Heinrich Schliemann

As an archeologist, he was the sensation of Europe and America because he discovered ancient Troy, that Troy for which the archeologists of the entire world had searched in vain during 2000 years.

Schliemann's archeological interests began in 1829 when, at the age of 7, he received the popular book, the Universal History for Children, as a Christmas (рождество) present. In it he found a pic­ture of the ancient Scaean Gate of Troy. He discussed the picture with his father, a poor pastor in Neu-Bukow, Mecklenburg, Germany. They decided that some trace (след) of such a mighty monument must still exist, although it was unknown to scientists of the day. "And by and by," he wrote in his autobiography, "we agreed that someday I should excavate Troy."

The same sort of story is told about almost every great man; however, in view of Schliemann's character the story might actually be true. But the dream of digging (раскопки) for Troy had to wait a while.

The first 44 years of Schliemann's life were difficult. In 1836, at 14, he was working 18 hours a day in a grocery store in the German town of Furstenberg. In 1842 he was in Amsterdam, destitute (лишен­ный всего) until he finally got a job in an office. Two years later he joined the firm of В. H. Schroder & Co. as a correspondent and book­keeper (бухгалтер).

When he was not working Schliemann studied languages employ­ing a curious but effective method all his own. Within a year he had mastered English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. In 1844, he mastered Russian, the most difficult of European lan­guages, in six months. His knowledge of Russian got him the post of St. Petersburg agent for Schroder in 1846. A year later he had founded his own export-import business in Russia.

His linguistic conquests continued. By the age of 33, he had learned 15 languages. In addition to the 7 he already knew, he added Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Danish, Latin, and modern and ancient Greek. Seven years later, while on a tour of the Middle East, Schliemann also learned Arabic.

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One can possibly ask: how are natural sources of energy used for generating electricity which can be applied not only for the scientific purposes but in everyday life?

Wind and solar energies are available (имеются в распоряжении) for men.

Wind power available throughout the Earth is believed to be equivalent to 100 billion watts every year.

A 100 kwt capacity wind generator built in 1931 in the Crimea (Balaclava) in Russia was one of the first in commercial produc­tion. Since that time additional new, large capacity wind generators were installed. One of the world largest wind generators is located in Celinograd in Russia , generating 1,200 kwts of electricity.

The solar energy reaching the Earth's atmosphere amounts to 1.395 kwts per 1 m². Taking the surface of the Earth on its diametric plane to be 1.275 x 10¹⁴ m², the total power reaching the outer layers of the atmosphere is therefore 1.730 x 10¹⁴ kwts.

The Earth's atmosphere filters sunlight by absorbing most of the high-energy ultra-violet light and some of the infra-red light. About 30% of the incident solar energy is directly reflected and scattered back into space as light, a short wavelength radiation. Another 47% is absorbed by the atmosphere, the land, and ocean surfaces and con­verted to the form of long wave radiation-heat. An additional 23% is utilized as the energy source of the hydrologic cycle, driving the pro­cesses of evaporation, winds, ocean currents and waves.

To use the sun's energy there are some special solar collectors that could produce electrical power for long space missions, for instance. But solar energy is also used in everyday life. Here is an example of the use of solar energy in experimental solar heating system for a school.

The conventional electrical heating system used at Cleveland High School has been modified (изменена, улучшена) to accept supple­mentary solar heat. About 4,500 sq ft of experimental solar heat col­lector panels have been installed at a 45 degree angle off horizontal on top of the roof in three rectangular (прямоугольный) rows facing southward.

The system contains approximately 150.4 by 8 ft panels consisting of a black, heat absorbing surface beneath two rigid sheets of plastic.