There are many opportunities in life, but a person has to know what’s the right opportunity for them to achieve some things. Opportunities are not earned, but they are given and one has to find out their opportunity. This is the same thing that William Austin Burt did because even though he was an uneducated man he still created inventions that were helpful for not only people, but the nation. He got many opportunities in his life, and he took advantage of that opportunity, that brought him success. The reason that Burt was able to create this inventions is because he used to travel a lot in his teenage years and that helped him in his later years to create inventions that helped people travel. Burt not only made travel easier, but also made…show more content… The solar compass that he made was patented on Feb 25th, 1836. Burt first got the idea of making a solar compass was when he was given the job of subdividing 13 townships that later, became wisconsin territory. Burt was confused because the new lines on the territory didn’t meet the pre existing lines therefore he was trying to figure-out the problem. Later, Burt realized that it wasn’t there fault, but there was a some type of object beneath the ground that was messing up the magnetic compass.(Forging America's Future, 150 Years of Michigan Iron.) There were many surveyors who dealt with the problem, but he wanted to get a solution to this problem because it made hard for them to travel.”Burt readed many books on astronomy when he was small and he used the knowledge he knew to solve the problem of the magnetic compass”(Burt,19). This shows that even though he didn’t went to school he still wanted to be educated and he did that through books. The solar compass helped the surveyors by telling what direction to go in from looking at the sun otherwise they would have to look at the magnetic north pole. Magnetic north pole is on top of the earth and they would have to look at it, to find where are they going. In the book solar compass and surveyor's comprising the author states”the solar compass works astronomically in determining latitude, and in measuring horizontal angles from the true meridian and in determining the declination and hour ares” (Burt,10). Burt’s solar compass helped modified the world because the solar compass helps people get direction to their destination. As stated in the quote “the solar compass works astronomically in determining latitude,” this means that there is no sign of latitude on the compass, but it just shows people their direction. This also,
