<p>Prompt: Every important discovery results from patience, perseverance, and concentration--sometimes continuing for months or years--on one specific subject. A person who wants to discover a new truth must remain absorbed by that one subject, must pay no attention to any thought that is unrelated to the problem. Adapted from Santiago Ramon Cajal, Advice for a Young Investigator
Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</p>
<pre><code> Important discoveries are the direct result of months, even years of intense focus on a single subject. Several examples from history clearly demonstrate that focus on only one subject is needed to achieve or discover great things.
Thomas Edison is a man who clearly demonstrates that focus on only one subject is needed to achieve a crucial breakthrough. For many years Thomas Edison worked incessantly, trying to find which combination of filaments, glass, and vacuums, would produce a commercially efficient light-bulb. Although Thomas Edison failed countless times, he continued to focus on the light-bulb, adamant on discovering the most efficient way to produce the first commercially efficient light-bulb. By choosing not to digress from his important work on the light-bulb, Thomas Edison was able to produce the first commercially efficient light-bulb and revolutionize the world of science. Thomas Edison and his discovery of the light-bulb affirms that focus on only one subject is essential for important achievements and discoveries.
Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, also validates that focus on only one subject is necessary for great discoveries. As a student at Harvard, Mark began to form the basic foundation for the most popular social network, Facebook. For many hours, Mark would remain in his dorm room coding and performing other esoteric and arcane tasks that now allow us to update our status and friend other Facebook users. Like many other students at Harvard, Mark was bombarded with research papers and tests that distracted him but did not hinder or cause him to depart from his extensive project. Mark continued to work on Facebook and eventually perfected it and created the social network that made him the world's youngest billionaire. Mark and his creation of Facebook confirms that focus on one subject is needed for amazing discoveries.
Another Harvard student whose focus on a single subject revolutionized the world of computers and technology is Bill Gates. While attending Harvard, Bill Gates focused all his talents on producing the world's first personal computer. Bill Gates chose not to deviate from his "project" and even dropped out of Harvard to allow himself to complete this task without distractions. After months of unending work, Bill Gates was able to produce the world's first personal computer and open a new chapter in technology.
After a careful analysis of these examples one can see that full focus on a subject is needed for great discoveries. If Thomas Edison, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates had chosen to work on "other projects" instead of focusing on their goals, we may have never experienced the benefits of the light-bulb, Facebook and the personal computer.
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