Franklin Institue Trip

Overall, I think the trip was a success. Some of the items throughout the exhibit went over my head, but I was able to get a sense of most of it. What I enjoyed most however was seeing what we had talked about in class or read in our readings. Examples of that would be seeing the telescope Galileo used, the helioscope, and Siderius Nuncias. It was really great to see those things and put what I've heard about to an actual thing.

The exhibit in general showed some very interesting facts. One recurring theme throughout was the Medici family. There were paintings all over of them and there were dedications to them all over. Also, I found it interesting how so many of the items on display were used for military purposes, like surveying land and directions among other things. This reminded me of a show called "Tactical to Practical". It was all about the duality of the uses of items that were used for both military and civilian purposes. To me, this was shown a fair amount in the exhibit. I saw some compasses and devices for measuring distances, and they were used for science or other regular functions, but also were a necessity and an advantage for the military.

One of my favorite parts of the whole museum was this little t.v. that showed a room. I can not remember whose room it was, but it was just incredible. Along all the walls was a huge terrestrial map, and under them were various pictures of animals and plants i believe. Over the whole ceiling spanned a celestial map, and it was going to have an opening roof. Then a terrestrial globe could come down along with a celestial globe. I am pretty sure that was never finished though, which is a shame. I watched this t.v. in amazement seeing all the different parts. I would have loved to see that room with my own eyes. To just stand in the middle and look all around would be crazy.

Seeing all the different tools they had back then was truly amazing, and to think what they accomplished with them. The tool for sines and cosines was insane. It looked like a circular blade, and had all these different markings on the side which told the sine or cosine. Its hard to think that to find the answer to a question requiring sine or cosine, that tool had to be used. If someone had bad eyesight, it must have been hard for them in that age.