|
1900: A few hand-built automobiles are found among the steam, electric, and horse-drawn vehicles used for transportation. The industrial revolution and an age of invention -- most recently, electric light, telephones, and motion pictures -- have begun to change the face of the world. But factories and symphony orchestras still provide the loudest sounds around, few people have running water, ice keeps our food cold, and we can travel off the ground only by balloon.
Here are a few steps on the science odyssey from then to now, including links to activities and databank entries on this site.
- In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi, in Newfoundland, receives a telegraph signal sent by radio wave from Great Britain. This feat will evolve into a communications revolution as the century progresses.
- In 1903, from a sand dune further south, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright brothers are the first to successfully leave the ground in a motor-powered airplane.
- In 1913, Henry Ford conceives of a way to make automobiles quickly and inexpensively, helping to set the stage for our technological consumer society.
- By 1920, Marconi's pioneering work has spurred a new communications medium, radio.
- During the 1920s, new inventions and manufacturing methods allow the consumer revolution to spread to middle class households.
- In 1926, radio transmission technology takes a new step forward as the first television images are broadcast over radio waves.
- In 1935, a new material for inexpensive, durable consumer goods appears, beginning the age of plastics.
- During World War II, many new technologies are envisioned and implemented. The advance that would have perhaps the largest effect during the latter part of the century is the invention of the computer.
- In 1947, the transistor is invented. This will eventually have significant impact on all kinds of electronic devices and technologies, from radios and computers to airplanes and spaceships.
- In 1962, people begin to view our technological advances with a new eye, as Rachel Carson calls attention to some unanticipated, harmful effects.
- In 1969, computer technology and advances in rocketry take humankind as far from Earth as we will venture during the century.
- In 1971, with the commercial introduction of the first silicon microprocessor, a new step in miniaturization is made, spurring further advances in electronic technologies.
- By the mid 1970s, microprocessors are used in the first consumer-sized, consumer-priced personal computers.
- By the mid 1990s, software and networking protocols bring networked multimedia computing into the homes and workplaces of millions.
- Today: We live in a world that is tied together by technology. We can travel to any part of the globe in a matter of hours and communicate by television, telephone, radio, or over computer networks nearly instantaneously. The world is awash in consumer goods, many of which are becoming even smaller, energy-efficient, and "smarter." We continue to use technology to explore outer space and to learn more about our world. Yet scientists and policy makers are still unsure how best to control technology to benefit humankind and to preserve and restore our environment.
|
