273.WHAT IS THE NOBEL PRIZE?
Every year, when the Nobel Prizes are announced there is a great deal of publicity about the winners. They are interviewed and articles are written about them. This is because winning the Nobel Prize is considered by most people the highest honor that can be achieved in certain particular fields of work such as chemistry, physics, medicine, and literature.
There is also a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for efforts on behalf of peace. The curious thing about these prizes is that they were started by a man who did a great deal to help the science of destruction! Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm and lived from 1833 to 1896. Among the things which he invented and patented were dynamite, blasting gelatin (more powerful than dynamite), and a new kind of detonator for explosives.
272.WHAT IS THE BRAILLE SYSTEM?
If you were unfortunate enough to be blind, one of the greatest losses you would feel would be not being able to read. Just think how important the ability to read books is to you. Well, people realized this a long time ago and tried to find methods for enabling blind people to read.
For example, as far back as 1517 there was a system of engraving letters on blocks of wood so blind people could make them out with their fingers. A person’s fingertips are very sensitive and a blind person can “read” with his fingers. A great many other systems were worked out over the years, using raised lines for the letters. But they all presented one big problem: while blind people could learn to read in this way, they couldn’t easily write this way because they couldn’t see how to form the letters.
271.WHAT IS HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING?
The word “hieroglyphs” means “sacred carvings.” Actually, it is not an accurate name for the ancient writing of the Egyptians. It came about because when the early Greeks first saw these writings, they believed they were made by priests for sacred purposes.
But Egyptian hieroglyphics is really one of the oldest known systems of writing. Some of the inscriptions go back to before 3000 B.C., and hieroglyphics continued to be the written language of Egypt for more than 3000 years.
