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KIDS: Our World!
EVAN: Hey, Globey. What am I doing?
Well, I’m writing my journal.
What’s a journal? Well, a journal is a book where people
can write down their thoughts feelings, and ideas.
Some people write in a journal every day.
People also keep scientific notebooks to record exactly
what they are doing or observing during a special
activity. In fact, you may write in a science notebook
when you’re conducting scientific experiments.
Not only is writing fun. But it also helps you remember your
thoughts and ideas once you’ve written them down.
Let me give you an example. Here’s a quote I wrote down the
other day because I thought it was really interesting.
Ah, here it is: “If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
So, what do these words mean?
To me, this quote means that this person believes he was
able to accomplish great things because he built his ideas off
the work that was done by great people before him.
And he wants to give them credit for their ideas and for
inspiring him. Do you know who wrote those words?
I’ll give you a hint. Some people consider him the
greatest scientist that ever lived.
His name was Sir Isaac Newton, a famous physicist,
mathematician, and astronomer.
In 1675 he wrote the now famous quote about standing on the
shoulders of giants in a letter to Robert Hooke, another great
scientist of the 17th century.
You may not know this, but Robert Hooke was the first
person to use the word “cell” to describe the basic
unit of life. Newton developed many ideas that changed the way
we look at our world. Using ideas from an Italian monk,
Newton built the world’s first working reflecting telescope.
The telescopes that NASA uses today are much more powerful
than Newton’s, but they still use his ideas about mirrors to
bend and magnify images,
letting us see much farther into the universe.
So we owe Newton a great deal of thanks.
Just like Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci, Newton wrote down his
ideas in journals. Over the years, Newton was able to look
back at his journals to prove new theories that even today
help us understand much more about the world of science.
Of course you know about another famous scientist who
was known for filling up journal after journal with
words and pictures...Albert Einstein.
Today, people refer to Einstein as the
“Father of Modern Physics.”
Albert Einstein published over 300 papers on many different
scientific topics. That’s a lot of writing.
But he did it because he wanted to get his ideas down on paper,
and he wanted to share his thoughts with as many people
as possible. George Washington Carver used his journals to
teach farmers to rotate their cotton crops with peanuts and
sweet potatoes in order to keep the soil healthy.
When there were too many peanuts for the market,
Carver invented more than 300 ways to use the peanut and kept
daily notes about the results of his peanut experiments.
And Annie Jump Cannon’s notes and diagrams of the night sky
became the first published catalogs of stars.
Her detailed journals helped develop a classification system
for stars that is still used today. But scientists aren’t
the only ones who keep journals. Our world might be
very different if it weren’t for the stories written down by
famous explorers like Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark. In detailed diaries, Lewis and Clark
described the natural wonders, the unique plants and animals,
and the people they encountered as they traveled across what is
now the western part of the United States.
The nearly 5,000 pages they wrote during the two year
expedition guaranteed these two men an important place in
history and let us see what our country looked like during
their time. We can learn so much about people and their
discoveries by reading the journals they leave behind.
No one knows exactly what happened to Amelia Earhart on
her last flight over the Pacific Ocean, but we do know
from her journals why she decided to become a pilot.
After a 10 minute flight over Los Angeles in an open cockpit
biplane, Amelia wrote, “As soon as we left ground I knew myself
I had to fly.”
What about today’s scientists and explorers?
Do they still write their thoughts and observations in
journals? Of course they do!
They may not write in actual notebooks.
They may use computers. But they still make careful
observations and record their discoveries in great detail.
Let’s check in with some modern-day explorers...
astronauts on-board the International Space Station.
Right now they’re conducting experiments and writing down
their findings so other scientists can study the
results. The International Space Station is the largest
man-made satellite that orbits Earth, and many nations across
our world are involved with their exciting project.
Every day astronauts conduct different kinds of experiments
to help us understand more about living in space.
These experiments may show us how the body changes in space,
or which plants will grow in space,
or even what water does in space. The astronauts make
careful notes about the experiments.
These journals are sent back to Earth where scientists can
study what the astronauts learned and conduct
additional experiments. But another important reason for
astronauts to write in a journal on board the
International Space Station is so NASA can keep track of how
our astronauts feel on a day to day basis. Being in space for
a long period of time can have negative effects on people’s
emotions. It can also be very challenging to live in a
confined space for such a long period of time.
So NASA asks the astronauts on board the International Space
Station to keep a daily journal, where they can write
down their thoughts and feelings about living in space.
This helps NASA scientists and engineers back on Earth do a
better job of designing the living areas on board the ISS
or on future spacecraft, making it easier for astronauts to be
on long term trips to the Moon, Mars, or beyond.
But the information scientists learn from the astronauts’
journals will do more than just help future space missions.
The lessons also apply to explorations where people spend
long periods of time alone or in small and cramped living
conditions. Think about explorers in the Antarctic or
sailors living on board submarines that sail deep below
the ocean’s surface. And much of what we learn from the
astronauts on-board the ISS can actually help you and me
make good choices about things like sleep, exercise, and food.
Wow Globey, it sure is important to keep a journal.
So many famous scientists and explorers were able to achieve
great things because they could look back at what they had
written in their journals, and what a great way to share what
they were learning first-hand.
You many want to start writing a journal yourself. Writing can
be fun. And who knows what discoveries you can come up
with when you have the chance to look back at your previous
thoughts and ideas. Who knows, maybe the next generation of
scientist and explorers and scientists may be sanding on
your shoulders.
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KIDS: Our World!
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