Monthly Archives: January 2012

January 31, 2012 · 12:48 am

The Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project closes out January’s Discoveries and Inventions journey. The Human Genome Project (HGP) is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mapping the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome. The objective of the Human Genome Project is to understand the genetic makeup of the human species. It is one of the largest single investigative projects in modern science.

The project began in October 1990 and under the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute efforts. The work was completed in 2003, with more detailed analysis still being published. Most of the government-sponsored sequencing was performed in universities and research centers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany. The mapping of human genes is an important step in the development of medicines and other aspects of health care.  

Tomorrow, Slaves & Slavery in February     Rita Bay

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January 30, 2012 · 12:18 am

Computer Software

 

Before programs began to be written to make the most of electronic computing power, the computer industry was dominated by engineers developing hardware. Software is divided into two primary types: system software and program applications. System software includes general program execution processes such as compilers and, most recognizably, the disk operating system (DOS), which has evolved in form in IBM PC-style computers within the last two decades from the Microsoft DOS prompt (MS-DOS) to stylish Windows-based platforms from Microsoft 2000 to Windows Vista. Similarly, Apple has seen countless new releases from the Apple DOS 3.1 of 1977 to the OS X series of recent years. Program applications include everything else, from gaming to multimedia to scientific applications. Finally, software combines lines of source code written by humans with the work of compilers and assemblers in executing machine code. Check out pics of Bill Gates (right) and Steve Jobs (below)

As multiple-linked local area networks expanded, particular among universities, the seeds for the Internet sprouted. With Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the computer became larger than the little box in which it was contained. Browsing software such as Netscape’s Navigator, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and Mozilla’s Firefox became the means for connecting to a digitized multimedia world now largely powered by Google, which daily guides hundreds of millions of users through billions of pages on the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web all began with Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s fusion of the U.S. Defense Department’s Internet, which linked research centers, and hypertext, which allows quick navigation among documents. The tools of the Internet devised by Berners-Lee include HTML (HyperText Markup Language, the language of Internet formatting code), communication protocols (called HyperText Transfer protocols or HTTP), and individually accessible Web addresses (called Uniform Resource Locators or URLs). Today, the World Wide Web can be accessed and contributed to by anyone with a connection. Excerpted from:  http://www.randomhistory.com/2008/06/26_software.html

Tomorrow, The Human Genome Project  Rita Bay

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January 29, 2012 · 12:01 am

Computer Hardware

The earliest computers, known as mainframe computers ,which were dependent on vacuum tube technology filled whole rooms. By 1960 transistors and integrated circuits had become reliable and affordable enough for general use in science, military, business and industry.  Over time, computer memory size increased in size and power and decreased in cost. By the 1970s, the cost had decreased enough to make minicomputers  available for home and personal use.

Unlike third generation minicomputers which were scaled down versions of mainframe computers, the fourth generation’s origins were fundamentally different. The basis of the fourth generation was the invention of the microprocessor by a team at Intel. In 1971 Intel released the 4004, the world’s first commercial microprocessor. Microprocessor-based computers were originally very limited in their computational ability and speed until Intel’s development of the RAM chip. IBM personal computers benefitted from the 8000 series which provided increased speed and power to personal computers. The popular IBM PC was a commercial success and was cloned by other companies to cash in on the popularity of personal computers, including the Apple in all its varieties.       Tomorrow, Computer Software Rita Bay

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January 28, 2012 · 12:08 am

The Nuclear Age

American research into nuclear power developed from the fear during World War II that the Germans who were engaged in a war in Europe would develop and use nuclear power as a weapon. Albert Einstein and other European scientists wrote a letter to President Roosevelt warning him of the impending danger of the Germans enriching Uranium 235 to obtain material to construct a nuclear weapon. The US, therefore, embarked on a program of their own.  It was called the Manhattan Project.

The Manhattan Project was established to expedite research that would produce a viable atomic bomb. Robert Oppenheimer supervised the Manhattan Project from 1939 to 1945, which cost more than $2 billion. The formulas for refining uranium were developed and applied to construct an atomic bomb, a product of nuclear fission.

It was tested successfully at Los Alamos in July, 1945. On  August 6, 1945 the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing over 100,000. When the Japanese failed to surrender, on August 9, 1945 the US dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing over 40,000.  The Japanese surrendered and the war was over.

In 1952 the hydrogen bomb, a product of nuclear fusion, which was thousands of times more powerful than the atomic bomb was exploded by the United States for testing purposes. In 1956, however, the first major nuclear power plant opened in England which used nuclear energy to produce power. Nuclear power has many advantages. It is plentiful, requires less fossil fuel to produce energy and is far less polluting. A danger. However, is the lethal radiation which could be released accidentally. The best known accidents were Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the Daiichi meltdown in Japan  following the tsunami in 2011.  Tomorrow, Computer Savvy    Rita Bay

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January 27, 2012 · 12:05 am

The Auto

The history of the automobile involved many dedicated inventors. The first real automobile, a self-powered steam vehicle, was built by Amedee Bollee in 1873. In the next step toward the automobile, Nikolaus Otto invented a four-stroke petrol gasoline internal combustion engine, the most common method of automotive propulsion. The four-stroke diesel engine was invented by Rudolf Diesel. Then, Etienne Lenoir patented the first practical gas engine in Paris.

The first carriage-sized automobile in the United States was a steam-powered vehicle invented in 1871 by Dr. J.W. Carhart. By 1891 the Daimler Motor Company, owned by Steinway (the piano family), produced petrol engines for tramway cars, carriages, quadricycles, fire engines and boats in a plant in Hartford, CT. In 1893 Charles and Frank Duryea, built the first gasoline powered car in America. Two years later, they opened America’s first motor manufacturing company.

It was not until Henry Ford (see pic above) founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903, however, that large scale production became possible. In 1908 he introduced the Model T,which became so popular that he developed the car industry’s first moving production line in order to build enough cars to satisfy demand. His ‘Universal Car’ changed the face of motoring with over 16.5 million built before production ended in 1927, making it available to a far larger number of people. Tomorrow, we go nuclear.  Rita Bay

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January 26, 2012 · 1:41 am

Thomas Edison

 

Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931) who was born in Milan, Ohio was known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park.” He worked at many jobs, including as a telegraph operator, until moving to New York.  He improved the telegraph system, set a stock ticker and invented the electric pen, microphone, transistors, phonograph, light bulb. He also developed a system of generators for distributing current for lighting and wiring for the home.

In 1879 he constructed the first electric motor ever made for a 110 to 120 volt line atMenlo Park, N. J. which remains operative. On December 31 using underground mains, he gave the first public demonstration of an electric lighting system in streets and buildings atMenlo Park, N J.  In the following years he opened factories for the large-scale distribution of his lighting and electrical products. He developed the foundation principles for the diode, radio, television, and computer transistors. He also invented a wireless system of communication between ships at sea, ships and shore and ships and distant points on land.

In 1891 he invented and patented the motion picture camera which made it possible to take, reproduce, and project motion pictures. A few years later he developed a system for recording voice with his motion picture. He also improved his batteries and phonograph and invented a dictating machine.

Edison obtained 1,093 patents. His famous quote embodies the American work ethic: “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”    Tomorrow, The Auto Men.  Rita Bay

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January 25, 2012 · 12:06 am

The Wright Brothers

Orville (1871 –1948) and Wilbur (1867 – 1912) Wright were two American brothers credited with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane.  They  were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.  

In 1892 the Wright brothers had opened a bicycle sales and repair shop in Dayton,Ohio. They later manufactured bicycles and used the profits to finance their research with airplanes. The brothers gained their mechanical skills they needed by working in their shop with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other machinery. Their bicycle shop employee, Charlie Taylor, became an important part of the team, building their first aircraft engine when the brothers could not find the engine they needed.

From 1900 until their first powered flights in late 1903, the Wrights conducted extensive glider tests that also developed their skills as pilots. On December 17, 1903 they made the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight. Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane 20 feet above a beach in Kittyhawk, North Carolina. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Three more flights were made that day with Orville’s brother Wilbur piloting the record flight lasting 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet. Within two years the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. They were very secretive with their work due to the intense race for being the first to fly.

Tomorrow, Shine a Light     Rita Bay

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January 24, 2012 · 12:05 am

Alexander Graham Bell

 

Alexander Graham Bell (1847 – 1922) was another Renaissance man. He was a scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who invented many items that are used every day. With his mother and wife deaf, he spent much of his life working on a cure for deafness. This eventually led to experimentation with devices that resulted in the invention of the telephone in 1876 . (See pic  of first phone)

Bell also obtained patents for the telegraph, the phonograph, aerial vehicles, metal detector and an audiometer. He was one of the first to investigate alternative fuels, including methane gas and solar. He also experimented with impressing a magnetic field on a record to reproduce sound. While he couldn’t make it workable, his work was later applied to invent tape recorders and hard and floppy computer disks. He was a founding member of the National Geographic Society and founded the Bell Telephone Co.

Tomorrow, The Sky’s the Limit    Rita Bay

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January 23, 2012 · 12:17 am

Sir Issac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton (1643 – 1752) was born three months after his father’s death. Three years later his mother remarried and left him on the Woolstrope estate with his grandparents. Young Newton was described as sober, silent, thinking lad who preferred the company of girls. He displayed a remarkable mechanical ability very young but his mother pulled him out of school after only five years to learn the management of his estate.

Newton was only allowed to attend school after the schoolmaster agreed to drop his fee and Cambridge’s Trinity College when he was able to work as a subsizar, an errand boy for the wealthy students. Later he secured, a position at Trinity College. His studies and experiments progressed. When his equipment proved inadequate for his research on light and astronomy, he invented the reflecting telescope, even machining his own parts.

In 1686 Newton presented the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (‘Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy’). In it, Newton revealed his laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. He spent most of his years at Cambridge as a professor of mathematics. Eventually, his genius was recognized and he became part of the scientific community and served as President of the Royal Society. (See his death mask)

Tomorrow, America Excels Rita Bay

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January 22, 2012 · 1:11 am

Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist who investigated the causes of diseases and developed vaccines to prevent them. His experiments proved the theory that disease was caused by germs. His discoveries encouraged the principles of sanitation that reduced mortality from puerperal fever, an infection contracted by mothers who were exposed to unsanitary conditions after the delivery of their babies. He also created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. By inoculating people with weakened forms of the microorganisms, he prevented full-blown cases which would be fatal.

Pasteur also proved that fermentation is caused by the growth of micro-organisms which was responsible for spoiling beverages, such as beer, wine and milk. He developed a process, called pasteurization, in which liquids were heated to kill most bacteria and moulds in liquids.

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