ASTRONOMY †HISTORY AND REVOLUTION

ASTRONOMY – HISTORY AND REVOLUTION Free Online Research Papers In early times, astronomy only comprised the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye. In some locations, such as Stonehenge, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that likely had some astronomical purpose. In addition to their ceremonial uses, these observatories could be employed to determine the seasons, an important factor in knowing when to plant crops, as well as in understanding the length of the year. Before tools such as the telescope were invented early study of the stars had to be conducted from the only vantage points available, namely tall buildings and high ground using the bare eye. As civilizations developed, most notably in Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt, Persia, Maya, India, China, Nubia and the Islamic world, astronomical observatories were assembled, and ideas on the nature of the universe began to be explored. Most of early astronomy actually consisted of mapping the positions of the stars and planets, a science now referred to as astrometry. From these observations, early ideas about the motions of the planets were formed, and the nature of the Sun, Moon and the Earth in the universe were explored philosophically. The Earth was believed to be the center of the universe with the Sun, the Moon and the stars rotating around it. This is known as the geocentric model of the universe. A few notable astronomical discoveries were made prior to the application of the telescope. For example, the obliquity of the ecliptic was estimated as early as 1000 BC by the Chinese. The Chaldeans discovered that lunar eclipses recurred in a repeating cycle known as a saros.In the 2nd century BC, the size and distance of the Moon were estimated by Hipparchus. During the Middle Ages, observational astronomy was mostly stagnant in medieval Europe, at least until the 13th century. However, observational astronomy flourished in the Islamic world and other parts of the world. Some of the prominent Arab astronomers who made significant contributions to the science were Al-Battani and Thebit. Astronomers during that time introduced many Arabic names that are now used for individual stars.It is also believed that the ruins at Great Zimbabwe and Timbuktu may have housed an astronomy observatory. Europeans had previously believed that there had been no astronomical observation in pre-colonial Middle Ages sub-Saharan Africa but modern discoveries show otherwise. During the Renaissance, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the solar system. His work was defended, expanded upon, and corrected by Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler. Galileo innovated by using telescopes to enhance his observations. Kepler was the first to devise a system that described correctly the details of the motion of the planets with the Sun at the center. However, Kepler did not succeed in formulating a theory behind the laws he wrote down. It was left to Newtons invention of celestial dynamics and his law of gravitation to finally explain the motions of the planets. Newton also developed the reflecting telescope. Further discoveries paralleled the improvements in the size and quality of the telescope. More extensive star catalogues were produced by Lacaille. The astronomer William Herschel made a detailed catalog of nebulosity and clusters, and in 1781 discovered the planet Uranus, the first new planet found. The distance to a star was first announced in 1838 when the parallax of 61 Cygni was measured by Friedrich Bessel. During the nineteenth century, attention to the three body problem by Euler, Clairaut, and DAlembert led to more accurate predictions about the motions of the Moon and planets. This work was further refined by Lagrange and Laplace, allowing the masses of the planets and moons to be estimated from their perturbations. Significant advances in astronomy came about with the introduction of new technology, including the spectroscope and photography. Fraunhofer discovered about 600 bands in the spectrum of the Sun in 1814-15, which, in 1859, Kirchhoff ascribed to the presence of different elements. Stars were proven to be similar to the Earths own Sun, but with a wide range of temperatures, masses, and sizes. The existence of the Earths galaxy, the Milky Way, as a separate group of stars, was only proved in the 20th century, along with the existence of external galaxies, and soon after, the expansion of the universe, seen in the recession of most galaxies from us. Modern astronomy has also discovered many exotic objects such as quasars, pulsars, blazars, and radio galaxies, and has used these observations to develop physical theories which describe some of these objects in terms of equally exotic objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Physical cosmology made huge advances during the 20th century, with the model of the Big Bang heavily supported by the evidence provided by astronomy and physics, such as the cosmic microwave background radiation, Hubbles law, and cosmological abundances of elements Research Papers on ASTRONOMY - HISTORY AND REVOLUTIONThree Concepts of PsychodynamicThe Rise and Fall of Napoleon BonaparteAmerican Central Banking and OilDistance Learning Survival GuideGlobal Distributive Justice is UtopianGenetic EngineeringDeontological Teleological TheoriesBooker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-BarnettDefinition of Export QuotasCombating Human Trafficking

Free Essays on Keats And Shelly

A season of autumn is traditionally associated with dying of nature and expectations of the following winter time. For Romantic poets who are known for their extraordinary sensitivity to natural moods the period of fall becomes a great force for poetic creativity. Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" and John Keats's ode "To Autumn" are two beautiful poems which were blown to their authors by the English autumn. Both poets are influenced by the seasonal process in nature which ushers them into the mood of transience and aging. However, the two of them differently perceive the same natural manifestations. The radical poet Shelley observes the deadly changes in nature caused by the autumnal wind with an expectation for the following spring and revival. In the seasonal process he sees a symbolic prototype for possible revolutionary changes both in his own life and in the existing social structure of his country. His "Ode to the West Wind" primarily appeals to the active sublime power of the west wind to give him that energy which is able to change the world. At the same time, another Romantic poet Keats accepts the idea of aging and accomplishment. In his ode "To Autumn" he celebrates fruitfulness of the autumn and bides farewell to the passing away year and together with it to his great poetry. The Romantic autumnal odes of Shelley and Keats are born from the poetic observations of natural changes and from their ability to penetrate the mood of fall which provides them an incentive for artistic creativity. In "Ode to the West Wind" Shelley mainly concentrates his attention on his observations of the death caused by the autumnal wind. He compares the "dead leaves" to "ghosts", and the "winged seeds" to dead bodies which "lie cold and low... within [their] grave". All these images talk to the author of the "dying year", of transience of time and of ag... Free Essays on Keats And Shelly Free Essays on Keats And Shelly A season of autumn is traditionally associated with dying of nature and expectations of the following winter time. For Romantic poets who are known for their extraordinary sensitivity to natural moods the period of fall becomes a great force for poetic creativity. Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" and John Keats's ode "To Autumn" are two beautiful poems which were blown to their authors by the English autumn. Both poets are influenced by the seasonal process in nature which ushers them into the mood of transience and aging. However, the two of them differently perceive the same natural manifestations. The radical poet Shelley observes the deadly changes in nature caused by the autumnal wind with an expectation for the following spring and revival. In the seasonal process he sees a symbolic prototype for possible revolutionary changes both in his own life and in the existing social structure of his country. His "Ode to the West Wind" primarily appeals to the active sublime power of the west wind to give him that energy which is able to change the world. At the same time, another Romantic poet Keats accepts the idea of aging and accomplishment. In his ode "To Autumn" he celebrates fruitfulness of the autumn and bides farewell to the passing away year and together with it to his great poetry. The Romantic autumnal odes of Shelley and Keats are born from the poetic observations of natural changes and from their ability to penetrate the mood of fall which provides them an incentive for artistic creativity. In "Ode to the West Wind" Shelley mainly concentrates his attention on his observations of the death caused by the autumnal wind. He compares the "dead leaves" to "ghosts", and the "winged seeds" to dead bodies which "lie cold and low... within [their] grave". All these images talk to the author of the "dying year", of transience of time and of ag...

Green Mountain Resort Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Green Mountain Resort - Assignment Example His style of managing change include his innate desire to do what is good for the future of the organization but that there are diverse factors, both internal and external, that are beyond his control. According to Palmer, Dunford & Akin (2009), change managers who are caretakers have â€Å"little influence over the direction of change† (p. 30); likewise, as a nurturer, he recognized the ability of the organization to facilitate projecting a positive self-organizing development, by harnessing the organization’s strengths. When Gunter aimed to address the turnover as a problem, he sought other sources of credible information to assist him in solving it through validating the perspectives of the hospitality literature and by seeking the advice of a consultant. As such, he did not impose any form of coercion or autocratic control to steer change; nor did he allow indifference to set in. As such, since it was initially noted that Gunter, as part of the initial management an d now, a property owner, he had genuine intentions for envisioning Green Mountain as a first-class mountain resort. The hospitality literature? The hospitality literature exemplified the image of an interpreter, by â€Å"creating meaning for other organizational members (such as Gunter), helping them to make sense of various organizational events and actions† (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009, p. 31). ... As emphasized, change managers as coach do not direct action towards members of the organization, but â€Å"relies upon building in the right set of values, skills and â€Å"drills† that are deemed the best ones that organizational members, as players, will be able to draw on adeptly in order to achieve desired organizational outcomes† (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009, p. 31). By treating turnover as an asset, instead of a liability, the consultant capitalized on the strengths of training that has been consistently accorded by Green Mountain personnel as a means for recruited personnel to develop enhanced knowledge, skills, and competencies in their areas of endeavors. As noted, the turnover issues or problem, as it was initially pegged, was dissolved; and therefore, there is no evident need to solve it. 2. How did these assumptions influence prescriptions for dealing with â€Å"the turnover problem?† These assumptions enabled Gunter to see the turnover issue from different perspectives and by seeing potentials for change using the six images, as proposed. When taking roles and images of change managers from these points of view, Gunter was able to turn what initially was identified as a problem, into an opportunity and as an asset and strength of Green Mountain Resort. In so doing, there was no problem to solve, in the first place, and instead, these assumptions opened a new way of seeing things, of thinking outside the box and thereby classified the scenario as a second-order change: where â€Å"the change interventions are directed at the solution† (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009, p. 42). 3. Choose another change image and apply it to â€Å"the turnover problem.† To what new