Radical Innovations

For this project our driving question was: How did ideas from Europe and Asia change the world?

In these following paragraphs I have made explanations for each of my panels. For this project we were going to make triptych, for anyone who doesn’t know what a triptych is, it is a still image with three panels. The two panels on the side being half the side of the center panel so they can be folded over. For the left panel we were supposed to make it about new innovations from the renaissance. The left panel was going to be what they used before these innovations, and then the centre panel was going to be what these innovations have become and more modern versions of it.

Left:

The new ideas from the renaissance changed the renaissance world by many ways from people being able to live heather and happier lives thanks to more experience in healthcare to being able to spread information easier thanks to the printing press. The renaissance was a time where people became more educated and they took that knowledge and they used it to make new innovation's that would later become objects we use in our every day life. Think of it like a tree. The roots are the brain, the trunk is the idea, and the branches are ideas that evolved to our modern day objects. For example the lenses. The first version of a lens was curved glass or crystals known as reading stones that were used to help enlarge text in a book for people with poor eye sight. This later evolved into glasses and magnifying glasses soon these things would me come more modern versions like camera lenses and modern glasses these would be branches of the tree. The renaissance changed many peoples education and beliefs. Some of these innovations include the printing press, glasses, clocks, telescope, and old medical tools as shown in my triptych. The printing press: I drew the printing press because our life would be significantly harder without a way to read and spread knowledge. I also drew a book because they were made by the printing press. If the printing press was never invented things like the printer wouldn’t exist. Imagine how different our lives would be today. I will talk more about the impact before this on the right panel of my triptych. Lenses:Next, I drew two examples of how lenses were used by drawing the telescope and the old eye glasses. Without lenses our life would be so different because we wouldn’t be able to take photos! This was a big innovation for people who had poor eyesight as well. The eyeglasses had a huge impact on society and the economy. As the printing press and books became popular. The demand for eyeglasses grew therefore, increasing the amount of money paid for the glasses. Glasses became common amongst people, usually the upper class, scholars, and monks. Because of the eyeglass, the telescope and microscopes were invented in a similar way. Before the renaissance people had very little knowledge about our solar system and thanks to the telescope, we now know that the earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around. Because since we don’t go far enough into our solar system we wouldn’t know about the other planets without the telescope! These are just some ways that lenses are used. Clock:The clock is very useful and it has evolved into newer versions like the Apple Watch and the fit bit. Without the clock, life would be very unorganized and it would be hard to plan things. For example, if I wanted to meet up with my friends we wouldn’t know what time to go and meet up since time wouldn’t be invented. Medical innovations: Before the renaissance it was common to have short unhealthy lives. In my triptych, I added images of the old human body sketches along with the tools they would use for surgeries. People like Leonardo DaVinci, started to dissect bodies to find out more about them. He would draw about his observations and this would later help the world understand more about the human body and its features. Leonardo’s sketches helped the world understand the human bodies better and helped people live longer and heather lives.

You may be wondering what people used back before the renascence witch brings me to our …

Right panel:  My right panel is all about what life was like before the renaissance with the traditional idea before the innovation. For one of my images I showed a drawing of a peasant with my face, wondering what bones were. I drew this because before people like Leonardo’s sketches that drew and directed bodies no one knew what things like bones were because they had so little knowledge about the human body, but thanks to Leonardo DaVinci and other people dissecting human bodies people gained more knowledge and a better understanding of the human body. Now we can live healthier and happier lives. Another drawing I added was of a person having to copy down books by had before the printing press books were uncommon due to the fact they needed to be written down by hand, the printing press made books more common. Thanks to the printing press this helped people spread knowledge more quickly and widely. Even before the printing press China woodblock printing was common printing was common woodblock printing involved carving raised characters and patterns onto a block of wood equals then applied and the block of wood was pressed onto paper. Next, I drew was a member of the church telling everyone that the sun revolves around the earth this was due to the fact that they had so little knolage about our solar system and everyone believed the church. because people didn’t have telescopes so they didn’t know any better. The telescope led to more accurate observations that led to theories about the sun and about our Solar System.Using the telescope Galileo, discovered that the Earth revolves around the sun, refuting the belief that the sun revolved around the earth. Lastly I added a image of a sundial because before the clock people would use sun dials that were nor portable or compact. You also need sunlight to use them so, if there was no sun light you wouldn’t know the time.

Centre panel:  Finally my centre panel. This panel was to show what these renaissance innovations have become and how we use them in our every day lives. To show how medical care has evolved I added a image of a person undergoing surgery with anesthesia and a tv with news about how far we have improved since the renaissance. Back in the day when you would have a surgery, they would not put you to sleep. You would just have to suffer through the pain. Now a days, we have so much knowledge that is still continuing to grow to this day. Another drawing I added, was a Kindle. I added a kindle it demonstrates how much books have changed from using a printing press to make books to now having a portable wireless electronic reading device (e-reader)to read off of. Speaking of the printing press, I added a modern day printer to show how our printers have changed from the renaissance. For clocks, I showed me wearing a Apple Watch. An Apple Watch is a very modern version of the clock because not only you can check the time but you can text, call, take photos, and more! Lastly I wanted to show how lenses are used. To do this, I added a camera, and me with an iPhone taking a photo and a modern-day telescope. Theses have changed a lot from the first version of the lens. I hope we can keep improving renaissance innovations in the future!

Conclusion: To sum up everything that has been stated so far, without these innovations from the Europe and Asia, our world would be very different in so many ways. Our lives would be significantly different in the way we thought, acted and lived. Overall, I think this project was fun and I learned a lot of new things that I never knew before.