Making the impossible possible
“Vague but exciting.” With these three words Mike Sendall set the ball rolling on an information revolution that would put the world in the palm of our hands. He wrote them on a paper submitted by one of the scientists in his team at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva.
This was 1989, the scientist was Tim Berners-Lee and his document proposed creating a network that would enable CERN scientists around the world to share information. Sendall’s words, effectively, gave Berners-Lee the green light to develop what would eventually become the world wide web.
Of course, at the time, the internet itself was not new. It had existed in some form since the 1960s and was originally set up to provide secure computer networks for the US military. What Berners-Lee did was to create the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) that would allow personal computers to link to the internet. It enabled him, ultimately, to fulfill a long-held ambition to develop a global communication network that was easy to use and available to anyone anywhere in the world. The first ever website and web server was info.cern.ch. Today there are a staggering 80 million websites with hundreds of millions of users. What began as a tool to aid scientists has become, arguably, the greatest innovation in communication since the printing press.
It’s therefore hardly surprising that the internet heads most people’s lists of the best technological innovations of the last decades. For example, the web, internet and broadband – collectively – were number one in the Top 30 Innovations Of The Last 30 Years compiled by the Nightly Business Report and Knowledge@Wharton. The internet won top spot because of the way it has created opportunities and generated whole new industries around it. According to one of the judges Kevin Werbach, a professor of legal studies and business ethics, the internet is, “not just a business phenomenon. It’s a central organizing platform for anything you can think of.” Undoubtedly the internet has linked people together like never before and, in the process, transformed the way we work, shop and interact with each other. It’s a powerful medium for reaching potential voters as Barack Obama proved during the last US presidential election, making his the most digitally sophisticated campaign in history.
As the internet has grown, the devices that can connect you to it have got smaller. First laptops, then hand-held devices such as the Blackberry and now the new range of smart phones have enabled us to run our lives on the move. The current leader in the “wow” factor stakes is arguably the Apple iPhone. With an incredible 90,000 apps (applications) available there seems to be nothing you can’t do, from ordering groceries and booking holidays to satellite navigation and chatting to friends on Facebook – there’s even an app to emit a noise that will ward off flies. Berners-Lee has truly achieved his dream of linking the world. However, his invention and the resulting digital technology that we all take for granted would not have been possible if Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce hadn’t devised the microchip upon which they all rely.
In 1959 the two American electrical engineers separately but simultaneously came up with the idea of integrating all the elements of an electronic circuit onto a silicon chip. Kilby was working at Texas Instruments while Noyce was at Fairchild Semiconductor, a company he’d helped set up. Eventually the two devices were cross-licensed and Noyce went on to co-found Intel, which became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of microchips. Our multi-tasking PCs are the legacy of the Pilot ACE (Automatic Computing Engine). Built in 1950, it was then the fastest computer in the world. It was based on the ideas of mathematician Alan Turing, widely regarded as the father of modern computing.
In 2009, Pilot ACE was among the ten objects that the London Science Museum chose from its collection to represent innovations that changed the future. The museum then invited visitors to vote for their favorite. In first place was the X-ray machine, followed by penicillin and the DNA double helix. The other innovations in the running were the steam engine, tephenson’s Rocket, the electric telegraph, the Model T Ford, the V2 Rocket engine and the Apollo 10 capsule.
The mother of invention
As with the digital revolution most innovations are the result of a scientific legacy. In other words, tapping into existing knowledge to find new applications for technology that not only solves a problem but may also change the way business is conducted, creating new opportunities for growth and development along the way. Our continual desire for improvement was probably best summed-up by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato who famously said that necessity was “the mother of invention”. Since the dawn of our existence we humans have constantly strived to find better ways of meeting our basic needs of a roof over our heads, keeping warm or cool, having access to a ready supply of food and water, staying healthy, communicating and getting around. Added to this is our natural curiosity as to why and how things work. Occasionally we invent things by accident, which was certainly the case with that modern kitchen essential, the microwave oven.
American engineer Percy Spencer was helping a British team to develop radar when he discovered that the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted after he’d walked past a magnetron. Similarly Georges de Mastral, a Swiss engineer, hit on the idea for Velcro when burrs from the Burdock plant got stuck in his dog’s fur. So what is the greatest invention of all time? Because innovation has touched virtually all walks of life, there is a seemingly endless list of contenders. Some might argue the case for the car, the jet engine, railways, the telephone, antibiotics or even the clock. And most of these would not be possible without the wheel, which many would consider to be the world’s most important mechanical invention.
Making the world go round
No one knows who actually invented the wheel and when. But the general consensus is that it came from the Mesopotamians who lived in what is now Iraq. Interestingly the evidence points to wheels being a manufacturing tool long before they were used for transport. Clay tablets from the area, dating back to around 3500 BC, contain diagrams for a potter’s wheel, whereas wheeled chariots are not believed to have appeared until 3200 BC. The first wheels for transport were simple wooden disks with a hole for the axle and would have been very cumbersome.
Then, around 2000 BC, spoked wheels were invented, which enabled faster and lighter wagons and chariots to be built. Spoked wheels are still used today, particularly on bicycles. Historically, other important applications included the water wheel, the spinning wheel and the astrolabe. But the wheel really came to the fore during the Industrial Revolution and remains an essential component in countless devices and mechanisms as well as every method of transport – even space rockets need wheeled vehicles to take them to the launch site. From propellers, turbines, industrial separators and conveyor belts to washing machines, compact disks and ballpoint pens – the principle of revolving motion is the same. But the wheels of industry cannot turn without another great discovery.
Let there be light
Electricity is the undisputed power behind modern industrial society. Since it was discovered in the mid-19th century, mankind has increasingly found new ways of using it to improve the quality of life. One of the leading lights in the development of electrical technology was British chemist and physicist Michael Faraday. His studies on electromagnetic rotation in 1821 formed the basis for the electric motor. Then in 1831, Faraday made the crucial discovery of electromagnetic induction, unlocking the door to the practical application of electricity.
But the electrical innovation that has had most effect on people’s everyday lives came from the other side of the Atlantic. The incandescent light bulb, invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, was one of the first electrical applications to be made widely available to the public. As well as being safer than candles or gas lights, electric lighting was also much brighter, lighting up the night and transforming both our working and social lives. Electricity is still the most flexible form of energy, providing heat and light, powering innumerable labor-saving gadgets and, most importantly, supporting mass production on a global scale. Food processing, refrigeration, air conditioning, the wholesale manufacture of life-saving drugs are just some of the many innovations made possible through electricity.
Reaching for the sky
Our inventive spirit, fired by need and curiosity, is also driven by dogged determination. And nowhere is this more striking than in our attempt to mimic birds. Humans had been defying gravity long before Isaac Newton told us what it was. From the invention of the kite by the Chinese in 400 BC to Leonardo da Vinci’s blueprint for a flying machine, we have dreamed of taking off. In a bid to get airborne people have tried constructing wings and attaching them to their arms, usually with disastrous results. It soon became clear that mechanical means were required to lift us off the ground.
In 1783 French brothers Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier invented the first hot air balloon, using smoke from a fire to blow heated air into a silk bag attached to a basket. In the following century the study of aerodynamics began in earnest, most notably by German engineer Otto Lilienthal who designed the first manned glider. His work provided the basis for the Wright Brothers who designed and built the first successful aircraft in 1903. From then on aviation milestones followed – jets, breaking the sound barrier and orbiting the earth – culminating in the greatest adventure of all when astronaut Neil Armstrong took “one small step for man” when he set foot on the moon on July 21, 1969. Sadly, the “giant leap for mankind” turned out to be short-lived – three years later NASA abandoned the lunar missions. Also in 1969 Concorde made its maiden flight, heralding a new age of supersonic air travel. But the high running costs made trips an expensive luxury rather than routine transport. Following a crash in 2000 and the slump in air travel post-9/11, Concorde was grounded. Supersonic flight and the moon landings are among the top ten innovations that, in the opinion of experts at the British Science Association, failed to live up to expectations. Nevertheless flight is still a huge part of modern life and has opened the door to travel and mass tourism. Similarly space exploration is still on the agenda through the Space Shuttle and unmanned probes to Mars and other planets.
Little things mean a lot
In considering the great inventions it would be easy to miss some of the less obvious ones which, because they are on a much smaller scale, we are more likely to take for granted. Paperclips, zip fasteners, toasters, spectacles, hairdryers and umbrellas are just some of little things we see or use every day, all of which can be classed as innovations. The head screw with its recessed cross design, invented by Henry Phillips in 1936, is a standard for a variety of uses. It is favored over conventional screws because its design prevents the Phillips screw from being over-tightened. Another small wonder is the aerosol-can valve devised in 1949 by Robert Abplanalp, who was then just a 27-year-old machine-shop operator from the Bronx in New York. Previously aerosols had a short shelf life as they would quickly leak and depressurize. Abplanalp has since acquired some 300 patents and his company, Precision Valve Corp, claims that people use its products a billion times a day.
Or how about the flat washer? This simple, flat, metal disk is everywhere. Gunter Pirkl, from GEA Brewery Systems, is keen to sing its praises. “Without flat washers, craftsmen and tradesmen, or service personnel, would have a very hard time tightening screws so that they don’t loosen,” he says. “On the other hand, it is especially thanks to flat washers that we can loosen screw joints and screwed assemblies relatively easily.”
Understanding the body
The London Science Museum’s poll of the best innovations that changed the future, mentioned earlier, revealed that the way we see, treat and understand our bodies is considered a priority by many. Being able to see inside the body revolutionized the way diseases and injuries were detected. X-rays were discovered by German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen in the 19th century. Pierre and Marie Curie built on his work and helped develop the use of x-rays in surgery – during World War I Marie Curie was involved in installing x-ray machines in ambulances which she also drove to the front lines.
For centuries medical pioneers had been searching for and identifying treatments for killer diseases and chronic conditions but the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Alexander Fleming is frequently hailed as the most important. Fleming was actually studying influenza when he noticed that a mold had accidentally developed on a culture dish and was killing the staphylococci germ it contained. Penicillin and other antibiotics have transformed the treatment of disease and saved countless lives. The future of medicine is being steered by another significant breakthrough of the 20th century – the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure by Francis Crick and James Watson in 1953. Watson went on to direct the Human Genome project at the American National Institutes of Health.
This 13-year project, which was completed in 2003 and involved scientists around the globe, achieved its goals of identifying the 20,000-25,000 genes and sequences of the three billion chemical base pairs in human DNA. The results are enabling scientists to identify diseases such as cancer earlier and target treatment more effectively. For example, in December 2009 the International Cancer Genome Consortium announced that it had successfully mapped the genetic codes for malignant melanoma skin cancer and small cell lung cancer. Eventually the Consortium hopes to have the codes for all 50 common cancers.
Meanwhile, back at CERN, the particle acceleration techniques developed by the team working on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project could be applied to drug discovery as well as other fields, including petroleum exploration and climate prediction. The LHC is the world’s largest particle accelerator and will help physicists to unlock the secrets of the cosmos by replicating the conditions just after the Big Bang. As technology and innovation race on, the importance of the work of scientists like the team at CERN is clear. This point is made by CERN Director-General Robert Ayamar. In his article, Basic science in a competitive world, published on the CERN website, he argues that fundamental research is the key to innovation as he says: “Fundamental research has the power to make people dream, and it attracts the innovators of the future into science.”
More information:
- Innovation culture at GEA