discover for himself. Schliemann agreed to
fund and share in the work.
Calvert was very different from Schliemann. He was self-taught,
modest, and liked to keep his discoveries quiet. He was serious about
protecting the artifacts he found. He did not have enough money of
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his own to carry out his work. He had to rely on Schliemann’s funds.
This proved disastrous for him, and perhaps even worse for the
remains of Troy.
By 1871, Schliemann had started digging up Troy his way. He was
convinced he knew exactly how far down to dig, and how to get there.
He had workers open up huge trenches in the earth, shoveling out
layers of debris and artifacts that had lain undisturbed for centuries.
Although he and Calvert both discovered treasure, the damage done to
the site was profound. Today, archaeologists believe that the historic
Troy that the Greek poet Homer described was in a layer much higher
up. We will never know for sure.
Schliemann’s careless actions erased important clues to Troy’s past.
Schliemann took the credit for what was found, and Calvert’s contribution
was almost forgotten. Calvert’s family is still fighting to give him full credit
for finding ancient Troy. Schliemann is remembered not only as a great
explorer but also for being dishonest. Yet both men discovered great
things at the site: ancient axes, household items, and jewels. Together,
they did prove there had been an ancient city called Troy. The gold and
other precious items they found are now in the Pushkin Museum in
Moscow, Russia. Was the find worth the damage it caused to the site?
"Lost Cities, Lost Treasure." Written for educational purposes.
How a Melted Bar of Chocolate Changed
Our Kitchens
Percy Spencer never set out to help you cook your dinner in only
5 minutes. All he did was carry a bar of chocolate in his pocket onto
the factory floor. What he discovered that day was more than how to
get chocolate stains out of your clothes. He discovered a completely
new way to cook.
The events leading up to the most powerful melted candy in the
world gives us a clue to the kind of person Percy Spencer was. He was
born in the town of Howland, Maine in 1894. As a boy, he liked to
tinker and discover how things worked. His uncle was handy with
machines, and taught Spencer a lot about them. When a log hauler
broke down outside their house, the young boy had fun watching and
helping while his uncle worked to fix the truck.
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Percy went to work quite early to help support his family. By the
time he was 16, he was working full-time in a machine shop. He
volunteered to be one of three men who helped the machine shop
convert to electrical power in 1910. He had no real training at the time,
but he decided to try. That experience taught him everything he needed
to be an electrician.
Imagine for a moment what that was like for young Percy Spencer.
Today, every year, computers are becoming faster and smaller.
Touch-screen technology is still very new. We have hardly begun to
understand what else we can discover. Imagine you are Percy Spencer
in the brand-new world of electrical engineering. So much to discover!
And so many mistakes to make!
In everything he did from then on, Percy Spencer seemed to run
toward discovery and take the chance of making mistakes. He joined
the navy to become a telegraph operator. Once again, he did not know
much about this type of work. He taught himself what he needed at
night, while he was standing watch on the ship.
By the time he was in his early 20s, Percy Spencer had taken
another big leap. He was only the fifth employee of the new company
Raytheon. He continued inventing and learning. The company grew,
and his knowledge grew with it. Soon he was an equal with the
smartest and best educated people in the United States.
Before Percy Spencer’s lucky microwave discovery, Raytheon was
most famous for making a device that helped shrink down the radio to
a modest size and cost. That helped put radios in many American
households, making it one of the first devices for broad, shared
communication. Raytheon also manufactured magnetic devices used
for tracking moving vehicles and other moving objects on Earth or in
space. One of Raytheon’s experiments was the Magnetron. The
Magnetron generated microwaves, which are exactly what they sound
like: small waves that are shorter in length than a regular radio wave.
Scientists at Raytheon discovered that the Magnetron gave off a lot of
heat. No one made a connection between this high heat and any
possibilities for progress until Percy Spencer.
Standing near the Magnetron one day while it was on, Spencer
noticed that the bar of chocolate in his pocket melted. He had a
moment of realization. He asked for popcorn kernels, and put them
near the heat. Minutes later, the man we can thank for microwave
popcorn had a discovery on his hands.
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It took more than 20 years, a lot of patience, and many mistakes
before Raytheon perfected a microwave oven that people could use and
could afford. In 1967, the Amana Radarange made its debut. Movies on
demand at home were still decades away, but at least now Americans
were ready with the popcorn. All thanks to Percy Spencer and his
mistaken snack.
"How a Melted Bar of Chocolate Changed Our Kitchens." Written for educational purposes.
In Praise of Careful Science
Don’t be fooled: Accidents usually do not lead to great discoveries.
Although it is fun to think about how a bump on the head from an
apple changed our understanding of gravity, the reality is less fun. Most
of the time, scientists work for decades and make very few mistakes.
When they do, most mistakes cause problems, not progress.
Scientist John Denker says that many “big discoveries” were
actually invented, step by step. Scientists made small discoveries over
time. A lot of these small discoveries were predicted, and then proven,
with no mistakes. Denker describes how magnetrons and radar were
discovered. They were researched for years. The work was kept
secret. The scientists worked to avoid mistakes. When they were
announced, the public did not imagine the years that went into that
work. Then, Percy Spencer accidentally discovered the magnetron’s
property for heating food. That one moment overshadowed many
years of careful science.
It also took more than 20 years after the “melted chocolate
moment” to bring a commercial microwave to the public. The equally
important process after discovery is also ignored. During that long
process after discovery, scientists need to test their ideas with care
and make as few mistakes as possible. When Pierre and Marie Curie
discovered radium, they spent years after the 1898 discovery studying
it. They were still studying it when they shared the Nobel Prize for
Science with Henri Becquerel in 1903.
As John Denker says, “I am reminded of the rock star who said it
took him 15 years to become an overnight sensation.”
It is too easy to say, “Without mistakes, no discoveries can be
made.” Most mistakes do not lead directly to discoveries. Thomas
Edison said that inventing was 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent
perspiration. The typical role of a mistake in science is not to lead to
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a brilliant invention, but to teach a scientist how to do better next
time. As space physicist Carl Sagan once said, “Science is a
self-correcting process.”
"In Praise of Careful Science." Written for educational purposes.
A Series of Quotations about Error
and Discovery
“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success.
We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and
probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.”—
19th century Scottish author Samuel Smiles
“Error is a hardy plant; it flourisheth in every soil.”—19th century
English writer Martin Farquhar Tupper
“Love truth, but pardon error.”—18th century author and
philosopher Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
“The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex
facts. We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are
simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The guiding motto in
the life of every natural philosopher should be, Seek simplicity and
distrust it.”—20th century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. Make the Essay as short as possible
1 answer
Essay Plan
Introduction
Thesis Statement: While notable discoveries can arise from mistakes, careful scientific inquiry remains essential for sustained progress and understanding.
Claim: The Role of Mistakes in Discovery
Introduce Percy Spencer’s accidental invention of the microwave oven.
Reference the idea that mistakes can lead to valuable scientific breakthroughs.
Counterclaim: The Importance of Methodical Science
Acknowledge John Denker's perspective on the role of careful research and meticulous work in achieving significant scientific advancements.
Mention the lengthy process and numerous trials before the public saw commercial microwave ovens.
Evidence Supporting the Forgetting of Careful Science
Sample quotes illustrating the public fascination with accidental discoveries versus systematic research.
Discuss how Samuel Smiles and Voltaire emphasize understanding through failure, yet caution against overemphasizing mistakes.
Conclusion
Reaffirm the need for balanced recognition of both serendipitous and methodical efforts in science.
Suggest that while the narratives of Spencer and Schliemann capture attention, the slow and steady grind of scientific rigor is what truly drives progress.
Essay
The world of scientific discovery is often romanticized by stories of accidents leading to remarkable innovations, such as Percy Spencer’s chance realization that microwaves could cook food. Spencer’s melted chocolate bar is a striking example of how mistakes can lead to valuable inventions. However, while such serendipitous discoveries captivate our imagination, they also overshadow the essential role of meticulous research and careful inquiry that often lays the foundation for true progress.
Mistakes can indeed spark groundbreaking technologies, as shown by Spencer’s invention of the microwave oven, a process catalyzed by an accident at Raytheon when he noticed his chocolate melting. This incident exemplifies the belief that “we often discover what will do by finding out what will not do,” as noted by 19th-century author Samuel Smiles. However, Spencer is merely a single thread in a larger narrative of discovery, one that includes extensive preparation and research that often precede such moments of inspiration.
Conversely, John Denker emphasizes that most significant scientific advancements are the result of focused, deliberate inquiry rather than happenstance. Denker argues that careful research has historically allowed scientists to make numerous small steps toward larger breakthroughs, including the invention of the magnetron long before it was accidentally tied to cooking. The journey from Spencer's accidental discovery to the widespread availability of microwave ovens took over 20 years of rigorous testing and development, underscoring the importance of methodical science.
Furthermore, quotes from thought leaders like Voltaire serve as reminders that while errors can illuminate pathways to discoveries, we must not neglect the rigor of the scientific method that guides those paths. Science thrives on a careful balance of inspiration and perspiration; as Thomas Edison noted, inventing relies heavily on hard work and perseverance.
In conclusion, while there is no denying the excitement of accidental discoveries, it is crucial to recognize that sustained scientific advancement is primarily driven by comprehensive research and meticulous inquiry. The tales of Percy Spencer and Heinrich Schliemann may capture attention, but the untold stories of methodological craftsmanship are what continue to propel science forward. Balancing acknowledgment of both approaches will enhance our understanding of how true innovation emerges.
