Week 18 History Essay

           This week in History class I learned about Heliocentric Theory, Nicolaus Copernicus, Andreas Vesalius, and the pencil. Heliocentric Theory is the theory that the planets circle around the sun, with the sun in the center. It was developed by Nicolaus Copernicus. Before he came up with this theory, people believed the sun and all the planets circle around the earth. Even though heliocentric theory is believed by most scientists and people today, it is still, technically, just a theory. Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician who lived from 1473 to 1543. He basically paved the way for modern astronomy. Next came Andreas Vesalius, who was a doctor during the 1500s. He lived in Brussels, and is considered the father of human anatomy. He is also most remembered for his book On the Fabric of Human Anatomy. Last, I learned about how the pencil was invented. It was not invented by just one person, but many people kept coming up with better and better ideas. A pencil is basically a graphite rod encased in wood, and is used to write and draw on different surfaces, but mostly on paper. Pencils are used by billions of people every single day in school, work, and at home. I liked learning about the pencil the most, because I found it interesting that pencils started out as a stick of graphite with a brush on the bottom, and now there are mechanical pencils. The other reason is that I love to draw.