Articles by Steven Gilchrist

Newport, RI. - Located in Newport, Rhode Island, Fort Adams State Park is a National Historic Landmark.   Fort Adams was originally built on July 4, 1799 as a First System coastal fortification.   The original fort was designed by Major Louis de Tousard of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.   After the War of 1812, the federal government decided to replace the original Fort Adams.   The new Fort Adams was designed by French Brigadier General Simon Bernard.   The fort eventually became the most complex military fortification in the Western Hemisphere. Fort Adams remained an active military installation until 1950.   From 1841 until 1950, the fort was active in five major wars: Mexican-American War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. Entrance to Fort Adams -  Newport, Rhode Island

Leonardo’s Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies by Ben Shneiderman (2002) is a book that combines the evolution of technological advances with the artistic, mathematical, and scientific work of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).   Historians estimate that da Vinci filled 13,500 pages with his writings and artistry.   Today, 5,000 pages are still in existence. Here are some of the key points from Leonardo’s Laptop: Page 5: “Leonardo was the first person to accurately draw and recognize the role of curved spines in humans.” Page 5: “Leonardo had a distinctly inquisitive mind and capacity for independent thinking that led him to go further than his contemporaries on many topics.” Page 13: “Four universal states of man: Mirth, weeping, contention, and work.” Page 57: “We admire Leonardo da Vinci for his scientific spirit, his artistic skill, and his desire to produce something of value that also pleased his patrons.   He painte...