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Introduction
| Highpoints | Medicine HighpointsThe following are just some of the great scientific inventions and discoveries of the 20th century. • In 1901, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright brothers managed to get a biplane glider to fly. In 1903, they made the first successful pilot-controlled flight in a powered biplane called 'Flyer'. Neither was a scientist, but both had experience of making machines. Their success began a century of flight – and the realisation of one of humanity's ancient dreams. By World War I, aeroplanes were being used to carry weapons – and the demands of conflict acted as a spur to new inventions. • In 1905, Albert Einstein published the Special Theory of Relativity, uniting space and time in one mathematical description. The astonishing growth of theoretical physics during the century led to a deeper understanding of humanity's place in the universe and introduced people to the mysteries of subatomic particles, which behave in odd and paradoxical ways. It inspired some scientists to study space and discover that there are galaxies beyond our own, and encouraged others to harness nuclear power. Ideas such as relativity, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and chaos theory were also taken up as powerful metaphors in the cultural sphere. • In 1928, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming, working in London, discovered that a mould on one of his culture plates produced a substance, penicillin, that killed bacteria. By 1938, pathologist Howard Florey, biochemist Ernst Chain and technician Norman Heatley had managed to isolate penicillin and prove its effectiveness in fighting bacteria and, therefore, disease. Because of penicillin's ability to fight septic infection, this discovery probably saved the most lives during the century. • In 1932, John Cockcroft and Ernest
Walton used the first particle accelerator to split the atom. Six years
later, Otto Hahn split the uranium nucleus, and in 1942, Enrico Fermi
demonstrated the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in a uranium
pile on a tennis court at the University of Chicago. These amazing experiments
with subatomic particles led to both the atom bomb and to nuclear reactors
that provided relatively cheap energy.
• In 1935, British scientists led by Robert Watson-Watt demonstrated how radar works. By 1940, it had become central to Britain's defence against attack by Hitler's Luftwaffe and since World War II, it has become vital in making air travel safe. Modern life would be impossible without radar and radio waves. • In 1936, British mathematician Alan Turing published the mathematical theory of computing. Ten years later, in 1946, J Presper Eckert and John Mauchly of the University of Pennsylvania invented the electronic numerator, integrator, analyser and computer (ENIAC), the first all-purpose, all-electronic digital computer. Since then, the explosion in computers – and, most recently, personal computers and the internet – has revolutionised work and communications. • In 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson deciphered the structure of DNA. Understanding how DNA carries information and reproduces itself brought humanity closer to understanding one of the central mysteries of life. This discovery proved how Charles Darwin's theory of evolution worked in practice. It eventually led, in 1973, to researchers splicing together segments of different strands of DNA to create a completely new gene. In 1992, the first map of the human genome – the arrangement of all the DNA in human genes – was produced in France. In 1997, British scientist Dr Ian Wilmut successfully cloned a sheep – 'Dolly' – from a single mammary gland cell taken from a six-year-old ewe. • In 1956, the first large-scale oral contraceptive trials took place at the request of the Planned Parenthood Organization. The first commercially available pill was launched in 1960. Not only contraception, but also new birth technologies emerged in the last part of the century. In 1978, the world's first test-tube baby Louise Brown was born, thanks to in vitro fertilisation, researched by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards in Britain. Such advances represented humanity's conquest of some of the most intimate aspects of nature, and raised difficult ethical issues. • After the first Soviet manned space flight in 1961,
an American astronaut landed on the moon in 1969
– perhaps the greatest technological achievement of the century.
After he stepped on to the surface, leaving human footprints on the lunar
soil, Neil Armstrong – and Buzz Aldrin, his co- pilot – spent
21 hours on the moon, packing 46lb (21kg) of lunar rocks for the trip
home and sending breathtaking images of Planet Earth surrounded by the
blackness of space. By 1997, the US probe Pathfinder studied the
rocks of Mars. Tantalising questions about the possibility of life in
other parts of our universe continued to be asked.
• In 1967, Dr Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. The ability of medicine to replace organs and repair damaged bodies – techniques whose development was boosted during the two world wars – was part of an immensely inspiring conquest of natural weakness and greatly contributed to extending the human lifespan. But troubling questions about who could afford medicine and who should pay for the spiralling costs of treatment became politically urgent. • In 1969, the US Department of Defense established the Arpanet data network. This led to the creation of the internet in the early 1980s and the world wide web in the early 1990s. The idea quickly took off all over the world. For example, although the Chinese government tried to limit access, there were 30 million internet users in that country by 2000. Yet, despite its success, anxieties about surveillance and unrestricted gathering of information were common. |
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