Polo vs Galileo essays

Polo vs Galileo essays Since the art of making fire and creating handcrafted tools, our civilization has come a long way. Science and technology are making advances at an amazing rate. From telephones to the internet, calculators to computers, cars to airplanes, and rockets to satellites, we are submerged in a sea of discoveries and inventions made possible only by the desire to explore. Exploration is one of the oldest and most widespread of human activities. People in all times and places have engaged in some form of exploration. Many think exploration is limited to travels to unknown lands such as the expeditions of Lewis and Clark or those of Christopher Columbus, but exploration is more. Exploration includes the desire to do new things, to formulate new ideas, and to go against the status quo. Marco Polo and Galileo Galilei are two prime examples of the quintessential explorer. Although each explored different realms of the world, they both share common characteristics found in all explorers. Th rough their travels and experimentation one can see the many similar and contrasting styles each took to accomplish his goals. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Venice, Italy (Hubbard 2001). He was a Venetian explorer and merchant whose account of his travels in Asia was the primary source for the European image of the Far East until the late 19th century. Despite his enduring fame, very little is known about the personal life of Marco Polo. He lived during a propitious time in world history, when the height of Venices influence as a city-state coincided with the greatest extent of Mongol conquest. Ruled by Kublai Khan, the Mongol Empire stretched all the way from China to Russia and the Levant. The Mongols brought a measure of stability to the lands they controlled, opening up trade routes such as the famous Silk Road (Marco n.d.). The Polo's had long-established ties in the Levant and around the Black Sea. From Sudak, around 12...