Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction IELTS Reading

Janice Thompson

9 min read

Updated On Jan 04, 2024

Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction Reading Answers With Location and Explanations
Tips for Answering the Question Types in the Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction IELTS Reading Passage

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The Academic passage, ‘Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction,’ is a reading passage that appeared in an IELTS test. Try to find the answers to get an idea of the difficulty level of the passages in the actual reading test. This page contains the “Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction” IELTS reading passage for you to practice.

The Reading Module of the IELTS can be the top-scoring category with diligent practice. To achieve the best results in this section, you must understand how to approach and answer the different question types in the Reading Module.

The question types found in this passage are:

By solving and reviewing Sample Reading Questions from past IELTS papers, you can ensure that your Reading skills are up to the mark. Take the practice test below and check your score with the answers for Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction!

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on the Reading Passage.

Find the reading passage with the Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction PDF here.

Questions 27 – 31

The reading passage has 7 paragraphs A-G. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-E and G from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

A misunderstanding in the history of science
Thomas Harriot’s biography
Unknown reasons for his unpublished works
Harriot’s 1588 publication on North American studies
Expedition to the New World
Reluctant cooperation with Kepler
Belated appreciation of Harriot’s contribution
Religious pressures kept him from publishing
Correspondence with Kepler
Interests and research into multiple fields of study

Example	Answer
Para A	i

27 Paragraph B
28 Paragraph C
29 Paragraph D
30 Paragraph E
31 Paragraph G

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Questions 32 – 36

Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet.

Various modem applications base on an image produced by lens uses refraction , such as 32…………………. And a spectrum of colors from a beam of light can be produced with 33…………………. Harriot travelled to Virginia and mainly did research which focused on two subjects of American 34…………………. After, he also enter upon a study of flight dynamics and 35…………………. for one of his friends much ahead of major European competitor. He undertook extensive other studies which were only noted down personally yet predated than many other great scientists. One result, for example, corrected the misconception about the idea of 36………………….

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Questions 37 – 40

Look at the following researchers (listed A-D) and their findings. Match each researcher with the correct finding. Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any researcher more than once.

Willobrord Snell
Johannes Kepler
Ptolemy
Galileo
Harriot

37 discovered the moons of Jupiter
38 distracted experimental calculation on refraction
39 the discovery of sunspots
40 the person whose name the sin law was attributed to

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Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction Reading Answers With Location and Explanations

Read further for the explanation part of the, “Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction” reading answer.

Answer: X

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer explanation: Paragraph B explains that Harriot’s principal biographer, J. W. Shirley, was quoted saying that as a ‘mathematician’, Thomas Harriot contributed to the ‘development of algebra’, and ‘introduced the symbols of ”>”, and ”<” for ”more than” and ”less than.”’ He also studied navigation and astronomy. This shows that he had interest and as result, researched into various fields of study. Hence, the answer is x (Interests and researches into multiple fields of study).

Answer: V

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer explanation: Paragraph C reveals that Thomas Harriot was also an ‘early English explorer of North America’. He was a friend of the English courtier and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh and ‘travelled to Virginia as a scientific observer’ (expedition) on a colonising expedition in 1585. ‘Harriot wrote his report’ for Raleigh and ‘published it as A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia’ (New World of Virginia) in 1588. Hence, the answer is v (Expedition to the New World).

Answer: ix

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer explanation: The first sentence of paragraph D points out that ‘Harriot kept regular correspondence’ with other scientists and mathematicians, especially in England but also in mainland Europe, ‘notably with Johannes Kepler’. In 1606, ‘Harriot sent Kepler some tables of refraction data’ for different materials at a constant incident angle. Hence, the answer is ix (Correspondence with Kepler).

Answer: iii

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer explanation: In the beginning of paragraph E, it is mentioned that apart from the correspondence with Kepler,there is ‘no evidence’ (unknown reasons) that Harriot ‘ever published his detailed results on refraction’ (unpublished works). Hence, the answer is iii (Unknown reasons for his unpublished works).

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Answer: vii

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer explanation: Paragraph G states that Harriot died on July 2, 1621, in London, but his story did not end with his death. ‘Recent research has revealed his wide range of interests and his genuinely original discoveries’. Scholars have begun to study Harriot’s works and ‘an appreciation of Harriot’s contribution started to grow in the second half of the twentieth century’ (belated appreciation of his works). Hence, the answer is vii (Belated appreciation of Harriot’s contribution).

Answer: Magnification

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer explanation: Paragraph A informs that refraction has ‘many applications in optics and technology’ (modern applications). A ‘lens uses refraction to form an image of an object’ for many different purposes, ‘such as magnification’. Hence, the answer is ‘magnification’.

Answer: A prism

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer explanation: Paragraph A declares that ‘a prism’ uses refraction to ‘form a spectrum of colors from an incident beam of light’. Hence, the answer is ‘a prism’.

Answer: land and language

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer explanation: Paragraph C let out the fact that Harriot ‘travelled to Virginia’ as a scientific observer on a colonising expedition in 1585.On shore, Harriot observed the topography (land), flora and fauna, made many drawings and maps, and met the native people who ‘spoke a language’ the English called Algonquian. Harriot worked out a phonetic transcription of the native people’s speech sounds and ‘began to learn the language’, which enabled him to converse to some extent with other natives the English encountered. Hence, the answer is ‘land and language’.

Answer: ship design

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer explanation: Paragraph G relates that ‘Harriot’ began a survey of Raleigh’s Irish holdings. He also ‘undertook a study of ballistics’ (flight dynamics) and ‘ship design’ for ‘Raleigh’ (one of his friends) in ‘advance of the Spanish Armada’s arrival’ (much ahead of major European competitor). Hence, the answer is ‘ship design’.

Answer: rainbow reflection

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer explanation: Paragraph E states that around 1606, Harriot had studied dispersion in prisms (predating Newton by around 60 years), measured the refractive indices of different liquids placed in a hollow glass prism, studied refraction in crystal spheres, and ‘correctly understood refraction in the rainbow’ (corrected the misconception) ‘before Descartes’ (predated than many other great scientists). Hence, the answer is ‘(the) rainbow refraction/refraction in rainbow’.

Answer: D

Question type: Matching Features

Answer explanation: Paragraph B mentions that between October 17， 1610 and February 26, 1612, Harriot observed the ‘moons of Jupiter’, which had ‘already been discovered by Galileo’. Hence, the answer is ‘D’ (Galileo).

Answer: B

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer explanation: In paragraph D, it is conveyed that ‘Johannes Kepler’ (1571-1630) had also looked for the law of refraction. Unfortunately, Ptolemy’s data was in error, so ‘Kepler could obtain only an approximation which he published in 1604’. Kepler later tried to obtain additional experimental results on refraction, and corresponded with Thomas Harriot from 1606 to 1609. In 1606, Harriot sent Kepler some tables of refraction data for different materials at a constant incident angle, but didn’t provide enough detail for the data to be very useful. Kepler requested further information, but Harriot was not forthcoming. As a result, Kepler eventually gave up the correspondence, frustrated with Harriot’s reluctance. We can conclude that Kepler’s original data that he obtained from Ptolemy’s data was erroneous and the tables of refraction sent by Harriot were also not accurate. They were distracted experimental calculations on refraction. Hence, the answer is ‘B’ (Johannes Kepler).

Answer: E

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer explanation: Paragraph B refers to the fact that while observing Jupiter’s moons, ‘Harriot made a discovery of his own: sunspots’, which he viewed 199 times between December 8, 1610 and January 18, 1613. Hence, the answer is ‘E’ (Harriot).

Answer: A

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer explanation: Paragraph C points out that although the first discovery of the sine law, made by the sixteenth-century English scientist Thomas Harriot, ‘Snell’s sine law of refraction is now taught routinely in undergraduate courses’, the quest for it spanned many centuries and involved many celebrated scientists. So, the person whose name the sin law was attributed to is Willobrord Snell. Hence, the answer is ‘A’ (Willobrord Snell).

Tips for Answering the Question Types in the Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction IELTS Reading Passage

Let us check out some quick tips to answer the types of questions in the ‘Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction’ IELTS Reading passage.

Matching Headings:

Matching Headings is a type of IELTS reading question that requires you to match a list of headings to the correct paragraphs in a passage. To answer matching headings questions, you can use the following strategies:

Read the headings first: This will give you an idea of the topics that will be covered in the passage.
Read the paragraphs quickly: This will give you a general understanding of the content of each paragraph.
Match the headings to the paragraphs: As you read each paragraph, look for the heading that best summarizes the main idea of the paragraph.
Check your answers: Once you have matched all of the headings, double-check your answers to make sure that they are correct.

Summary Completion:

Summary Completion is a type of IELTS reading question that requires you to fill in a gap in a sentence with a word or phrase from the passage.

To answer these questions, you can use the following strategies:

Read the sentence carefully: This will give you an idea of the type of word or phrase that is missing.
Scan the passage for the keywords: The keywords in the sentence can help you to identify the correct word or phrase.
Read the sentence with the missing word or phrase: This will help you to see how the word or phrase fits into the sentence.
Check your answer: Once you have filled in the gap, make sure that your answer makes sense in the context of the sentence.

Matching Features:

Matching Features is a type of IELTS reading question that requires you to match a list of features to the correct people, places, or things in a passage.

To answer matching features questions, you can use the following strategies:

Read the features first: This will give you an idea of the types of information that you are looking for in the passage.
Read the passage quickly: This will give you a general understanding of the content of the passage.
Match the features to the people, places, or things: As you read the passage, look for the information that matches each feature.
Check your answers: Once you have matched all of the features, double-check your answers to make sure that they are correct.

Great work on attempting to solve the Thomas Harriot – The Discovery of Refraction IELTS reading passage! To crack your IELTS Reading in the first go, try solving more of the Recent IELTS Reading Passages.

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