Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On November 22, 1988, one of the most costly of the Cold War high technology weapons was revealed when the prototype of the Northrup Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber was made public. Digging Deeper Development had started under the administration of President Carter, which was a major reason for Carter canceling the B-1 bomber.  Of course, the public was unaware of problems with the B-1 and the game changing technology that would be incorporated on the B-2, making Carter seem soft on military power.  During the 1980 presidential election, Carter felt compelled to make vague reference to…

A Brief History On November 20, 1998, a huge step in the history of space exploration took place when the Zarya segment of the International Space Station (ISS) was launched, the first part of the largest man-made object to orbit the Earth.  Still in use, the ISS can actually be seen by the naked eye from Earth. Digging Deeper Zarya (sunrise in Russian), was designed by the Russians for use with their Mir space station.  Called a Functional Cargo Block, this segment of the ISS was originally used to provide electricity, storage, propulsion and guidance during the early stages of…

A Brief History On November 18, 1963, Bell Telephone introduced a new way to dial a telephone, something referred to as “dual-tone multi-frequency” (DTMF) technology, or Touch-Tone (the trademarked name) dialing.  Also known as push button phones, these would go on to replace the old rotary dial type of telephone (also known as “pulse dialing”) so that today it is rare to even see an old fashioned dial type phone. Digging Deeper Making a lot of calls in the old days was tedious, and tired, sloppy fingers would often slip out of the little round fingertip receptacles causing the caller…

A Brief History On November 14, 1967, physicist Theodore Maiman, an American working for Hughes Research Laboratories, was finally granted a patent for the “optical maser” (maser: microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) device he called the Laser (laser: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), once the stuff of science fiction and now an everyday common electronic device. Digging Deeper Using a synthetic ruby to focus light pumped from a high energy source (the scientific details hurt my liberal arts head), the laser was featured in the James Bond film, Goldfinger (1964) demonstrating the powerful light’s ability to…

A Brief History On November 12, 1970, the people along the Pacific Coast of Oregon found out the answer to the question, “How many State Highway Department employees does it take to blow up a whale?”  Unfortunately, no rational people had actually asked that particular question in the first place! Digging Deeper On that memorable November day, a 45 foot long, 8 ton Sperm Whale washed up dead on an Oregon beach.  Stinky and unsightly, locals not surprisingly wanted it gone.  In Oregon, for some reason beaches are considered highways, so the nasty task of removing the whale carcass fell…