1. A Little Bit of History
The Seven Wonders of the Old World
Seven architectonic and artistic constructions were considered by the clasic
Roman Historians to be the greatest samples of the antiquity. These wonders are
described as follows:
• The Gizeh Piramids in Egipt. They were built during the 4 th dynasty,
between the years 2680 A.D. and 2544 a. D. they constitute the oldest of
the seven wonders and the only one that has survived up to date.
• The Babylonian hanging gardens. They were probably built by the king
Nabucodonosor II around the year 600 a.d. and they consisted on a
number of terrace gardens, which formed an artificial mountain.
• The Criselefantine Statue of Zeus built in the middle of the 5 th century
A.d. It measured 12 m. height and it was sculpted by the Greek Fidias to
be placed in the Zeus temple in Olimpia.
• The Artemisa Temple in Éfeso, Greece was built in the year 356 A.d. and
it combined its important size with an eccentric Helenistic decoration. It
was destroyed by the Barbarians in the year 262 A.d.
• The Halicarnaso Mausoleum built in 353 A. D. was a monumental
tomb.sculpted by the best artists of that age for the king Mausolo from
Caria of Minor Asia. This wonder is almost destroyed nowadays.
• The coloso from Rodas was a statue made of bronze, which was 30 m.
high. It represented Helios, the Geek God of the sun. It was built in 280
A. D. as an entrance door to Rodas Bay and it was destroyed 55 years
later.
• The Alexandria lighthouse in Egipt was the most important lighthouse of
the antiquity thanks to its height of 134 m., but it was destroyed in the
14th century.
Taken from Encyclopaedia Microsoft Encarta 1999.

2. Atomic power in Caesar’s day
Certainly!
It was there, in the ground, in the air and water. It always had been. There
are no more “raw materials” today than there were when Rome ruled the world.
The only thing new is knowledge... knowledge of how to get at and
rearrange raw materials. Every invention of modern times was available to
Rameses, Caesar, Charlemagne.
In this sense, then, we have available today in existing raw materials the
inventions that can make our lives longer, happier, and inconceivably easier. We
need only knowledge to bring them into reality.
Could there possibly be a better argument for the strengthening of our
sources of knowledge – our colleges and universities? Can we possibly deny that
the wellfare, progress – indeed the very fate – of our nation depends on the quality
of knowledge generated and transmitted by these institutions of higher learning?
It is almost unbelievable that a society such as ours, which has profited so
vastly from an accelerated accumulation of knowledge, should allow anything to
threaten the wellsprings of our learning.
Yet this is the case
The crisis that confronts our colleges today threatens to weaken seriously
their ability to produce the kind of graduates who can assimilate and carry forward
our rich heritage of learning.
The crisis is composed of several elements: a salary scale that is driving
away from teaching the kind of mind most qualified to teach; overcrowded
classrooms and a mounting pressure for enrollment that will down by 1967.
In a very real sense our personal and national progress depends on our colleges.
They must have our aid.
Help the colleges or universities of your choice. Help them plan for stronger
faculties and expansion. The returns will be greater than you think.