The change of science and technology in nearly one hundred years

The most influential inventions of the 20th century

Aircraft: People in the evaluation of the aircraft’s contribution to mankind, it is often regarded as the twentieth century, the most dazzling invention. In 1903, the bike dealer’s Wright brothers created the first aircraft in the history of mankind with an engine. In 1930, the British mechanical engineer Frank Whittle registered the first patent on the jet engine, smart Germans use this technology to create the world’s first jet aircraft, and in 1939 successfully carried out The first flight. In 1949, the British comet-I jet aviation flight officially put into operation. The Boeing 747 large passenger aircraft with its fast and comfortable, safe and reliable come out on top, won the favor of the airlines. According to aircraft design experts predict that the next century the aircraft will be more carriers, faster, more reliable security. It is reported that the United States is designed to carry 700 giant supersonic passenger aircraft to replace the current co-made by the British and French speed of 2160 km of synergistic supersonic passenger aircraft.

TV: TV has become an indispensable part of our lives. TV inventor is the British electronics engineer John Baird. In 1923, he invented  8-line images can be generated device applied for a patent. The end of 1930 to sell the first TV. In 1932, the British Broadcasting Corporation broadcast the world’s first standardized television program. Since then, the human began to enter the television age. Today, people use satellite, cable, air-to-air transmitter and other channels, the TV signal to every corner of the earth.

 

Penicillin: people called penicillin is the century’s most contributions to the drug, its inventor is the British bacteriologist Alexander Fleming. In 1928, the inventor accidentally discovered in a bacterial culture experiment that a fungus, later known as penicillin, was devouring the bacterium he had cultivated in the dish. According to the results of the Fleming study, researchers at Oxford University in the United Kingdom after 10 years of effort, and finally found the way to extract this mold, and put into medical treatment trials. In 1943, in order to heal wounded soldiers in World War II, the Allies began to put penicillin into industrial production. In more than half a century, penicillin saved the lives of countless people, and prompted people began to pay attention to the antibiotic family of research and development.

Nuclear fission: The atomic age began in 1942. In order to defeat the Axis Fascist, the US top authorities decided to launch the “Manhattan Project” aimed at the development of atomic weapons. At the end of the year, as part of the Manhattan Project, the first nuclear reactor was built and operated under a sports facility at the University of Chicago. July 16, 1945, a mass of mushroom cloud from the United States of New Mexico Los Alamos Atomic Energy Research Center into the sky, the world’s first atomic bomb explosion. On August 6 and 9, the United States has two atomic bombs named “fat boy” and “little boy” to Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a moment, the two beautiful cities were razed to the ground, Killing tens of thousands of innocent people. The Japanese emperor then announced unconditional surrender, the atomic bomb seems to win the victory of World War II made great contributions, not knowing that humans will live in the shadow of the terrible atomic weapons. Today, peace-loving people call for the peaceful use of atomic energy, the benefit of mankind, but the face of super-nuclear arsenal, one can not help but wonder, the next century will rise “mushroom cloud” it?

DNA: February 28, 1953, the famous British geneticist Francis Crick announced to the Cambridge University Eagle Association that he “found the secret of life.” Crick and his American counterpart, James Watson, have been working in the life sciences for many years and have finally discovered the DNA double helix structure that decides the genetic basis of life, deciphering the human, plant, and animal genetic codes from the nucleus . The findings reveal the secret of life, enhance human research and treatment of various diseases, but also to promote the improvement of human food structure. In the first 20 years of the next century, humans could overcome genetic defects by using gene therapy to overcome cancer, heart disease, hemophilia, diabetes, and other deadly disorders. Human research on the molecular structure of DNA is undoubtedly the study of human life, the treatment of disease has a great role, but also so that people are faced with the resulting moral crisis, such as the development of cloning technology, gave the human out of their own problem.

Computer: Computer is the human society into the information age basis, but it is the birth of the war. 1943, to decipher the password of Germany, the British mathematician Alan Turing designed the first “giant” electromechanical computer, although this is only a hypothetical computer for decoding, but it created a computer technology The development of the first, from the computer technology with each passing day. In 1947, the transistor computer came out; in 1959, the birth of the computer integrated circuits; in 1970, with scientific computing, data processing and process control functions of large-scale integrated circuit computer generated from the 80’s, a new generation of microcomputer Yijuntuqi, It gathers information collection, storage, processing, communication and artificial intelligence in one, to help mankind to open up unknown areas and acquire new knowledge, on this basis, ushered in a new era of the network, everywhere sounded “network computer” Earth has since become a veritable “global village.”

 

Contraceptives: In 1954, the American physician Gregory Pincus invented the contraceptive pill, which is composed of two kinds of hormones inhibit female ovulation mixture. The pill is one of the greatest scientific achievements of the twentieth century, because it liberated women from passive fertility, which led to meaningful sexual and social changes. With the birth control pills, women can control their own birth, according to their own wishes to decide whether to have children, according to their own circumstances to decide when to become pregnant. More importantly, it broke the shackles of women’s sexual freedom, gave them the right to leave the family to participate in social work, and ultimately expand the women’s socio-political, economic, cultural and other effects.

Space technology: October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the victory of the October revolution, launched the first mankind in the history of man-made earth satellite, marking the beginning of the space age. April 2, 1961, the Soviet astronaut Gagarin by spacecraft into space, becoming the first person to enter space. July 20, 1969, the United States two astronauts by the spacecraft on the moon. In addition to the United States, Russia, there are other space powers, they are Western Europe (European Space Agency), China and Japan. Satellite can transmit television, broadcast program signals, but also for aviation, Hainan Airlines, weather forecasts, scientific and technological information to mention the Earth greatly “shrink” the. In order to further explore the mysteries of the universe, the human major planets in the solar system set up a number of probes, and the establishment of an international space station ambitious plan is also brewing, is expected to be implemented in the next century.

Internet: the Internet is also the most popular word today, its rapid development, is to build a resource-sharing information highway around the world. Network technology was originally used only for military purposes. In the early 1960s, the United States Department of Defense established a secret communication network for information security. The network, like spider webs, even if several lines in the network were interrupted, the communication network Intact, without any impact, the United States Southern California laboratory between the electric micro-successfully carried out a computer network connection. In 1989, the British computer genius Bernard Lee proposed using the method assigned to the computer address does not interfere with the relationship between computers, so that the network technology to the people. At present, the Internet provides services are: e-mail, remote login, file transfer, document query, network news, Gopher, WAIS, WWW, electronic publications, e-shopping, financial services, the network has entered thousands of households. It is estimated that about 190 million netizens in the world will reach 500 million by 2003.

–Simon