Cách đây hơn 10 năm, năm 2002, học giả sử học Anh quốc Gavin Menzies, một cựu hạm trưởng biệt đội tầu ngầm của hải quân hoàng gia Anh, đã làm chấn động giới khoa bảng hàn lâm sử học với hai quyển sách của ông.
Quyền thứ nhất tựa đề "1421, năm Người Trung Quốc Khám phá Châu Mỹ" (1421 The Year China Discovered America), đã được làm thành phim tài liệu do đài PBS của Mỹ trình chiếu. Quyển thứ hai "1434 năm Một Hạm Đội Hùng Vĩ Trung Quốc đến Ý và Phát Khởi thời Phục Hưng âu Châu (1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance)
Nội dung hai quyển này gây chấn động vì nó không chỉ lật đổ toàn bộ những "sự kiện sử học" trong sách vở chính qui" về huyền thoại "tam vĩ" của Tây âu: 3 nhân vật đầu tiên được xem là làm thay đổi toàn bộ bản đồ thế giới.
1- Christopher Columbus, người được "sử ghi nhận" cho đến nay khám phá Mỹ châu 12-10-1492
2- Captain Cook, khám phá Úc Châu 19-04-1770
3- Ferdinand Magellan. nhà hải hành vòng quanh thế giới đầu tiên 1519-1522
Mà còn phá vỡ luôn niềm tự hào thế kỷ 15 "Âu Châu Phục Hưng" (Renaissance) của họ!
Cũng theo Gavin Menzies, người da đỏ ở Mỹ hiện nay là một phần của con cháu của người gốc Á đã đến Mỹ châu cách đây 40 ngàn năm. Và người Hoa đã đến Úc châu trong thời Trịnh Hòa trước người Âu- nhưng do biến động thay đổi chính sách tại mẫu quốc, họ bị cắt liên lạc và tan rã và chết dần mòn nơi các bộ lạc thổ dân.
Đô Đốc Trịnh Hòa, tên thật là Ma Hòa là một hoạn quan gốc người Hồi giáo Ba Tư. Ông là chắt 3 đời của Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, vị tổng đốc đầu tiên của Thành Cát Tư Hãn người Ba Tư vùng Uzbekistan, được bổ nhậm cai trị vùng Vân Nam đất Tầu. Khi nhà Nguyên suy yếu bị nhà Minh của Chu Nguyên Chương đánh bật. Gia đình Ma Hòa thuộc nhóm Hồi giáo quân Mông Cổ trong vùng đối kháng nhà Minh trong thời kỳ đầu của Minh triều. Năm Ma Hòa 11 tuồi trong trận xung đột biên giới giữa quân Hồi giáo Mông và nhà Minh, Ma Hòa bị bắt và bị thiến làm thái giám gia nhân cho hoàng tử Chu Lệ nhà Minh, Chu Lệ sau này là Chu Thành Tổ Vĩnh Lạc (1402-1424). Trong thời kỳ này Ma Hòa nhờ theo sát thái tử Chu Lệ đánh trận có công nên được tin dùng, đặc biệt là trong trận đánh đảo chính Kiến Văn Hoàng đế tại Bắc Kinh (1402) nên khi Chu Lệ lên ngôi hoàng đế Ma Hòa được cải tên thành Trịnh Hòa và được thăng chức Đại Tổng Quản chỉ huy nội cung và sau phong Đô Đốc Thủy Sư đi xứ ngoại giao các nơi.. Nhờ vậy Trịnh Hòa được Chu Thành Tổ cho mở các cuộc viễn dương cực lớn vì lúc đó Nhà Minh là triều đại có hạm đội thủy quân lớn nhất thế giới thời bấy giờ.(tượng Trịnh Hòa tại Mã Lai)
Tất cả cuộc viễn dương của Trịnh Hòa đều tiến hành trong thời Minh Thành Tổ. Khi Thành Tổ bị con trai Hồng Hi giết đoạt ngôi, Hồng Hi đã ra lệnh hủy bỏ toàn bộ các cuộc viễn dương và ra lệnh đốt hết tất cả những văn bản ghi chú bản đồ của Trịnh Hòa. Chính - vì lý do này quyển sách của Gavin Menzies gây tranh luận vì không kết nối được nhiều "di tích chứng sử" hải hành của Trịnh Hòa ngoài tấm bản đồ tình cờ tìm được.
Dĩ nhiên giới sữ gia Tây Âu và quần chúng âu Mỹ không dễ gì thừa nhận khám phá mới này của Gavin Menzies. Đây không chỉ đơn thuần là vấn đề khoa học sử chứng, mà nó vẫn luôn là vấn đề chính trị quyền lực và tự ái "giống nòi". Ngay như sự kiện gần cận với đời sống tất cả mọi người là việc "cha đẻ của máy phát điện" nguồn ánh sáng và năng lượng toàn bộ nhân loại đang dùng hôm nay, vẫn thường gian lận cố tình cho là Thomas Edison, Tại\Mỹ trước đây vẫn có lệ hàng năm tắt điện 1 phút để nhớ công"Thomas Edison", mặc dù giới Tây âu và Mỹ biết rõ chính Nicolas Telsla (1856-1943) mới là cha đẻ cùa máy phát điện AC và nhiều phát minh khác mà thế giới dùng hôm nay với nhiều công trình cụ thể từ năm 1880-1920, cũng như cuộc đấu đá cạnh tranh nổi tiếng giữa máy phát điện hai chiều AC của Telsla và mày điện 1 chiều DC của Edison.(Current War)..Mãi đến gần cuối thế kỷ 20 (1980) Telsla mới được "chính thức công nhận" rộng rãi, báo chí phim ảnh nói về Telsla, và người ta mới biết đến tên Nicolas Telsla. Thông lệ tắt điện tui73ng nhớ Edison biến mất!!!Nhưng cho đến ngay hôm nay 2013- đại đa số dân chúng khắp nơi trên thế giới, vẫn không biết là họ đang hưởng thụ tiện nghi từ thành quả máy phát điện, thủy điện của Nicolas Telsla, họ vẫn chỉ nhớ cái tên Thomas Edison khi nói về điện dân dụng vì cái tên này đã được báo chí sách vở đài báo chính qui chuyện trò trao đổi thổi phồng thành huyền thoại qua bao nhiêu năm rồi..Thế mới biết Ai KIỂM SOÁT ĐƯỢC QUÁ KHỨ sẽ KIỂM SOÁT ĐƯỢC TƯƠNG LAI, và Ai KHỐNG TRỊ ĐƯỢC HIỆN TẠI sẽ KHỐNG TRỊ ĐƯỢC QUÁ KHỨ...
Nhà văn Mỹ Mark Twain, cũng là bạn thân của Telsla lúc sinh thời, từng nhận định chính xác: "Thật là dễ dàng làm cho người ta tin một điều dối trá, và thật là quá khó khăn để tháo gỡ điều dối trá đó (How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!)
Câu chuyện của Đô Đốc Thủy Sư Trịnh Hòa sẽ càng gặp khó khăn hơn nữa khi cả thế giới, sách vở "sử liệu", phim ảnh chính qui, chính sử đã gắn chặt tên của Columbus, Cook, Magellan đầy dẫy trong văn khố- được lập đi lập lại hàng mấy trăm năm nay nơi trường học với bao thế hệ- và nhất là cả một áp lực chính trị tự hào "văn minh thị dân" Đông Tây đang tái diễn mà Trung Quốc cũng như Iran đang bị dùng làm cái bia tác xạ của bàn cờ toàn cầu hôm nay... đâu dễ gì tháo gỡ "kiến thức cũ",.Cũng còn may mắ một điều "nho nhỏ" là khám phá này là do một cụu sĩ quan hải quân Anh Quốc nên đã "được" đối xử tử tế, báo chí Âu Mỹ đăng tải khá rộng rãi, rồi ra sách, làm phim và được trình chiếu trên đài chính qui như PBS để tranh luận và tham khảo. Chứ nếu là của một giáo sư người "Tầu lục địa" thì chắc chắn sẽ chẳng được PBS làm phim để thảo luận, và báo chí đăng tải rộngr rãi tranh luận, mà đã bị tấn công dập vùi mỉa mai đủ cách!
Người viết có cảm giác rằng đám "nho nhỏ" Âu Mỹ "khó chịu" với khám phá của Gavin Menzies vẫn không bằng thái độ "hằn học" của các con giời ái quốc tổ cò" Việt Nam đang phùng mang chống Tầu"...và chống tất cả cái gì với họ là "của Tầu"....
Sử gia William Blum quả sâu sắc, khi viết về Chủ nghĩa quốc gia dân tộc, chủ nghĩa ái quốc trong bài "Vài suy nghĩ về " Lòng yêu nước " | Chủ Quyền Cá Nhân") đã cho thấy chủ nghĩa này nó nguy hiểm hơn cả tôn giáo, vì, nó không chỉ có khả năng gói trọn bộ óc con người vào niềm tin vô chứng, sẵn sàng giết người một cách thản nhiên hãnh diện, mà nó còn có sức mạnh khiến cho "công dân yêu nước" có khả năng chối bỏ ngay cả thực tại!
Riêng cá nhân tôi, người viết bản tin này, đã không chỉ đặt dấu hỏi vào tất cả những thứ gọi là chính quí, chính thống, chính sử mà còn đã và đang chứng minh những dối trá nhồi nhét bịa đặt của cả những học thuyết chính qui về chính trị, kinh tế, tài chính nữa! Đơn giản, hiện trạng của thế giới trong 50 năm qua và ngay hiện tại đã cho thấy những học thuyết định đề kinh tế chính trị hoàn toàn chẳng ăn nhập gì với hiện trạng!
Mảng lịch sử có Trịnh Hòa này, chúng ta cứ phải đặt dấu hỏi để chờ thêm chứng cớ.. Trong khi chờ đợi, nhờ nỗ lực Menzies dù chưa thành công minh chứng giả thuyết của ông được chặt chẽ với đầy đủ chứng cớ, nó cũng cho chúng ta một bằng chứng rõ ràng mà những học giả đối kháng phải thừa nhận, đó là Columbus không phải là người âu châu đầu tiên đến Mỹ châu, vì tấm bản đồ mà Columbus dùng phải do một người đã đi đến vẽ trước! Nhưng chưa xác định được là ai. Đây là điểm tựa mà Menzies khởi công tìm câu trả lời. Như thế chúng ta cũng phải tháo gỡ cái dấu chấm trong tờ sách sử cũ về Columbus đi, thay vào một dấu hỏi lớn "Columbus dùng tấm bản đồ không phải của mình, nhưng không hề ghi chép lại là của ai người đã thực hiện trước cuộc hải hành để vẽ được ra bản hải trình này- để nhắc nhở sự bí ẩn chưa khai mở này với mọi người về huyền thoại chứng sử bị cố tình bỏ quên- Và nhất là tính thường trực của khoa học không chĩ là cần chính xác, mà chính là tính chất vấn không ngưng nghỉ khi có bất cứ một điểm ngờ vực nổi lên dù là nhỏ bé đến đâu.
NKPTC
====================
Chinese Map From 1418 Proves Zheng He Found America Before Columbus: Historian
By Zachary Stieber, Epoch Times | October 8, 2013
An ancient Chinese map the proves Zheng He discovered America before Christopher Columbus, according to a British researcher. (Screenshot/Daily Mail)
An ancient Chinese map found in a used bookstore helps prove that the Chinese Admiral Zheng He discovered America before Christopher Columbus, according to a historian.
British historian Gavin Menzies makes the claim in his newest book, “Who Discovered America?”
“The traditional story of Columbus discovering the New World is absolute fantasy, it’s fairy tales,” Menzies told the Daily Mail.
The map found in the bookstore is purportedly an 18th century copy of a 1418 map from He.
Menzies has multiple controversial theories, including that the first inhabitants of the Western hemisphere were Chinese sailors who crossed the Pacific Ocean 40,000 years ago.
Further, Menzies says that Columbus had He’s map when he sailed to America.
Menzies put forth the theories in a previous book but just recently discovered the map, which he says adds strength to his theories.
As part of his argument, he says that Chinese names of villages in Peru signal that the Chinese were there first.
The Chinese arrived at the Americas no later than 1421, 71 years before Columbus visited the islands of the Caribbean in 1492, he writes in the book. Zheng He visited the Outer Banks and North Carolina, among other places.
Menzies mentions in his introduction how he was called a fraud for his previous books because of purported lack of evidence behind his claims.
But the record has strengthened since then and “provides broad proof about China in the New World,” he writes.
“I bring along fellow travelers on my journeys in search of new evidence about the exploration of the Americas, and some of the travelers are skeptics themselves, ” he writes. “I welcome challenges and I share data with a network of readers and fellow explorers. We have been gathering a mountain of new data in these 10 years since publication of ’1421,’ so much material that it now time to published more evidence of the Chinese exploration of America.”
Part of the new data is the result of advances in genetics and DNA testing and analysis, he says.
However, some people say that Menzies and his information is not reliable.
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, professor of history at the University of London, dismissed one of his earlier books, 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, as “the historical equivalent of stories about Elvis Presley in Tesco and close encounters with alien hamsters,” reported the Telegraph.
It's official: Admiral Zheng beat Cook to Australia
November 25 2002
By Peter Fray
By Peter Fray
History is littered with what-ifs and wild theories. Most are ignored, but one now being posed by a former British submarine commander could eventually rewrite the accepted history of Australia, America and half the world.
Gavin Menzies, a 65-year-old self-confessed "outsider", has sparked heated academic debate by claiming the Chinese beat Europeans to the New World by decades, if not centuries.
If true, his theories would recast the holy trinity of European naval explorers - Captain Cook, Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan - as followers in the great wake of 15th century China's Admiral Zheng He and his fleet of colossal, nine-masted teak junks.
Released earlier this month, Menzies' book, 1421, the Year China Discovered The World, is likely to have a worldwide print run of a million copies. It sits next to Simon Schama's latest on Amazon's best-selling list for history.
The TV rights have been sold in Britain. On London's Tube, Menzies' first publishing venture is being promoted as the book that's rewriting history.
In Australia's case, Menzies claims Zheng's vice-admirals, Hong Bao and Zhou Man, beat Cook by almost 350 years. The two men, both eunuchs (as was the custom for captains), arrived in Australia in 1422 - Hong on the west coast, Zhou on the east - and spent several months exploring, landing in several places.
Their ships were massive - 122 metres long by 27 metres wide - not that much smaller than a modern aircraft carrier and absolute giants compared with those used by Columbus about 70 years later. The captains navigated by the stars.
Each ship had up to 1000 sailors, who were supplied with fresh vegetables, meat and rice grown on factory ships that accompanied the fleet. Sex was provided by prostitutes who came equipped with sex aids and aphrodisiacs.
The Chinese were after treasure, mainly minerals. To assist exploration, Menzies says, they built small villages, complete with observation platforms for surveying, near Gympie in Queensland and Eden in New South Wales. They found lead, silver, semi-precious stones and, in the Northern Territory, uranium.
According to Menzies, some of their men formed lasting sexual partnerships with Aborigines, especially in Arnhem Land, where Zhou's ships stayed for several months.
"There's stacks of evidence that they were there," he argues. "Wrecks, plants found in Australia by the first Europeans which had come from China, carved stones, kangaroos in the Chinese emperor's zoo, Chinese jade, figurines and ceramics."
Menzies says their visits were recorded by local Aboriginal people in cave drawings found near Sydney and shipwrecks found off Warrnambool, Perth and Byron Bay.
"I think it's absolutely impossible to claim Columbus discovered America, Cook discovered Australia, and Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the world," he says. "You'd have to be a crank nowadays to believe that. They are fairytales. Anyone who objectively looked at the evidence can't say that."
But Menzies' evidence is mainly ancient maps, often hotly disputed charts prepared by 15th and 16th century European cartographers. He says they could only have been based on eyewitness reports of Zheng's journeys between 1421 and 1423, which he says predate those of other adventurers.
He even identifies the eyewitness, a young and well-connected Venetian called Niccolo da Conti, whose accounts of the Chinese voyages were published on his return to Venice. But Menzies concedes that his research has not uncovered a smoking gun or revealed any single piece of startling new evidence.
The problem is partly of China's own making. Not long after Zheng's fleet set sail, his great supporter, the Emperor Zhu Di, was overthrown by his son Zhu Gaozhi, who reversed his father's expansionist program and, on return of the fleet, ordered that no more voyages be undertaken. All relevant maps were destroyed. What Chinese settlements may have been left in Australia simply died out or were subsumed into Aboriginal society.
Faced with the lack of hard evidence from China, Menzies' theory, which has been developing since he saw a mediaeval map of the spheres in Venice 13 years ago, is based on a re-evaluation and reinter-pretation of existing information - a fact that has opened him up to academic criticism.
The head of the map collection in the British Library, Peter Barber, describes Menzies' theories as potentially dangerous, as they seek to rewrite history from outside the bounds of proper scrutiny and academic rigour. He draws a distinction between Menzies and academically trained populist historians, such as Simon Schama and David Starkey.
"These theories are not necessarily quite as harmless as people might think," he says.
"The consequences can be very grave. You get the big lie. I have met serious scholars who are incredulous of his theories and they can't be bothered to argue, which is a real shame."
Central to Menzies' theories about Australia is a master world map produced in 1542 by Jean Rotz, a French-born cartographer from the Dieppe school, who became map-maker to Henry VIII. The Rotz map, when adjusted for ice and the lack of longitude, accurately shows Australia as Greater Java, Menzies says.
But Barber describes the Rotz map as "generally discredited or, at the very least, hotly contested".
"Nowhere does Menzies give any indication that what he says is fact, is in fact controversial. In order to prove something, you need to come forward with the hard evidence."
Another map used by Menzies, drawn by Venetian Fra Mauro in 1459, even fails to accurately depict China, a strange occurrence if the Chinese were the source, Barber says.
Menzies' views came to light in March this year, when he gave a talk to London's Royal Geographical Society. As luck would have it, the topic sparked interest from Chinese satellite television station Phoenix, which in turn prompted American networks ABC and NBC to report on the theories - and get Chinese feedback. The talks ended up being seen by three million people in China.
"By an incredible bit of luck we got worldwide coverage. That resulted in a flood of information," Menzies says.
Soon after that, with the debate raging in Britain and China, his fledgling book on the subject jumped in size from 150 pages to more than 500 pages. He found a publisher and sold the rights for a reported �500,000 ($A1.35 million) to Transworld.
But the Royal Geographical Society remains at arm's length from Menzies, despite its obvious opportunity for bragging rights.
"The society does not endorse his views," spokesman Elliot Robertson says. "People are saying 'interesting theory, but where is your proof?' We'd like to see further information come forward, not just from him."
Establishment indifference to his theories will not stop Menzies - who soon plans to promote his take on Columbus to the Americans - but it nonetheless upsets him.
"It's just balls. It's absolute crap. The establishment has to protect their patch. Nobody who has given us a mauling has read the evidence, read the book."
But perhaps the most telling criticisms have come from the Chinese themselves. Admiral Zheng may be virtually unknown in the West, but in China he has been the subject of intense academic scrutiny for centuries.
According to a report in The Times newspaper earlier this month, Menzies' ideas were politely pooh-poohed by many leading researchers during his recent visit to Nanjing.
Professor Luo Zongzheng, from the Nanjing Museum, reportedly told Menzies: "So far, there are too many theories about Zheng He, but there are no relics, no boats or anything concrete. So the theories are not convincing."
Peter Fray is The Age Europe correspondent.
Does this map from 1418 prove historian's controversial claim that the New World was discovered by the CHINESE 70 years before Columbus?
- Gavin Menzies, a British historian, claims Chiense Admiral Zheng He set up colonies and sailed round South America before Columbus
- Menzies' new book, 'Who Discovered America?' also claims the Chinese have been sailing to the New World since 40,000 BC across the Pacific Ocean
- His theories are not widely accepted by academia and he has been labeled a 'pseudo-historian'
|
A copy of a 600-year-old map found in a second-hand book shop is the key to proving that the Chinese, not Christopher Columbus, were the first to discover the New World, a controversial British historian claims.
The document is purportedly an 18th century copy of a 1418 map charted by Chinese Admiral Zheng He, which appears to show the New World in some detail.
This purported evidence that a Chinese sailor mapped the Western Hemisphere more than seven decades before Columbus is just one of Earth-shattering claims that author Gavin Menzies makes in his new book ‘Who Discovered America?’ - out today, just in time for the Columbus Day holiday.
‘The traditional story of Columbus discovering the New World is absolute fantasy, it’s fairy tales,’ Mr Menzies told MailOnline.
Enlarge 
Mr Menzies believes that this portion of the map depicts the Chinese mapping of North and South America in 1418 - showing major rivers.
Explorer: Chinese Admiral Zheng He is known to have sailed the to Europe and Africa with a massive fleet of ships. Historian Gavin Menzies says he also reached the New World
He also writes that DNA markers prove American Indians and other natives are the descendants of several waves of Asian settlers.
Furthermore, he says a majestic fleet of Chinese ships, commanded by Zheng He, sailed around the continent of South America - 100 years before Ferdinand Megellan supposedly became the first the undertake the task.
Columbus features heavily in the book - insofar as Menzies has devoted the last 20 years to finding and laying out evidence that Columbus not only didn’t discover America - he was 40 millenia late.
Mr Menzies believes that Columbus actually had a map of the world that was plotted by the Chinese Admiral Zheng He, who created the map when he sailed to the New World in 1421, more than seven decades before Columbus.
Mr Menzies believes that this portion of the map depicts the Chinese mapping of North and South America in 1418 - showing major rivers.
His book includes what Menzies says is a copy of that map. discovered by Beijing attorney Liu Gang in a second-hand bookshop that he says proves his theory.
The document, he says, is an 18th century copy of Admiral Zheng He's 1417 map. Mr Menzies argues that it clearly shows North American rivers and coasts, as well as the continent of South America.
Mr Menzie's assertion about Zheng He's voyage to the New World isn't new - he first wrote about it in 2002 - but the map is.
Mr Liu had the map authenticated by an appraiser from Christie's Auctions, who said that the document was 'very old' and was not a newly-made fake.
After Mr Liu brought the map forward, Menzies also had a team of historians analyze every word on it. He concluded that it was originally written in the Ming Dynasty - a Chinese period that lasted from 1368 to 1644.
In the region of the map that Mr Menzies believes refers to Peru are written the inscriptions - 'Here the people practiced the religion of Paracas' and 'Here the people practice human sacrifice' - clear references peoples known to have inhabited Peru at the time.
The map is further corroborated, Mr Menzies says, by the Chinese names of numerous towns and regions in Peru.
He says old Peruvian maps show places with names like Chawan - Chinese for 'land prepared for sowing' and Chulin - 'wood or forest.'
Ko-Lan - a remote Peruvian town at the bottom of a ravine translates to 'difficult passage.'
Controversial: Gavin Menzies, 76, has been arguing for more than a decade that the Chinese and other Asians discovered the Ne World. 'Who Discovered America? - due out today - is his fourth book on the topic
Mr Menzies calls the story that Christopher Columbus' discovered America in 1492 a 'fairy tale' - saying he was not only not the first explorer - he was 40,000 years late
Mr Menzies has no formal training as a historian and no advanced degree from a major university - he was a submariner in the British Royal Navy - but he can no longer be called an ‘amateur.’
‘Who Discovered America?’ is Menzie’s fourth book in which he tries to re-write history and orient it East.
He has plowed millions of dollars of his proceeds from his books into continuing his world-traveling research into his theories. He has turned his north London home into a de facto research institute, employing up to six research assistants at a time.
But his theories are not accepted by the mainstream academic community. In 2008, University of London history professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto told the Daily Telegraph that his books are 'the historical equivalent of stories about Elvis Presley in (the supermarket) and close encounters with alien hamsters.'
Even Wikipedia characterizes Menzies as a 'pseudo-historian.'
That has not stopped him from gaining millions of readers - and thousands of followers who contribute to his website and contribute research of their own.
Menzies say this map of the Ancash province of Peru shows numerous Chinese names of villages
Each of these dots represents a Peruvian town that reportedly has a Chinese name. It is claimed this is evidence of Chinese colonization before Columbus
Mr Menzies debuted his Asia-centric theories with 2002's '1421: The Year China Discovered the World.' In it, he said that the famed Chinese sailor Admiral Zheng He, who is known to have reached Europe and Africa, also crossed the Pacific Ocean to the Western Hemisphere.
He claims that Zheng He not only reached the New World, he left colonies there. His fleet also sailed around the tip of South America - through the Strait of Megellan around the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi.
There is evidence, both archaeological and genetic, Menzies says, that Zheng He left his mark in California, Florida, Virginia and even the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
In 'Who Discovered America?' Menzies focuses on theories that Asians also made it to North and South America by sea long before even Zheng He.
'It appears certain that man reached the Americas by sea at least forty thousands years ago,' Menzies writes.
This Venetian map was made from information brought back from China by Marco Polo and Nicolo da Conti. Mr Menzies says it shows North and Central America - upside-down, oriented with north at the bottom
'Doubtless this date will be continuously pushed back, probably to 100,000 BC, which was when the first peoples sailed the Mediterranean to Crete and (separately) in the south from Asia to Australia.'
Most scientists believe man first widely populated the Western Hemisphere 13,000 to 16,500 years ago.
The almost universally-held theory among academics is that man came to the New World by crossing the Bering Strait land-bridge between Asia and North America.
'The more I thought about the Bering Straight theory of populating the Americas, the more ridiculous it became,' Mr Menzies writes about his investigation of the topic
Mr Menzies says the idea that man was able to cross the Pacific Ocean around 40,000 BC isn't nearly as dramatic as it seems.
'If you just go out in a plastic bath tub, the currents will just carry you there,' he told MailOnline. 'They just came with the current, it’s as simple as that.'
He added: 'There’s nothing terribly remarkable about. Man has been seafaring for vastly longer than convention credit has given them credit for.'
Nikola Tesla, godfather of the 20th Century, deserves more credit
By Michael Pravica on Monday, May 11th, 2009 - 1,171 words.
A recent May 5th article in the New York Times entitled: “A Battle to Preserve a Visionary’s Bold Failure,” discusses the potential sale of the remnants of Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe laboratory on Long Island and thus the potential loss of some of the last physical traces of one of humanity’s greatest minds. It also represents yet one more insult to one of the most misunderstood and unappreciated visionaries who sought only to aid all humanity.2006 was the sesquicentennial of the birth of one of the worlds greatest geniuses, the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla. UNESCO dubbed 2006 the “year of Nikola Tesla.” Though you may have heard of the word “Tesla” as a unit of magnetic field (e.g. produced by an MRI machine); the ubiquitous discharging Tesla Coil seen in the old Frankenstein movies and at the Boston Museum of Science; a famous rock group; the name of Belgrade’s airport; David Bowie in “The Prestige”; or as a recently-introduced electric car company, few people are actually aware of the tremendous contributions made for us all by the refined, attractive yet deeply eccentric gentleman behind the name.
Born in 1856 to Serbian parents in a small village, Smiljan (which I visited in 1988), in the Austro-Hungarian empire (today’s Croatia), Tesla’s story of coming to America at age 28 with four cents in his pocket and “transforming” all society as we know it with his inventions was the quintessential story of the immigrants who made America what it is today. After quitting his employment with Thomas Edison who betrayed him, the young inventor went on to single-handedly invent the polyphase system of current generation (known as Alternating Current or “AC”) which ultimately overtook Edison’s Direct Current system as the superior method to transport electrical energy long distances and convert that energy into useful mechanical work.
Tesla first harnessed the enormous power of Niagara Falls as he built the world’s first hydroelectric power station there. Significant fractions of nations’ budgets in e.g, China (Three Gorges Dam), Zambia (Kariba Dam), and our own country (Hoover Dam) are dedicated to developing hydropower where the benefits of “free” power (many Gigawatts) can last for centuries. Today’s nuclear power industry is fashioned on the same basic principles of hydropower: the expansion of steam turns a turbine/dynamo, generating electrical power. The 60 Hz standard of our AC was set by Tesla. His designs for the electric dynamo are still in use today. Tesla also developed the polyphase electric motor which was suited for alternating current as well as the transformer which allowed easy and highly efficient conversion of voltage. The washing machine, dryer, garbage disposal, dishwasher, refrigerator, alternators, heat exchangers/air conditioners, fans, are all example of machines utilizing electric polyphase motors at their core. The Tesla Coil, popular in science museums and movies, enables the generation of enormous high frequency voltages sufficient to create lightning just as he did in Colorado Springs.
Tesla’s inventions had a far greater scope than just household-limited gadgets. His high frequency and high voltage research led to the development of the fluorescent light bulb, and he was likely the first person to create and study x-rays. He was also instrumental in developing the first particle accelerators due to his high voltage and high frequency contributions. Tesla invented the concept of “remote control” when he created a small remotely-controlled boat and submarine for the military. Sadly, the US military was far too primitive at the time to comprehend the use and scope of the invention until many years later. Tesla’s vision of modern warfare involved combat between robots and missiles instead of between human soldiers, thereby reducing casualties considerably. This closely resembles the modus operandi of today’s military (consider e.g. drones and guided missiles) except, tragically, that NATO, led by the US, illegally and viciously bombed his ancestral homeland slaughtering hundreds of civilians in Serbia in 1999 using the same technology that he enabled. So much for the gratitude of some American leaders!
Tesla was the first person to propose the concept of modern radar in 1900 and also invented a prototype spark plug for autos in 1898. Nikola Tesla was the true father of the radio, not Guglielmo Marconi, as recognized (posthumously by a few months) by the US Supreme Court in 1943. It was Tesla’s idea to use two tuned circuits (one for the transmitter, the other for the receiver) to broadcast information and energy from one to the other and reduce the chance of noise and interference between other transmitters. Without this concept, radio would be useless. Television, satellites, GPS, and cellular phones were all made possible by Tesla’s high frequency research and development of the wireless transmission of energy. Marconi visited Tesla’s lab in New York and incorporated Tesla’s inventions but never credited the inventor for this. Sadly, Marconi received the Nobel Prize and millions of dollars in royalties for his development of the radio. Tesla received nothing for his contribution.
Nikola Tesla was one of the most prolific inventors in human history with some 700 patents to his credit. Yet, for complex reasons, he is not given the credit sorely due him. Most of his failures can be ascribed to his lack of business sense, vicious competition from his rivals, and difficulties in securing the necessary funding for his work. He passed away on Orthodox Christmas, January 7, 1943 in the New Yorker Hotel, alone and a pauper. His cremated remains lie in a museum in Belgrade along with some of the papers/notebooks from his lifelong work.
It is my desire that Americans learn more about Nikola Tesla not only to develop some sense of appreciation for this gentleman’s tireless efforts, but that he also serve as an inspiration to us all in the realization of just how much one human being can do to improve the world. Tesla’s story is also a story of how important it is to fund innovation in an era where companies are increasingly looking to the “bottom line” and less inclined to fund research, and the US government, saddled with the costly occupation in Iraq also seems less interested in funding scientific research.
In a day and age where we worship entertainment “heroes” who honestly contribute little to bettering all humanity, we have completely lost perspective of who the real heroes are in our society – scientists and engineers such as Nikola Tesla — who more than anyone have improved all of our lives through their tireless and more often than not unrewarded sacrifices.
Nikola Tesla can rightly be considered the godfather of the 20th Century and beyond. When discussing the lack of credit for his achievements, Tesla once remarked: “The present is theirs, the future, for which I have really worked is mine.”
I encourage everyone to learn more about one of humanity’s greatest unsung heroes and remedy this gross neglect by recognizing his place in human history. A good start would be to declare his laboratory at Wardenclyffe a national historic monument. A website that is useful as a starting point for this goal is here.
 |
       |
Welcome to the Tesla Memorial Society of New York Website |
| Tesla Biography NIKOLA TESLA THE GENIUS WHO LIT THE WORLD  Nikola Tesla symbolizes a unifying force and inspiration for all nations in the name of peace and science. He was a true visionary far ahead of his contemporaries in the field of scientific development. New York State and many other states in the USA proclaimed July 10, Tesla’s birthday- Nikola Tesla Day. Many United States Congressmen gave speeches in the House of Representatives on July 10, 1990 celebrating the 134th anniversary of scientist-inventor Nikola Tesla. Senator Levine from Michigan spoke in the US Senate on the same occasion. The street sign “Nikola Tesla Corner” was recently placed on the corner of the 40th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. There is a large photo of Tesla in the Statue of Liberty Museum. The Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey has a daily science demonstration of the Tesla Coil creating a million volts of electricity before the spectators eyes. Many books were written about Tesla : Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John J. O’Neill and Margaret Cheney’s book Tesla: Man out of Time has contributed significantly to his fame. A documentary film Nikola Tesla, The Genius Who Lit the World, produced by the Tesla Memorial Society and the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, The Secret of Nikola Tesla (Orson Welles), BBC Film Masters of the Ionosphere are other tributes to the great genius. Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, Lika, which was then part of the Austo-Hungarian Empire, region of Croatia. His father, Milutin Tesla was a Serbian Orthodox Priest and his mother Djuka Mandic was an inventor in her own right of household appliances. Tesla studied at the Realschule, Karlstadt in 1873, the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria and the University of Prague. At first, he intended to specialize in physics and mathematics, but soon he became fascinated with electricity. He began his career as an electrical engineer with a telephone company in Budapest in 1881. It was there, as Tesla was walking with a friend through the city park that the elusive solution to the rotating magnetic field flashed through his mind. With a stick, he drew a diagram in the sand explaining to his friend the principle of the induction motor. Before going to America, Tesla joined Continental Edison Company in Paris where he designed dynamos. While in Strassbourg in 1883, he privately built a prototype of the induction motor and ran it successfully. Unable to interest anyone in Europe in promoting this radical device, Tesla accepted an offer to work for Thomas Edison in New York. His childhood dream was to come to America to harness the power of Niagara Falls. Young Nikola Tesla came to the United States in 1884 with an introduction letter from Charles Batchelor to Thomas Edison: “I know two great men,” wrote Batchelor, “one is you and the other is this young man.” Tesla spent the next 59 years of his productive life living in New York. Tesla set about improving Edison’s line of dynamos while working in Edison’s lab in New Jersey. It was here that his divergence of opinion with Edison over direct current versus alternating current began. This disagreement climaxed in the war of the currents as Edison fought a losing battle to protect his investment in direct current equipment and facilities. Tesla pointed out the inefficiency of Edison’s direct current electrical powerhouses that have been build up and down the Atlantic seaboard. The secret, he felt, lay in the use of alternating current ,because to him all energies were cyclic. Why not build generators that would send electrical energy along distribution lines first one way, than another, in multiple waves using the polyphase principle? Edison’s lamps were weak and inefficient when supplied by direct current. This system had a severe disadvantage in that it could not be transported more than two miles due to its inability to step up to high voltage levels necessary for long distance transmission. Consequently, a direct current power station was required at two mile intervals. Direct current flows continuously in one direction; alternating current changes direction 50 or 60 times per second and can be stepped up to vary high voltage levels, minimizing power loss across great distances. The future belongs to alternating current. Nikola Tesla developed polyphase alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers and held 40 basic U.S. patents on the system, which George Westinghouse bought, determined to supply America with the Tesla system. Edison did not want to lose his DC empire, and a bitter war ensued. This was the war of the currents between AC and DC. Tesla -Westinghouse ultimately emerged the victor because AC was a superior technology. It was a war won for the progress of both America and the world. Tesla introduced his motors and electrical systems in a classic paper, “A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers” which he delivered before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1888. One of the most impressed was the industrialist and inventor George Westinghouse. One day he visited Tesla’s laboratory and was amazed at what he saw. Tesla had constructed a model polyphase system consisting of an alternating current dynamo, step-up and step-down transformers and A.C. motor at the other end. The perfect partnership between Tesla and Westinghouse for the nationwide use of electricity in America had begun. In February 1882, Tesla discovered the rotating magnetic field, a fundamental principle in physics and the basis of nearly all devices that use alternating current. Tesla brilliantly adapted the principle of rotating magnetic field for the construction of alternating current induction motor and the polyphase system for the generation, transmission, distribution and use of electrical power. Tesla’s A.C. induction motor is widely used throughout the world in industry and household appliances. It started the industrial revolution at the turn of the century. Electricity today is generated transmitted and converted to mechanical power by means of his inventions. Tesla’s greatest achievement is his polyphase alternating current system, which is today lighting the entire globe. Tesla astonished the world by demonstrating. the wonders of alternating current electricity at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Alternating current became standard power in the 20th Century. This accomplishment changed the world. He designed the first hydroelectric powerplant in Niagara Falls in 1895, which was the final victory of alternating current. The achievement was covered widely in the world press, and Tesla was praised as a hero world wide. King Nikola of Montenegro conferred upon him the Order of Danilo. Tesla was a pioneer in many fields. The Tesla coil, which he invented in 1891, is widely used today in radio and television sets and other electronic equipment. That year also marked the date of Tesla's United States citizenship. His alternating current induction motor is considered one of the ten greatest discoveries of all time. Among his discoveries are the fluorescent light , laser beam, wireless communications, wireless transmission of electrical energy, remote control, robotics, Tesla’s turbines and vertical take off aircraft. Tesla is the father of the radio and the modern electrical transmissions systems. He registered over 700 patents worldwide. His vision included exploration of solar energy and the power of the sea. He foresaw interplanetary communications and satellites. The Century Magazine published Tesla's principles of telegraphy without wires, popularizing scientific lectures given before Franklin Institute in February 1893. The Electrical Review in 1896 published X-rays of a man, made by Tesla, with X-ray tubes of his own design. They appeared at the same time as when Roentgen announced his discovery of X-rays. Tesla never attempted to proclaim priority. Roentgen congratulated Tesla on his sophisticated X-ray pictures, and Tesla even wrote Roentgen's name on one of his films. He experimented with shadowgraphs similar to those that later were to be used by Wilhelm Rontgen when he discovered X-rays in 1895. Tesla's countless experiments included work on a carbon button lamp, on the power of electrical resonance, and on various types of lightning. Tesla invented the special vacuum tube which emitted light to be used in photography. The breadth of his inventions is demonstrated by his patents for a bladeless steam turbine based on a spiral flow principle. Tesla also patented a pump design to operate at extremely high temperature. Nikola Tesla patented the basic system of radio in 1896. His published schematic diagrams describing all the basic elements of the radio transmitter which was later used by Marconi. In 1896 Tesla constructed an instrument to receive radio waves. He experimented with this device and transmitted radio waves from his laboratory on South 5th Avenue. to the Gerlach Hotel at 27th Street in Manhattan. The device had a magnet which gave off intense magnetic fields up to 20,000 lines per centimeter. The radio device clearly establishes his piority in the discovery of radio. The shipboard quench-spark transmitter produced by the Lowenstein Radio Company and licensed under Nikola Tesla Company patents, was installed on the U.S. Naval vessels prior to World War I. In December 1901, Marconi established wireless communication between Britain and the Newfoundland, Canada, earning him the Nobel prize in 1909. But much of Marconi's work was not original. In 1864, James Maxwell theorized electromagnetic waves. In 1887, Heinrich Hertz proved Maxwell's theories. Later, Sir Oliver Logde extended the Hertz prototype system. The Brandley coherer increased the distance messages could be transmitted. The coherer was perfected by Marconi. However, the heart of radio transmission is based upon four tuned circuits for transmitting and receiving. It is Tesla's original concept demonstrated in his famous lecture at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 1893. The four circuits, used in two pairs, are still a fundamental part of all radio and television equipment. The United States Supreme Court, in 1943 held Marconi's most important patent invalid, recognizing Tesla's more significant contribution as the inventor of radio technology. Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1899, to experiment with high voltage, high frequency electricity and other phenomena. When the Colorado Springs Tesla Coil magnifying transmitter was energized, it created sparks 30 feet long. From the outside antenna, these sparks could be seen from a distance of ten miles. From this laboratory, Tesla generated and sent out wireless waves which mediated energy, without wires for miles. In Colorado Springs, where he stayed from May 1899 until 1900, Tesla made what he regarded as his most important discovery-- terrestrial stationary waves. By this discovery he proved that the Earth could be used as a conductor and would be as responsive as a tuning fork to electrical vibrations of a certain frequency. He also lighted 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 25 miles( 40 kilometers) and created man-made lightning. At one time he was certain he had received signals from another planet in his Colorado laboratory, a claim that was met with disbelief in some scientific journals. The old Waldorf Astoria was the residence of Nikola Tesla for many years. He lived there when he was at the height of financial and intellectual power. Tesla organized elaborate dinners, inviting famous people who later witnessed spectacular electrical experiments in his laboratory. Financially supported by J. Pierpont Morgan, Tesla built the Wardenclyffe laboratory and its famous transmitting tower in Shoreham, Long Island between 1901 and 1905. This huge landmark was 187 feet high, capped by a 68-foot copper dome which housed the magnifying transmitter. It was planned to be the first broadcast system, transmitting both signals and power without wires to any point on the globe. The huge magnifying transmitter, discharging high frequency electricity, would turn the earth into a gigantic dynamo which would project its electricity in unlimited amounts anywhere in the world. Tesla's concept of wireless electricity was used to power ocean liners, destroy warships, run industry and transportation and send communications instantaneously all over the globe. To stimulate the public's imagination, Tesla suggested that this wireless power could even be used for interplanetary communication. If Tesla were confident to reach Mars, how much less difficult to reach Paris. Many newspapers and periodicals interviewed Tesla and described his new system for supplying wireless power to run all of the earth's industry. Because of a dispute between Morgan and Tesla as to the final use of the tower. Morgan withdrew his funds. The financier's classic comment was, "If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?" The erected, but incomplete tower was demolished in 1917 for wartime security reasons. The site where the Wardenclyffe tower stood still exists with its 100 feet deep foundation still intact. Tesla's laboratory designed by Stanford White in 1901 is today still in good condition and is graced with a bicentennial plaque. Tesla lectured to the scientific community on his inventions in New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis and before scientific organizations in both England and France in 1892. Tesla’s lectures and writings of the 1890s aroused wide admiration among contemporaries popularized his inventions and inspired untold numbers of younger men to enter the new field of radio and electrical science. Nikola Tesla was one of the most celebrated personalities in the American press, in this century. According to Life Magazine's special issue of September, 1997, Tesla is among the 100 most famous people of the last 1,000 years. He is one of the great men who divert the stream of human history. Tesla's celebrity was in its height at the turn of the century. His discoveries, inventions and vision had widespread acceptance by the public, the scientific community and American press. Tesla's discoveries had extensive coverage in the scientific journals, the daily and weekly press as well as in the foremost literary and intellectual publications of the day. He was the Super Star. Tesla wrote many autobiographical articles for the prominent journal Electrical Experimenter, collected in the book, My Inventions. Tesla was gifted with intense powers of visualization and exceptional memory from early youth on. He was able to fully construct, develop and perfect his inventions completely in his mind before committing them to paper. According to Hugo Gernsback, Tesla was possessed of a striking physical appearance over six feet tall with deep set eyes and a stately manner. His impressions of Tesla, were of a man endowed with remarkable physical and mental freshness, ready to surprise the world with more and more inventions as he grew older. A lifelong bachelor he led a somewhat isolated existence, devoting his full energies to science. In 1894, he was given honorary doctoral degrees by Columbia and Yale University and the Elliot Cresson medal by the Franklin Institute. In 1934, the city of Philadelphia awarded him the John Scott medal for his polyphase power system. He was an honorary member of the National Electric Light Association and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. On one occasion, he turned down an invitation from Kaiser Wilhelm II to come to Germany to demonstrate his experiments and to receive a high decoration. In 1915, a New York Times article announced that Tesla and Edison were to share the Nobel Prize for physics. Oddly, neither man received the prize, the reason being unclear. It was rumored that Tesla refused the prize because he would not share with Edison, and because Marconi had already received his.  (Tesla's friend Mark Twain, famous American writer) On his 75th birthday in 1931, the inventor appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. On this occasion, Tesla received congratulatory letters from more than 70 pioneers in science and engineering including Albert Einstein. These letters were mounted and presented to Tesla in the form of a testimonial volume.  Tesla died on January 7th, 1943 in the Hotel New Yorker, where he had lived for the last ten years of his life. Room 3327 on the 33rd floor is the two-room suites he occupied. A state funeral was held at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York City. Telegrams of condolence were received from many notables, including the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Vice President Wallace. Over 2000 people attended, including several Nobel Laureates. He was cremated in Ardsley on the Hudson, New York. His ashes were interned in a golden sphere, Tesla’s favorite shape, on permanent display at the Tesla Museum in Belgrade along with his death mask. In his speech presenting Tesla with the Edison medal, Vice President Behrend of the Institute of Electrical Engineers eloquently expressed the following: "Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the result of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark and our mills would be idle and dead. His name marks an epoch in the advance of electrical science." Mr. Behrend ended his speech with a paraphrase of Pope's lines on Newton: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night. God said 'Let Tesla be' and all was light." “The world will wait a long time for Nikola Tesla’s equal in achievement and imagination.” E. ARMSTRONG Nikola Tesla’s Awards and Recognition In 1917, Tesla was awarded the Edison Medal, the most coveted electrical prize in the United States. Nikola Tesla’s name has been honored with an International Unit of Magnetic Flux Density called “Tesla." The United States Postal Service honored Tesla with a commemorative stamp in 1983. Tesla was inducted into the Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 1975. The Nikola Tesla Award is one of the most distinguished honors presented by the Institute of Electrical Engineers. The award has been given annually since 1976. The Nikola Tesla Statue is located on Goat Island to honor the man whose inventions were incorporated into the Niagara Falls Power Station in 1895. Tesla is known as the inventor of polyphase alternating current. The Nikola Tesla Corner Sign, located at the intersection of 40th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, is a constant reminder to all New Yorkers of the greatness of this genius. New York, July 10, 1998 -Dr. Ljubo Vujovic Secretary General, New York Tesla Memorial Society |
No comments:
Post a Comment