The short term effects of the Renaissance are hard to define because so many changes that occured during the Renaissance still effect us today. Many of the inventions that occured at the time of the Renaissance provided us with the tools to continue to change the world for the better.
-The first mechanical clock, invented in the early 1300s, started measuring days in hours. When Galileo invented the pendulem in 1581, measuring time because more accurate. -In the mid 1300s, eyeglasses were only worn by well educated people, but after reading became more popular a larger variety of glasses were made. -The first flush toilet was invented in 1596 and was reinvented, improved, and became more common 200 years later. -The first telescope was invented in 1608 and later improved by Issac Newton in 1668 when he added mirrors instead of lenses. Galileo was the first person to use a telescop to study the solar system and made discoveries such as how the plantes orbit around the Sun and not Earth. -The printing press, invented in 1436, was one of the most important inventions of the Renaissance because it brought on both the Scientific Revolution and the Reformation. Before the printing press was invented books had to be copied down by hand, consuming lots of time and the cost reduced the number people that could afford them.
Art changed during the Renaissance as paintings were made with a less religious theme and became known as secular art. Renaissance art became more lifelike than art in the Middle Ages because artists studied perspective and they gave their paintings more depth.
Matthew C. Perry was a 19th century U.S. Naval officer who fought in the Mexican War and headed an important expedition to Japan to open diplomatic relations.
