The city gets its name from the Indian word Checagou. No one knows the exact meaning but some say the word means "skunk" and others say it means "wild onion." Its history begins with the period of French exploration of America by Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette who made the trip down by the Illinois river and Des Plaines River by canoes in 1673. Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833.
Chicago's importance as an ocean port increased greatly after 1959 with the opening of Saint Lawrence Seaway. Docking facilities along Navy Pier, the downtown harbor on Lake Michigan, can accomodate ocean-going ships.
The Adler Planetarium is one of the interesting places to visit in Chicago. In front of the building is the statue of Copernicus.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was an astronomer of German and Polish descent. He was born in the city of Thorn (Torun), Poland and attended the University of Krakow. He later studied in few European schools -- Copernicus received a master's degree from the University of Bologna, a doctor's degree from the University of Ferrara and studied medicine at the University of Padua. He founded present-day astronomy with his theory that the earth is a moving planet, debunking the theory that Ptolemy had formulated 1400 years earlier that the earth was the center of universe and had no motion. However, Copernicus realized that man does not see this motion because he moves with the earth. Real motions in the heavens must be separated from apparent motions. He applied this new idea in his magnum masterpiece "Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" (1543) - demonstrating how the earth's motions could be used to explain the motions of other celestial bodies. His basic theory led to the telescopic discoveries of Galileo, the planetary laws of Johannes Kepler, and the apple gravitational law of Sir Isaac Newton.
If the internet was available then, Copernicus could have communicated with the Mayans in Guatemala, Central America, just across the pond. The Maya people were masters of three things -- time, astronomy, and numbers. According to the Long Count calendar of the Maya, which started its last Great Cycle on August 13, 3114 B.C.E. the earth will come to an end 5,125 years and 132 days later on the winter solstice of 2012 -- December 21, 2012 to be exact. Repent! The Mayans were brilliant mathematician and amazing astronomers so do you doubt their prophecy that the earth's current civilization will end in the second decade of the third millennium? It remains to be seen! Let's hope they have miscalculated somewhere.
Chicago's Chinatown
Statue at the Daley Center given by Picasso.
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