Peanut - Technology in the 20th Century

Rise of Technology

As my focus area is technology of the 20th century I shall write about that in the next few lines. It all started due to the continuing industrialization and expanding trade. Many significant changes of the 20th century were mainly economic and technological in nature. Inventions such as the light bulb, the automobile, the telephone in the late 1800s, followed by supertankers, radio, television, computers, the Internet, etc, all affected the quality of life. This development brought to huge changes in everyday life. The automobile largely increased the mobility of people, computer games, and the Internet became the new form of entertainment, medicine has also greatly developed in the last century such as the antibiotics. Also the fields of energy, natural resources and the environment developed, such as fossil sources, and nuclear power. Science has probably developed the most in the last century. In astronomy, a much better understanding of the evolution of the Universe was achieved; the Big Bang theory was proposed and proven. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, greatly expanded our understanding of the Universe and brought brilliant images to TV and computer screens around the world. The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, the development of the airplane, and more. Communications and information technology, transportation technology, and medical advances have all radically altered daily lives.

Go here to see the time line of technological inventions of the 20th century: http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/twentieth.htm

Robots

Inventions of robots, how can anyone ignore this great invention? How can someone forget the memorable Optimus Prime of the Transformers, or the Borg in Star Trek, R2-D2 or C-3Po of the star wars, Terminator and the all famous RoboCop. Leonardo da Vinci (site talks about his sketch of the robot) first sketched plans for a human robot around 1495. However, the genius mind behind the first actualy made robots, Elmer and Elsie, is William Grey Walter of the Burden Neurological Institute at Bristol, England. These robots were created in 1948 and 1949. They could sense light and contact with external objects, and use these to navigate. The first truly modern robot, digitally operated and programmable, was invented by George Devol in 1954 and was finally called the Unimate. There are two main types of robots, based on their use: General-purpose autonomous robots and Purpose-build robots. The General-purpose (humanoid like) autonomous robots, also known as humanoid robots, are built to typically behave like humans, and are also often built to be physically similar. On the other hand there are the Purpose-build robots (ridable robot image), which clearly as their name states, are built for a purpose such as tasks of replacing humans in doing jobs with greater productivity, accuracy, or endurance; also Purpose-build robots are used for dirty, dangerous or dull jobs which humans find undesirable.

Go here to see a robot dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSKRgasUEko

If you wish learn more about robots go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot

If you are interested in buying a robot, or making your own, do take your time to visit the following site: http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/robot/robotstore.html

The Space Shuttle

The invention of the space shuttle, is I believe the top invention of not only the 20th century, but the whole of humankind for its times. I grant this invention such great importance, as it might lead to the key answer, which other planet could the Earthmen inhabit, and not under the great concern of money issues. Perhaps the space shuttle itself, could be said not to be so important however all other inventions it brought up to are definitely important, such as various satellites and technological wonders that help us discovered bits and bits of the universe. The first rocket to reach space was the German V-2 Rocket, on a test flight in June. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, which became the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin making one orbit around the Earth. The Space Shuttle Enterprise OV-101 was the first Space Shuttle Orbiter. It was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform test flights in the atmosphere. It was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was thus clearly not capable of spaceflight.

If you wish to find out more from NASA and space shuttles follow this link: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Here is a space shuttle launch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FROxZ5i67k

And here is a space shuttle crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_10T4UYpzV8

The Computer

The invention of the computer in the 20^th century is definitely one of the most important, if not even the most important inventions of the human kind. To the galaxy probably the most important invention, as it gives out the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything; that is 42. The ideas to the invention of the computer rose in 1930’s and 1940’s in Germany, Great Britain and the USA. So there is clearly not just one inventor. In Germany Konrad Zuse came up with the idea of building a program-controlled calculating machine which would deal with extensive calculations. Similar developments were progressing in the USA as well, by Howard H. Aiken. The first two computers were invented in Great Britain by Frederic C. Williams, however the first program was ran by Maurice Wilkes at Cambridge University on 6 May 1949 computing a table of square numbers. Computers are used and are helpful for a variety of reasons; primarily they are very useful for information and communication world wide. With the development of the computer came the development of the www (Internet), and this eased the information storage, and clearly communication. Computers are also used for various other reasons such as: mainly for developing new technologies, programs, softwares, such as engineering or designing softwares, the completion of this assignment, as well as for many other things.