Jules Verne was born in Nantes in 1828. He studied law in Paris but later decided to write. His first novel was Five Weeks in a Balloon. This book encouraged him to continue writing on science-fiction themes. He also wrote many thrillers and history novels. In 1870 he wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. This novel was about a mad sea captain who cruises beneath the oceans in a submarine. At this time a submarine was unheard of. Verne prophesized the invention of airplanes, submarines, television, guided missiles, space satellites, and predicted their uses accurately. In 1904 he stated, “The submarine may be the course of bringing battle to a stoppage altogether, for fleets will become useless, and as other war material continues to improve, war will become impossible,” Jules Verne died in 1905.

Verne’s quote pulled me in two different directions, fear and security. In a way it made me scared to realize that one mad man could have the ability to destroy a total army. On the other hand, a good man could just threaten, but not destroy, and there would be no war. Either way, I do not believe that a weapon that can annihilate a whole army should be made.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel, a Swedish chemist and industrialist, was born at Stockholm in 1833. He was educated in St. Petersburg, Russia, where his family moved in 1842. He traveled frequently and became fluent in five different languages. His greatest accomplishment was the invention of dynamite. He started experimenting with nitroglycerin in his father’s factory. Nobel tried to make this safe to use. He combined it with Keiselguhr and called it dynamite. He received a patent for it in 1867. Most dynamite was sold to construction companies, mining companies, and the military used large amounts because of its relative safety and explosive power. This brought him great wealth and he established the Nobel Prizes, which remain the most honored prizes in the world. His other chemical research provided information for artificial forms of rubber, leather, silk, and precious stones. He once stated, “My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. As soon as men find that in one instant whole armies can be utterly destroyed, they surely will abide be golden peace.” Alfred Nobel died in 1896 leaving us with many things we use today.

Nobel’s quote can be compared with Verne’s statement. They both bring to mind the same point. I find Nobel’s quote very true. It is not a good idea to threaten, yet it is a good idea to try to keep peace in our world.

Albert Einstein, American physicist and Nobel laureate, was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany. His family owned a small shop that manufactured electric machinery. Einstein did not talk until he was three years old. At twelve years of age he taught himself Euclidean geometry. In 1900 he finished high school. Einstein received his doctorate from the University of Zurich for a theoretical dissertation on the dimensions of molecules, and he also published three theoretical papers of central importance to the development of 20^th-century physics in 1905. His main concern was to understand the nature electromagnetic radiation. In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. After World War II, Einstein was active in the cause of international disarmament and [i]world government. He is best known as the creator of the special and general theories of relativity and for his bold hypothesis concerning the particle of light. Einstein has once stated, “I don’t know what kind of weapons will be used in the third world was, assuming there will be a third world war. But I can tell you what the fourth world war will be fought with-stone clubs.” Albert Einstein died in 1955 and is considered the most well -known scientist of the 20^th century.

I agree with Einstein’s quotation. If weapons keep becoming greater then in the third world war everything could probably be destroyed. This would leave us starting all over and basically having to use stone clubs to fight with in later wars.

William Franklin Graham, or Billy Graham, was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1918. He was educated at Bob Jones University, the Florida Bible Institute, and Wheaton College. In 1939 he was ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention and became a pastor in 1943. Graham is an American evangelist who is world- famous for his televised films and motion pictures. He has many writings including Peace with God, Secret of Happiness, and World Aflame. Graham has stated, “We must have military power to keep madmen from taking over the world,”

I also agree with Billy Graham. We do need military power to be safe in our own country and to also help other countries be safe. No matter where the madmen are, we all need military to overpower them.

All the quotes that I have mentioned relate to each other. We have to have military power and weapons to be safe. We also have to update our weapons to keep up with other countries. If not, our military power will become useless. I do not believe in nuclear bombs or any other weapon that can destroy large amounts of people, but we have to keep up with the age that we are living in.

Webster’s New Standard Encyclopedia

Back