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November 12, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR GENAH BURDITT
IN CO
Minus electronics and motors I think you'll have a tough time
choosing--but I think you mean to exclude, computers, vehicles,
etc. In that case I can narrow it down to two choices:
(1) Hubble telescope, which has allowed us to see into galaxies
and nebulas millions of light years away.
(2) Underwater ROV's like those used to find titanic and study
extreme life forms like hydrothermal vent worms.
We can learn a lot about ourselves, our origins, our impacts
by reaching out into the universe and delving into the depths
of our oceans.
November 12, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK IN
RI
I don't mean to be uncooperative - a time restriction is a
good help to focusing the question! But this weekend I read
a review by Michael John Gorman of a book (Glass: A World
History, by Alan Macfarlane and Gerry Martin) that claims
that Western civilization became so far advanced compared
to Eastern (China, Japan) because glass "is, in [the
authors'] view, a powerful 'invisible force' in Western culture
so transparent that it has frequently escaped the attention
of historians. where would science be without glass?"
Glass vessels were vital to early chemistry and physics, lenses
vital to astronomy and microscopy, etc etc. The review is
in Science, vol 298 p 970, Nov 1, 2002.
Now: 50 years... 1952 on... non-electronic or motorized...
What about frozen foods? They were pretty new around 1952,
and they've revolutionized our diet and agricultural processes
and freed women from lengthy cooking procedures. Alas, the
invention itself dates to the 1920's. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blfrfood.htm
http://www.affi.com/factstat-history.asp
gives a capsule history. No cigar, by maybe you'd be interested
anyway. I'll keep trying!
But first let me give you girls a hint: back up on the first
URL above to
http://inventors.about.com/
and you can look up all sorts of inventions!
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