electricity

Alternating Current



Induction Coil / Transformer

In the 1880s every system for distributing electricity used direct current (DC). But DC transmission over long distances was impractical. Transmitting at low voltage required thick wires. Transmitting at high voltage was dangerous and could not be reduced for consumer uses such as lighting. It was known that alternating current (AC) voltage could be varied by use of induction coils, but no practical coil system had been invented.

Stanley's design for such a coil-or 'transformer' as it is now called-became the prototype for all future transformers.







System of Distribution by Alternating Currents


Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Born Apr 9 1865 - Died Oct 26 1923

System of Distribution by Alternating Currents
Alternating Current
Patent Number(s) 533,244

Inducted 1977


In 1893, Steinmetz joined the newly organized General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York, serving as consulting engineer until his death.

Steinmetz's first important research was on the phenomenon of hysteresis, by which power is lost because of magnetic resistance. This research led him directly to a study of alternating current, which could eliminate hysteresis loss in motors. The difficulty was that there was really no theory of alternating current by which the electrical engineer could be guided. Steinmetz set out to remedy this deficiency. During the next 20 years he prepared a series of masterful papers and volumes which reduced the theory of alternating current to order.

Steinmetz's last research was on lightning, which threatened to disrupt the new AC power lines. Here again he made fundamental contributions.


Without Charles Steinmetz's development of theories of alternating current, the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States in the early 20th century would have been impossible, or at least greatly delayed.






Electro-Magnetic Motor

Nikola Tesla invented the induction motor with rotating magnetic field that made unit drives for machines feasible and made AC power transmission an economic necessity.

In 1887 and 1888 Tesla had an experimental shop at 89 Liberty Street, New York, and there he invented the induction motor. He sold the invention to Westinghouse in July 1888 and spent a year in Pittsburgh instructing Westinghouse engineers.






Improvement in Steam-Power Brake Devices

George Westinghouse invented a system of air brakes that made travel by train safe and built one of the greatest electric manufacturing organizations in the United States.

After briefly attending Union College he returned to his father's shop, where he developed and patented a rotary steam engine, a device for replacing derailed freight cars, and a railroad frog.

He then worked to develop a system of railroad brakes that would centralize control in the hands of the engineer. He was awarded the first of many air brake patents in 1869 and at the age of 22 organized the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.
















Electric Lamp

One of the outstanding geniuses in the history of technology, Thomas Edison earned patents for more than a thousand inventions, including the incandescent electric lamp, the phonograph, the carbon telephone transmitter, and the motion-picture projector. In addition, he created the world's first industrial research laboratory. In September 1878, after having viewed an exhibition of a series of eight glaring 500-candlepower arc lights, Edison boldly announced he would invent a safe, mild, and inexpensive electric light that would replace the gaslight in millions of homes; moreover, he would accomplish this by an entirely different method of current distribution from that used for arc lights. To back the lamp effort, some of New York's leading financial figures joined with Edison in October 1878 to form the Edison Electric Light Company, the predecessor of today's General Electric Company. On October 21,1879, Edison demonstrated the carbon-filament lamp, supplied with current by his special high-voltage dynamos. The pilot light-and-power station at Menlo Park glowed with a circuit of 30 lamps, each of which could be turned on or off without affecting the rest. Three years later, the Pearl Street central power station in downtown New York City was completed, initiating the electrical illumination of the cities of the world. In 1887 Edison moved his workshop from Menlo Park to West Orange, New Jersey, where he built the Edison Laboratory (now a national monument), a facility 10 times larger than the earlier one. In time it was surrounded with factories employing some 5,000 persons and producing a variety of new products, among them his improved phonograph using wax records, the mimeograph, fluoroscope, alkaline storage battery, dictating machine, and motion-picture cameras and projectors. During World War I, the aged inventor headed the Naval Consulting Board and directed research in torpedo mechanisms and antisubmarine devices. It was largely owing to his urging that Congress established the Naval Research Laboratory, the first institution for military research, in 1920.

Throughout his career, Edison consciously directed his studies to devices that could satisfy real needs and come into popular use. Indeed, it may be said that in applying himself to technology, he was fulfilling the ideals of democracy, for he centered his attention upon projects that would increase the convenience and pleasure of mankind.





Incandescent Electric Lamp

Irving Langmuir's work led to two major inventions: the high-vacuum electron tube and the gas-filled incandescent lamp.













Fluorescent Lamp

Germer received the Frank P. Brown Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1954 for his fluorescent lamp.

Edmund Germer's development of the fluorescent lamp and the high-pressure mercury-vapor lamp significantly increased the efficiency of lighting devices, allowing for more economical lighting while producing less heat than incandescent light.











Laser


Optically Pumped Laser Amplifiers; Light Amplifiers Employing Collisions to Produce a Population Inversion


Gordon Gould coined the word laser and patented optically pumped and discharge excited laser amplifiers now used in most industrial, commercial, and medical applications of lasers.


Gould and his assignee, Patlex Corporation, now hold the basic patents covering optically pumped and discharge excited laser amplifiers. These lasers are used in 80 percent of the industrial, commercial, and medical applications of lasers. Gould also holds patents on laser uses and fiber optic communications.





Ruby Laser Systems

Physicist Theodore Harold Maiman invented the first operable laser.

While employed at Hughes Research Laboratories as a section head in 1960, he developed, demonstrated, and patented a laser using a pink ruby medium, for which he gained worldwide recognition.


The laser’s impact has rippled through numerous industries. Laser beams are being used in medicine, industry, electronic, data processing, communications, and scientific research in a myriad of ways. Doctors use them to remove tattoos and port wine stains (birthmarks), to repair detached retinas, and to perform bloodless surgery. Industry uses lasers to weld, drill, cut, seam, mark, and heat treat with the effect of high yield, excellent reproducibility, and higher throughput with consequence of improved productivity. Electronic firms use lasers to trim resistors and capacitors and to fashion and anneal transistor ‘chips’ to extremely high accuracy. Lasers are used in supermarket scanners to automate checkout; and now are used in the home in optical videodisc players. With the use of the laser, written and read-out, optical memory will increase storage capacity of computer information to 100 times the density of a magnetic disc or tape. Another innovation is the use of lasers to transmit light for miles without repeaters through hair-thin glass fibers to replace traditional wires in communication. Early on, laser beams were used to measure the 200,000 mile distance to the moon – within one inch. Many scientists predict lasers will play a significant role in harnessing the power of hydrogen ions – known as atomic fusion – in the future.





Masers and Maser Communications System


Arthur L. Schawlow was co-inventor of the laser. He worked with Charles H. Townes, who was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1976.

Schawlow and Townes were seeking ways to extend the maser principle of amplifying electromagnetic waves into the shorter wavelengths of infrared and visible light. They published a proposal for the laser in a 1958 issue of Physical Review and received a patent for it in 1960. By the end of the 1960s, eye surgeons were already routinely using lasers, taking advantage of the fact that they can be made minutely small and precisely focused. In 1961, Schawlow became professor of physics at Stanford University. It was in 1981 that Schawlow received the Nobel Prize in physics for his work in laser spectroscopy.

Today, the laser is prevalent in many areas, including the medical, defense and communications fields.





Production of Electromagnetic Energy; Masers and Maser Communications System

Charles Townes' invention of the maser, a device that amplifies electromagnetic waves, created a means for the sensitive reception of communications and for precise navigation. The maser provided basic components of the laser, for which Townes also received a patent.

The difference between a maser and a laser is that the laser utilizes visible light.

Apart from being useful tools in the laboratory, both masers and lasers have found many applications in radar, communications, astronomy, navigation, atomic clocks, surgery, and industry.











Magnetron

Asymmetrically Conductive Device and Method of Making the Same

Robert Hall invented the version of the magnetron that operates most microwave ovens, the semiconductor laser found in compact disk players, and power rectifiers that greatly improved power transmission efficiency.

His basic rectifier structure, with silicon replacing the germanium, is used today for AC-to-DC power conversion in electric locomotives and high-voltage DC electrical transmission. In 1962 Hall invented the semiconductor injection laser, a device now used in all compact disk players and laser printers, and most optical fiber communications systems.





High Efficiency Magnetron

Percy Spencer, while working for the Raytheon Company, discovered a more efficient way to manufacture magnetrons. In 1941, magnetrons were being produced at a rate of 17 per day. Spencer set out to create a simpler magnetron that could be mass produced. The result was a magnetron that replaced precision copper bars with lamina and replaced soldered internal wires with a simple solid ring. These improvements and others allowed for the faster production of 2,600 magnetrons per day.

In 1945, Spencer created a device to cook food using microwave radiation. Raytheon saw the possibilities of this, and after acquiring Amana Refrigeration in 1965, was able to sell microwave ovens on a large scale. The first microwave oven was called the Radarange, and today, there are over 200 million in use throughout the world.


This discovery led to significant advances in radar and his most popular invention, the microwave oven.

Electrophotography

Physicist Chester F. Carlson, the father of xerographic printing, was born in Seattle, Washington. Plagued by needs for copies of patent drawings and specifications, Carlson investigated ways of automatic text and illustration reproduction, working out of his apartment. While others sought chemical or photographic solutions to 'instant copying' problems, Carlson turned to electrostatics and in 1938 succeeded in obtaining his first 'dry-copy' and the first of many patents two years later. It took presentations to more than 20 companies before Carlson was able to interest the Battelle Development Corporation in his invention in 1944. In 1947 the Haloid Company-renamed Xerox Corporation-negotiated commercial rights to his xerographic development. Eleven years later, and just 10 years before his death in 1968, Xerox introduced its first office copier.








High Resolution Radar and Sonar

Robert H. Rines' contributions to the technology of high-resolution image-scanning radar and sonar began in the era of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Radiation Laboratory with modulation techniques for the Microwave Early Warning System developed secretly during World War II. In peace time, his inventions were basic to high-definition sonar scanning systems used in locating the Titanic and the Bismarck. They are also used in new medical instrumentation allowing noninvasive ultrasound imaging of internal organs.

His patents underlie nearly all the high-definition image-scanning radar used to provide early-warning, weapons fire-control, and some artillery and missile detection radars during the war in the Persian Gulf.







Multiplane Camera

Seldom has an individual become so intrinsically linked to a concept as Walt Disney has with the concept of imagination. His was the catalyst for his incredible body of work, which in turn fed the imagination of millions who have been inspired by it. Disney’s invention of the multiplane camera brought better looking, richer animation and in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated film to use the camera.

The movies that Disney created are amazingly diverse and illustrate the range of his inventiveness.










Photo Composing Machine

Louis Marius Moyroud and Rene Alphonse Higonnet developed the first practical phototypesetting machine. Born in Moirans, Isere, France, Moyroud attended engineering school from 1929 to 1936 and graduated as an engineer from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts et Metiers of Cluny, France. He served in the military as a second lieutenant from 1936 to 1938 and as a first lieutenant in 1939 and 1940. He joined the LMT Laboratories, a subsidiary in Paris of ITT, in 1941 and left in 1946 to spend all of his time on photocomposition. Moyroud and Higonnet first demonstrated their first phototypesetting machine, the Lumitype-later known as the Photon-in September 1946 and introduced it to America in 1948. The Photon was further refined under the direction of the Graphic Arts Research Foundations. The first book to be composed by the Photon was printed in 1953, titled The Wonderful World of Insects. Composed without the use of metal type, it might someday rank in the historical importance of printing with the first book printed from moveable type, the Gutenberg Bible. In recent years, Moyroud has been instrumental in the development of the Euorcat Series of phototypesetting machines marketed in Europe by Bobst Graphics. Fellow communications engineer Higonnet was born in Valence, Drome, France. The son of a teacher, he was educated at the Lycée de Tournon and the Electrical Engineering School of Grenoble University. He was granted a scholarship by the International Institute of Education in New York in 1922, went to Carleton College in Minnesota for one year, and subsequently spent one term at the Harvard Engineering School. He was an engineer with the Materiel Telephonique, a French subsidiary of ITT, from 1924 to 1948. He then became a transmission engineer and worked on long distance cables in Paris-Strasbourg, London-Brussels, and Vienna-Budapest. He was also associated with the Patent and Information Department of ITT.








Photography

Method and Apparatus for Coating Plates for use in Photography

Eastman began his search for a transparent and flexible film in 1884. The first commercial film, put into production a year later, was cut in narrow strips and wound on a roller device patented by Eastman and Walker. Film rolls sufficient for 100 exposures were mounted in a small box camera-the Kodak, which was introduced in 1888 priced at $25. The steady improvement of Edison's motion-picture camera also spurred Eastman to perfect a stronger film designed to fill that promising market.

George Eastman's inventions of dry, rolled film and the hand-held cameras that could utilize it revolutionized photography.




Stroboscope Photography

Pioneering research in stroboscopic photography by Harold E. Edgerton was the foundation for the development of the modern electronic speed flash. Edgerton earned international recognition for his achievements in the related fields of stroboscopy and ultra-high speed photography.

The electronic speed flash his research spurred is important to science and industry as well as routine photography. He originally perfected the use of stroboscopic lights in both ultra-high-speed motion and still (stop-motion) photography capable of revealing operations which move at speeds beyond the perceptive capacity of the human eye (i.e., bullets in flight, light bulbs shattering, etc.).




Photographic Product Comprising a Rupturable Container Carrying a Photographic Processing Liquid


Physicist, manufacturing executive, and inventor Edwin Herbert Land developed the first modern polarizers for light, a sequence of subsequent polarizers, and theories and practices for applications of polarized light.









Video Tape Recording

Broad Band Magnetic Tape Systems and Method

Charles Ginsburg led the research team at Ampex Corporation in developing the first practical videotape recorder (VTR). The system used a rapidly rotating recording head to apply high-frequency signals onto a reel of magnetic tape.

The VTR revolutionized television broadcasting. Ginsburg led the Ampex research team that developed a new machine that could run the tape at a much slower rate because the recording heads rotated at high speed, allowing the necessary high-frequency response. Recorded programs that could be edited replaced most live broadcasts. In 1956, CBS became the first network to employ VTR technology.

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Medical

Anti-Leukemia drugs

Gertrude Belle Elion invented the leukemia-fighting drug 6-mercaptopurine and drugs that facilitated kidney transplants. Hired by Burroughs-Wellcome (now Glaxo Wellcome) in 1944, she began work on antagonists of nucleic acid building blocks. This led to the synthesis of 6-mercaptopurine, a drug quickly marketed as Purinethol, and to another antileukemic drug, 6-thioguanine. Her continued research led to Imuran, a derivative of 6-mercaptopurine that was found to block the body's rejection of foreign tissues.

In combination with other drugs, Imuran enabled kidney transplants from unrelated donors. Elion and her team were prominent in the development of allopurinol (trade name Zyloprim), for treatment of gout, and of a new antiviral agent, acyclovir (Zovirax), which has been used to battle herpes virus infections.










Artificial Heart

Medical researcher Willem J. Kolff invented the artificial kidney dialysis machine.

The artificial kidney dialysis machine Kolff invented has been perfected through a series of improvements so that there are an estimated 55,000 people in the U.S. with end-stage renal disease that are being kept alive by this invention or a subsequent modification of it.


There are an estimated 55,000 people in the U.S. with end-stage renal disease that are being kept alive by this invention or a subsequent modification of it.










CAT Scan

Robert S. Ledley invented the whole-body CT (computerized tomographic) diagnostic X-ray scanner.

The ACTA Scanner set the fundamental design for modern CT scanners, including the first use of the convolution method for CT-image reconstruction, the first high-resolution digital TV display for medical imaging, and the tilting gantry.

Ledley used ACTA to revolutionize diagnostic medicine. He was the first to do medical imaging and three-dimensional reconstructions and the first to use CT in radiation therapy planning for cancer patients and in the diagnosis of bone diseases.








Cortisone

Preparation of Cortisone

Percy Lavon Julian synthesized physostigmine for treatment of glaucoma and cortisone for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

His synthesis of cortisone reduced the price of cortisone from hundreds of dollars per drop for natural cortisone to a few cents per gram.



Process of Treating Pregnene Compounds

Chemist Lewis Hastings Sarett prepared a synthetic version of the hormone cortisone, which was soon demonstrated as an effective treatment against rheumatoid arthritis. Sarett prepared the first synthetic cortisone in 1944, when Merck & Co. was a participant in a government effort to improve military medicine. Four years later the Mayo Clinic demonstrated the efficacy of the product against rheumatoid arthritis.

In 1949, Sarett and several collaborators initiated an alternative synthesis commencing with raw materials derivable from coal, air, lime, and water. This led to the first route independent of naturally occurring starting materials.










Embolectomy Catheter

In 1963, Thomas Fogarty received a patent for his Fogarty® balloon embolectomy catheter, which has since become an industry standard. The device allows a thin balloon to be inserted into a patient's artery and guided through an occlusion. It is then inflated and withdrawn along with the blockage. Fogarty's catheter revolutionized vascular surgery--it is still the most widely used technique for blood clot removal--and encouraged advances for other minimally invasive surgeries, including angioplasty.


Working with his biomedical design engineers at Fogarty Research, Fogarty has developed many balloon devices that are used in laparoscopy-assisted surgical procedures. Other products include a minimally invasive device for breast cancer diagnosis and therapy and a self-expanding stent-graft used to treat aortic aneurysms less invasively to reduce trauma. A native of Cincinnati, Fogarty attended Xavier University and then went on to the University of Cincinnati Medical School.









Genetic Engineering

Process for Producing Biologically Functional Molecular Chimeras

Herb Boyer was with the University of California, San Francisco when he began investigating DNA with Stan Cohen. Their experiments marked the beginning of genetic engineering and launched the multi-billion dollar biotechnology industry. By early 1973, Boyer and Cohen determined that they were able to add genes from an organism to a simple cell; the genes would then replicate in the cell. Their recombinant DNA patents generated over $250 million in royalties before expiring. Recombinant DNA technology is considered the most significant achievement in molecular biology since Watson & Crick's work in 1953. After working with Cohen, Boyer joined forces with venture capitalist Robert Swanson to create the biotechnology firm Genentech, Inc.

Since its founding in 1976, Genentech has produced a number of firsts such as genetically engineered human insulin. Genetically altered crops are also being researched to deal with global food supply issues.










Glucose Detection for Diabetes

Composition of Matter

In the mid-1940s, Alfred Free and Helen Murray were both chemists working together in the biochemistry research group at Miles Laboratories, Inc., in Elkhart, Indiana. Married in 1947, they continued their collaboration, becoming two of the world’s leading experts on urinalysis.The Frees co-authored two books: Urodynamics and Urinalysis in Laboratory Practice, both considered notable works in the field.

Their contributions include the development of dry reagents that have become the standard in laboratory urinalysis and the more consumer-oriented "dip-and-read" tests that first enabled diabetics to easily and accurately monitor their blood glucose levels on their own.










Implantable Pacemaker

Wilson Greatbatch invented the cardiac pacemaker, an innovation selected in 1983 by the National Society of Professional Engineers as one of the two major engineering contributions to society during the previous 50 years. Greatbatch has established a series of companies to manufacture or license his inventions, including Greatbatch Enterprises, which produces most of the world's pacemaker batteries.

His original pacemaker patent resulted in the first implantable cardiac pacemaker, which has led to heart patient survival rates comparable to that of a healthy population of similar age.










MRI

Raymond Damadian invented the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, which has revolutionized the field of diagnostic medicine. The MRI obtains information through the use of static and dynamic magnetic fields, a method that yields radio signal outputs from the body's tissue that can be either transformed into images or analyzed to provide the chemical composition of the tissue being examined.

His MRI produced images of the interior of the body far more detailed than was possible with X-ray devices such as the CAT scanner. Since the device's approval in 1984 by the Food and Drug Administration hundreds have been put to use in medical institutions around the world.









Nystatin (Antifungal / Antibiotic)

Nystatin and Method of Producing It

The world's first useful antifungal antibiotic, nystatin, was developed through a long-distance scientific collaboration.

Working as researchers for the New York State Department of Health, Rachel Fuller Brown in Albany and Elizabeth Lee Hazen in New York City shared tests and samples through the U.S. mail. To Hazen's single-minded pursuit of an antifungal antibiotic, Brown added the skills needed to identify, characterize, and purify the various substances produced by culturing bacteria found in hundreds of soil samples.

The antibiotic they developed, named 'nystatin' for the New York State Department of Health, was first introduced in practical form in 1954 following Food and Drug Administration approval.

Not only did it cure many disfiguring and disabling fungal infections of the skin, mouth, throat, and intestinal tract, but it could be combined with antibacterial drugs to balance their effects.

Uses for nystatin have been as varied as treating Dutch elm disease to rescuing water-damaged works of art from molds.







Oral Contraceptives

Frank B. Colton developed Enovid, the first oral contraceptive. Colton has made many important contributions to medicinal organic chemistry and particularly to steroid chemistry. His pioneering research on the relationship between structure and biological activity, particularly of 19-nor steroids, led to the development of Nilevar, the first orally active anabolic agent which had a distinct separation between protein building and masculinizing properties.

Of even greater importance was his research which resulted in the discovery of Enovid. The introduction of this substance in 1960 for family planning purposes ushered in the era of oral contraception.


Carl Djerassi is recognized for his breakthroughs in chemistry and for his effective translation of theory into practice. His achievements include establishing physical methods for determining organic molecular structure and the synthesis of many steroids.

His work led to oral contraceptives, antihistamines, and anti-inflammatory agents.








Penicillin

Andrew J. Moyer's discoveries provided the foundation for the industrial production of penicillin.

The potential of using penicillin to treat wounded soldiers was immediately recognized in World War II. However the concept of antibiotics was new, and a practical method for large-scale production was not available. Treatments required from 1-2 million Oxford units of the substance. The urgency of finding a method for mass-producing penicillin led to international cooperation.

In the United States, the task was assigned to Moyer, who found that by culturing the Penicillium mold in a culture broth comprising corn steep liquor and lactose, penicillin yields could be increased many fold. This was the first known use of corn steep liquor for growing microorganisms.

Moyer also discovered that with this improved medium, the fermentation could be conducted with continuous shaking, thereby further enhancing the yields and production rate.

These discoveries led to industrial penicillin production, which saved thousands of lives during the war.

Moyer's work also provided a model for the development of all other antibiotic fermentations. Corn steep liquor is still used in the commercial fermentation processes for making penicillin and many other antibiotics. Moyer contributed to 10 U.S. patents.




Displacement of the Thiazolidine Ring in Penicillin with the Formation of a Biologically Active Cephem System

Sir Alexander Fleming's 1928 discovery of penicillin in bread mold was a tremendous breakthrough for medical science. Unfortunately, Fleming's process for harvesting the antibiotic took months to generate a small amount. During World War II, as demand for penicillin rose, researchers worked feverishly to synthesize the penicillin molecule. More than a thousand scientists in 39 U.S. labs became involved in the project. But when the war ended and the molecule still had not revealed its structure, the funds for research ended. From 1948 to 1957 only one laboratory of continued the research-John Sheehan's. In March of 1957, while a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sheehan announced the first rational total synthesis of natural penicillin. The next year he reported a general total synthesis of penicillins.









Pentothal / Anesthesia

Thiobarbituric Acid Derivatives

Ernest H. Volwiler and Donalee L. Tabern discovered the general anesthetic Pentothal, one of the most important agents in modern medicine. Volwiler and Tabern discovered Pentothal in 1936 when they were seeking a substance which could be injected directly into the blood stream to produce unconsciousness. For three years the two men screened over 200 compounds, eventually arriving at a sulfur-bearing analogue of Nembutal. Induction was smooth, pleasant, free of muscle twitching, and notably lacking in delirium or frightening psychic effects. It could be used for minor procedures requiring anesthesia or for more prolonged procedures, being administered before ether.

As a result of his efforts, Abbott in 1948 became the first pharmaceutical company to supply radio pharmaceuticals to medical and research institutions. The uses of Pentothal are legend. Few agents in medicine have played such an outstanding role in improving the well-being of generations of patients.









Pronged Vaccinating Needle

Microbiologist Benjamin A. Rubin ground the eyelet of a sewing machine needle into a fork shape to create a vaccine delivery system that helped wipe out the killer disease smallpox.

Until relatively recently smallpox was a dreaded disease, killing at least two million people annually until 1967. Smallpox could be controlled by vaccination, but the vaccine was always in short supply and, in undeveloped areas of the world, it was difficult to conduct vaccinations.

Rubin was working for Wyeth Laboratories in 1965 when he began experimenting with alternatives to the conventional syringe needle. Further refinements to his ground-sewing-needle design yielded the now-familiar bifurcated (fork-shaped) needle, which he discovered would hold enough vaccine in the small space between the tines to inoculate a person with a few jabs.

Rubin's needle sped vaccinations worldwide, and in 1980 the World Health Assembly declared smallpox defeated. For the first time in history, man had eradicated a deadly disease.










Respirator / Ventilator

Fluid Control Device; Respirator; Pediatric Ventilator

On television every week in the 1960s, Dr. Kildare committed himself to making his patients better. But try as he might, some would still not respond to his treatment. At those times his hospital's slogan was, when all else fails, 'get the Bird.' 'The Bird' was a little green box which became familiar to hospital patients throughout the world after it was introduced in 1958.

It was the first highly reliable, low-cost, mass-produced medical respirator in the world, and it was invented by Forrest Bird. The 'Babybird' respirator, introduced in 1970, quickly reduced infant mortality for those with respiratory problems from 70 percent to less than 10 percent worldwide.









Tetracycline

Lloyd H. Conover invented the antibiotic tetracycline, which became the most prescribed broad spectrum antibiotic in the United States within three years and remains the drug of choice for a number of serious bacterial infections.

Tetracycline was the first therapeutically superior drug to be made by chemical alteration of an antibiotic produced by microbial metabolism. It sparked a wide-scale search for superior structurally modified antibiotics, which has provided most of the important antibiotic discoveries made since then.







Vaccine for Hepatitis B

Vaccine Against Viral Hepatitis and Process; Process of Viral Diagnosis and Reagent


Baruch Blumberg discovered an antigen in 1963 that detected the presence of hepatitis B in blood samples. Hepatitis B is a potentially fatal disease often transmitted through blood transfusions. This hepatitis antigen, 'the Australia Antigen,' was found frequently in the blood serum of viral hepatitis sufferers. The antigen was named for an aborigine blood sample that reacted with an antibody in the serum of an American hemophilia patient. Working with Blumberg, microbiologist Irving Millman developed a test that identified hepatitis B in blood samples. The blood test screened out carriers of this infectious disease, and after blood banks began using the test in 1971, hepatitis B after blood transfusions decreased by 25 percent.

The test also became the first method for screening blood donations for the hepatitis B virus. Together, Blumberg and Millman developed a vaccine against the virus. This vaccine protects people exposed to hepatitis B from infection and has been administered to millions, particularly in Asia and Africa. Since hepatitis B is an unknown factor associated with the development of liver cancer, the vaccine was the first against a major form of cancer.




Vaccine Against Viral Hepatitis and Process; Process of Viral Diagnosis and Reagent


In 1963, Baruch Blumberg discovered an antigen that detected the presence of hepatitis B in blood samples. Hepatitis B is a potentially fatal disease often transmitted through blood transfusions. This hepatitis antigen, 'the Australia Antigen,' was found frequently in the blood serum of viral hepatitis sufferers. The antigen was named for an aborigine blood sample that reacted with an antibody in the serum of an American hemophilia patient. Working with Blumberg, microbiologist Irving Millman developed a test that identified hepatitis B in blood samples. The blood test screened out carriers of this infectious disease, and after blood banks began using the test in 1971, hepatitis B after blood transfusions decreased by 25 percent. The test also became the first method for screening blood donations for the hepatitis B virus.

Together, Blumberg and Millman developed a vaccine against the virus.

This vaccine protects people exposed to hepatitis B from infection and has been a dministered to millions, particularly in Asia and Africa. Since hepatitis B is an unknown factor associated with the development of liver cancer, the vaccine was the first against a major form of cancer.









Vacuum Tube (X-Ray)

William D. Coolidge's name is inseparably linked with the X-ray tube-popularly called the 'Coolidge tube.'

This invention completely revolutionized the generation of X-rays and remains to this day the model upon which all X-ray tubes for medical applications are patterned.







Vitamins

Alloxazines and Isoalloxazinesand Processes for their Production; 2-Sulphanilamido-quinoxaline


Organic chemist Max Tishler developed methods for synthesizing the essential vitamin B2 as well as a poultry disease antibiotic that opened the door to broad expansion of the poultry industry.

In 1937 he joined Merck & Company Inc., where his first assignment was to find a new process for the synthesis of riboflavin that would permit economical, large-scale production of the essential vitamin (B2).

Later Tishler and his associates synthesized and developed a production process for sulfaquinoxaline, the first effective antibiotic for the prevention and cure of the poultry disease coccidiosis. Its use as a feed additive permitted broad expansion of poultry production.a>.


His success, which contributed significantly to human health and nutrition, also led to processes for the practical synthesis of other vitamins.






Process for Obtaining Vitamins

Robert R. Williams, Jr., was a telephone company researcher who in his spare time developed ways to synthesize vitamins that helped fight malnutrition and vitamin-deficiency diseases.

The vitamin research was conducted in his spare time with the aid of grants and space provided by Columbia University and others. Williams isolated thiamine in crystalline form in 1933 and synthesized vitamin B two years later. Merck & Company began commercial production of thiamine in 1936.


Williams' patent, granted in 1942, was a forerunner in the field of chemically reconstructed vitamins.

In addition to his interest in curing Oriental deficiency diseases, Williams was instrumental in the enriching flour, cornmeal, and other cereal grains in this country, wiping out the pellagra and riboflavin deficiency common among poor people.

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Chemistry

Aluminum

Charles Martin Hall discovered the electrolytic method of producing aluminum cheaply, bringing the metal into wide commercial use. As a young chemist experimenting in a woodshed, Charles Hall invented a method for extracting pure aluminum from its ore.

Understanding aluminum's potential, Hall founded an industry that contributed to many others, particularly the manufacture of aircraft and automobiles.

By 1914, Hall's process had brought the cost of aluminum down to 18 cents a pound. Aluminum, once a precious metal used for fine jewelry, is now inexpensive enough for everyday packaging.









Anti-Leukemia drugs

Gertrude Belle Elion invented the leukemia-fighting drug 6-mercaptopurine and drugs that facilitated kidney transplants. Hired by Burroughs-Wellcome (now Glaxo Wellcome) in 1944, she began work on antagonists of nucleic acid building blocks. This led to the synthesis of 6-mercaptopurine, a drug quickly marketed as Purinethol, and to another antileukemic drug, 6-thioguanine. Her continued research led to Imuran, a derivative of 6-mercaptopurine that was found to block the body's rejection of foreign tissues.

In combination with other drugs, Imuran enabled kidney transplants from unrelated donors. Elion and her team were prominent in the development of allopurinol (trade name Zyloprim), for treatment of gout, and of a new antiviral agent, acyclovir (Zovirax), which has been used to battle herpes virus infections.












Bakelite

Leo Hendrik Baekeland is cited for his research in electric insulation, synthetic resins, and plastics. Using money from his first invention, Velox photographic paper, he established a laboratory, where he synthesized 'Bakelite,' a nonflammable material that was cheaper and more versatile than other known plastics.

Bakelite has since been used in everything from engine parts to jewelry to electronics.











Bromine Extraction

Herbert Henry Dow, founder of the Dow Chemical Company, was one of the creators of the modem American chemical industry. His inventions included such diverse items as electric light carbons, steam and internal combustion engines, automatic furnace controls, and water seals, but most of his inventions were chemical in nature.

Most of his chemical patents were for truly "pioneer" inventions. The remainder were practical improvements which took halogen science from theory to reality, creating employment and an environment which encouraged a healthy combination of basic and applied research. The combined effect of his inventions was to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world.












Carborundum

Edward Acheson's discovery of carborundum, a highly effective abrasive used in manufacturing, was an important influence in advancing the industrial era. In the mid 1890s, Acheson discovered that overheating carborundum produced almost pure graphite. This graphite was another major discovery for him, and it became extremely valuable and helpful as a lubricant.

In 1926, the U.S. Patent Office named carborundum as one of the 22 patents most responsible for the industrial age. Not long after that, it was noted that without carborundum, the mass production manufacturing of precision-ground, interchangeable metal parts would be practically impossible.









Cortisone

Preparation of Cortisone


Percy Lavon Julian
Born Apr 11 1899 - Died Apr 19 1975

Preparation of Cortisone
Cortisone
Patent Number(s) 2,752,339

Inducted 1990


Percy Lavon Julian synthesized physostigmine for treatment of glaucoma and cortisone for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

His synthesis of cortisone reduced the price of cortisone from hundreds of dollars per drop for natural cortisone to a few cents per gram.



Process of Treating Pregnene Compounds

Chemist Lewis Hastings Sarett prepared a synthetic version of the hormone cortisone, which was soon demonstrated as an effective treatment against rheumatoid arthritis. Sarett prepared the first synthetic cortisone in 1944, when Merck & Co. was a participant in a government effort to improve military medicine. Four years later the Mayo Clinic demonstrated the efficacy of the product against rheumatoid arthritis.

In 1949, Sarett and several collaborators initiated an alternative synthesis commencing with raw materials derivable from coal, air, lime, and water. This led to the first route independent of naturally occurring starting materials.











Dynamite

Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, was also a great industrialist. In 1863, Nobel developed the Nobel patent detonator, which detonated nitroglycerin using a strong shock rather than heat. In 1865, the Nobel Company built the first factory for producing nitroglycerin. This led to the establishment of many factories around the world.

Nitroglycerin in its fluid state is very volatile. Nobel recognized this, and eventually patented dynamite, a combination of nitroglycerin absorbed by a porous substance. This gave him an easily handled, solid yet malleable explosive.

Mining, railroad building, and other construction became safer, more efficient, and cheaper.












HDPE and Polypropylene Plastics

Robert Banks and fellow research chemist Paul Hogan were working for Phillips Petroleum in 1951 when they invented crystalline polypropylene and high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Together, the plastics were marketed under the brand name Marlex®, which has since made its way into every corner of American life. Banks and Hogan began working together in 1946. Low-density polyethylene already existed, but manufacturing it required extremely high pressures. While working on another project to improve yields of high-octane gasoline--the two chemists discovered crystalline polypropylene. They experimented further and found they were able to produce HDPE in a low pressure situation. Their discoveries launched a multi-billion dollar industry.


Today, over 55 billion pounds of HDPE are manufactured each year. Plastic products include gallon milk jugs, laundry baskets, indoor-outdoor carpeting, and artificial turf.










Isothiocyanate Compounds (Antigen)

Isothiocyanate Compounds and Means of Producing the Same

Antibodies are the body's protectors. When antigens, such as bacteria or viruses, enter the body, antibodies from a previous infection or vaccine combine with them and deactivate the invaders.

During the 1950s, as medical researchers came to understand this relationship, it became a priority to identify antigens.

Joseph Burckhalter and Robert Seiwald made an essential contribution to the identification of antigens through the synthesis of fluorescein isothiocyanate, better known as FITC.

The first practical and first patented antibody labeling agent, the stable, yellow-green-fluorescent compound has become widely used for rapid, accurate, and economic diagnosis of infectious diseases.

FITC has played an important role in identifying the cause of AIDS and can be used to distinguish between different strains of streptococci. It has proved infallible in tests for syphilis. FITC and red RITC (rhodamine isothiocyanate) are used together to quickly diagnose leukemia and lymphoma.

FITC also paved the way for the development of other labeling procedures, such as radioimmunoassay and enzyme-linked immosorbent assay (ELISA).












Kevlar

Kwolek's earliest work pioneered low-temperature processes for the preparation of condensation polymers and resulted in hundreds of new polymers, including Kapton polyimide film, and Nomex aramid polymer and fiber.

As she carried out experiments to make stronger and stiffer fibers, she discovered an amazing branch of polymer science-liquid crystalline polymers.

Thousands of police can attest to the value of Stephanie Kwolek's breakthrough research in para-aramid fibers. The fruits of her inventiveness can be found in mooring ropes, fiber-optic cables, aircraft parts, canoes, and-most important to police-in lightweight bullet-resistant vests.












Nystatin (Antifungal / Antibiotic)

The world's first useful antifungal antibiotic, nystatin, was developed through a long-distance scientific collaboration.

Working as researchers for the New York State Department of Health, Rachel Fuller Brown in Albany and Elizabeth Lee Hazen in New York City shared tests and samples through the U.S. mail. To Hazen's single-minded pursuit of an antifungal antibiotic, Brown added the skills needed to identify, characterize, and purify the various substances produced by culturing bacteria found in hundreds of soil samples.

The antibiotic they developed, named 'nystatin' for the New York State Department of Health, was first introduced in practical form in 1954 following Food and Drug Administration approval.

Not only did it cure many disfiguring and disabling fungal infections of the skin, mouth, throat, and intestinal tract, but it could be combined with antibacterial drugs to balance their effects.

Uses for nystatin have been as varied as treating Dutch elm disease to rescuing water-damaged works of art from molds.
















Oral Contraceptives

Frank B. Colton developed Enovid, the first oral contraceptive. Colton has made many important contributions to medicinal organic chemistry and particularly to steroid chemistry. His pioneering research on the relationship between structure and biological activity, particularly of 19-nor steroids, led to the development of Nilevar, the first orally active anabolic agent which had a distinct separation between protein building and masculinizing properties.

Of even greater importance was his research which resulted in the discovery of Enovid. The introduction of this substance in 1960 for family planning purposes ushered in the era of oral contraception.















Pasteurization

French chemist Louis Pasteur was the founder of microbiological sciences. Pasteur's studies of fermentation began in Lille when he was approached by an industrialist disturbed because undesirable products often appeared during the fermentation of sugar into alcohol by yeast. Pasteur postulated that these products came from microscopic organisms other than yeast and suggested that each particular type of fermentation was the effect of a specific microorganism, called the germ. He soon illustrated this revolutionary theory with brilliant studies on the conversion of sugar.

Pasteur claimed that types of microbes could be separated from each other by proper techniques, and could be shown to differ in nutritional requirements and in their susceptibility to antiseptics. He also suggested that just as each type of fermentation was caused by a particular type of germ, so it was with many types of diseases. Pasteur became preoccupied with the origin of microorganisms and demonstrated that each microbe is derived from a pre-existing microbe, and that spontaneous generation does not occur.

Spoilage of perishable products could be prevented by destroying the microbes already present in these products and by protecting the sterilized material against subsequent contamination. Pasteur applied this theory to the preservation of beverages and foodstuffs, introducing the technique of heat treatment now known as pasteurization.












Peanut Products

Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver developed crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discovered hundreds of new uses for crops such as the peanut, which created new markets for farmers, especially in the South.

At Tuskegee, Carver developed his crop rotation method, which alternated nitrate producing legumes-such as peanuts and peas-with cotton, which depletes soil of its nutrients. Following Carver's lead, southern farmers soon began planting peanuts one year and cotton the next. While many of the peanuts were used to feed livestock, large surpluses quickly developed. Carver then developed 325 different uses for the extra peanuts-from cooking oil to printers ink. When he discovered that the sweet potato and the pecan also enriched depleted soils, Carver found almost 20 uses for these crops, including synthetic rubber and material for paving highways.













Pentothal / Anesthesia

Ernest H. Volwiler and Donalee L. Tabern discovered the general anesthetic Pentothal, one of the most important agents in modern medicine. Volwiler and Tabern discovered Pentothal in 1936 when they were seeking a substance which could be injected directly into the blood stream to produce unconsciousness. For three years the two men screened over 200 compounds, eventually arriving at a sulfur-bearing analogue of Nembutal. Induction was smooth, pleasant, free of muscle twitching, and notably lacking in delirium or frightening psychic effects. It could be used for minor procedures requiring anesthesia or for more prolonged procedures, being administered before ether.


As a result of his efforts, Abbott in 1948 became the first pharmaceutical company to supply radio pharmaceuticals to medical and research institutions. The uses of Pentothal are legend. Few agents in medicine have played such an outstanding role in improving the well-being of generations of patients.











pH Meter

Arnold O. Beckman invented a pH meter for measuring acidity and alkalinity and the quartz spectrophotometer, an instrument which pioneered automatic chemical analysis.









Polymerase Chain Reacton

The polymerase chain reaction, which was devised by Kary Mullis, has revolutionized DNA technology. PCR amplifies specific DNA sequences from very small amounts of complex genetic material. The amplification produces an almost unlimited number of highly purified DNA molecules suitable for analysis or manipulation. PCR has allowed screening for genetic and infectious diseases. Analysis of DNAs from different populations, including DNA from extinct species, has allowed the reconstruction of phylogenetic trees including primates and humans. PCR is essential to forensics and paternity testing.

It has had a major impact on molecular biology, medicine, forensics, molecular paleontology, and many related fields.












Polyurethane

Process for Making Polymeric Products and for Modifying Polymeric Products

William Edward Hanford and Donald Fletcher Holmes invented the process for making the multipurpose material polyurethane.They teamed up at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, receiving their polyurethane patent in 1942. The process they developed reacts polyols and related hydroxy compounds with di-isocyanates. This method is the basis today for the manufacture of all polyurethanes.

Flexible polyurethane foam is used as an upholstery material, and the rigid foam is commonly used as a heat-insulating material in homes, offices, and refrigerators. Polyurethane is also used in life-saving artificial hearts, safety padding in modern automobiles, and in carpeting.













Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

In 1926 Waldo Semon, newly employed in the research department at The BFGoodrich Company in Akron, Ohio, decided to pursue a dubious project. Instead of digging into his assigned work, he began trying to dissolve an undesirable material called polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to create an adhesive for bonding rubber to metal.

'People then thought of PVC as worthless back then,' Semon recalled. 'They'd throw it in the trash.'

Semon never succeeded in creating the adhesive, but by heating PVC in a solvent at a high boiling point he discovered a substance that was both flexible and elastic. At first no one literally knew what to make of Semon's newfangled substance, but decades later PVC has become the world's second-best-selling plastic, generating billions of dollars in sales each year.









Scotchgard (TM) Textile Proctector

Chemist Patsy Sherman and colleague Sam Smith were working at 3M Company when they created Scotchgard™. Scotchgard went on to become one of the most widely used and valuable products in stain repellency and soil removal, eventually bringing in over $300 million annually for 3M.

Sherman and Smith teamed up to develop the line of Scotchgard products after an accidental spill of a fluorochemical rubber intended for jet fuel hoses showed resistance to water and oily liquids. After the introduction in 1956 of a stain repellent treatment for wool, they later developed products designed for clothing, household linens, upholstery, and carpeting. Their research culminated in the late 1960s when they developed a product that both repelled stains and also permitted the removal of oily soils from synthetic fabrics, including the newly popular permanent press fabrics. Sherman and Smith jointly hold 13 patents in fluorochemical polymers and polymerization processes.












Synthetic Rubber

Diamine-Dicarboxylic Acid Salts and Process of Preparing Same; Synthetic Fiber


Wallace Hume Carothers, who has been called one of the most brilliant organic chemists ever employed by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, spent only nine years at Du Pont before his death. But in that time he made contributions to the theory of organic chemistry that led to the invention of polymeric materials such as the synthetic materials nylon and neoprene, the first commercially successful synthetic rubber. During his brief period at Du Pont, Carothers first worked on the polymerization of acetylene and its derivatives; this led to the development by other scientists of neoprene.

His most outstanding work involved the theory of linear polymerization, which he tested by synthesizing a large number of polymers structurally similar to cellulose and silk. This work culminated in the production of nylon, which is today used in a wide variety of applications including apparel, carpeting, home furnishings, and industrial products. The invention of nylon marked the beginning of a new era of synthetic fibers which is still expanding.






Vinyl Derivatives of Acetylene and Method of Preparing the Same


Rev. Julius Nieuwland, C.S.C., was the inventor of the first synthetic rubber, neoprene, manufactured by the DuPont Company. His work with acetylene also led him into a collaboration with scientists from DuPont. Working with them, he found that if monovinylacetylene were treated with hydrogen chloride and the resulting chloroprene polymerized, neoprene would result. Eventually, neoprene was put on the market in 1932 by DuPont under the brand name Duprene.

Neoprene was considered superior to rubber in many ways such as in its resistance to sunlight, abrasion, and temperature extremes. These properties made it popular in many industries. For instance, neoprene is favored for electrical cable insulation, telephone house-to-house wiring, many moulded, extruded, and sheet products, rug backings, and roofing.












Teflon

Chemist Roy J. Plunkett discovered tetrafluoroethylene resin while researching refrigerants at DuPont. Known by its trade name, Teflon, Plunkett's discovery was found to be extremely heat-tolerant and stick-resistant. After ten years of research, Teflon was introduced in 1949.

Teflon has become an important coating for everything from satellite components to cookware.










Tetracycline

Lloyd H. Conover invented the antibiotic tetracycline, which became the most prescribed broad spectrum antibiotic in the United States within three years and remains the drug of choice for a number of serious bacterial infections.

Tetracycline was the first therapeutically superior drug to be made by chemical alteration of an antibiotic produced by microbial metabolism. It sparked a wide-scale search for superior structurally modified antibiotics, which has provided most of the important antibiotic discoveries made since then.









Titanium

In 1932, Luxembourg native William Kroll invented a process to produce metallic titanium. He combined titanium tetrachloride with calcium to produce ductile titanium. By 1938, Kroll had produced 50 pounds of titanium using his process, later named the "Kroll Process". Titanium in its pure form had been discovered by William Gregor in 1791, but it was difficult to obtain from its natural state and, when heated, it yielded a useless substance.

Titanium is the fourth most abundant structural metal on Earth and today remains vital in the production of jet engines and piping systems. It is also used in artificial hips and knees and is a key ingredient in golf clubs, watches and marine equpment.












Transparent Silica

A periodic chart that Franklin Hyde once designed had the element silicon placed directly in the center - not surprising, since Hyde’s work with glass-related technology and his role in launching the silicone industry all derive from silicon.

Silicone fluids resist decomposition from heat and water, so they are used often as lubricants, hydraulic fluids and water repellents. Hyde worked extensively on silicone rubbers, which are extremely resistant to aging, sunlight, moisture, temperature extremes and many chemicals. They are used often as caulks, gaskets, electrical insulators, O-rings and heat-resistant seals.

Hyde’s ultra-pure glass has many uses, including spacecraft windows, telescopes, and precision lenses for manufacturing equipment. It also provided the bases for the semiconductor and fiber optics industries.

Hyde also discovered how to convert silicon-containing compounds into silicones. Now, almost all major industries rely on the silicone industry to supply a wide range of important materials.











Vulcanization of Rubber

Natural or India rubber, as it was then known, was of limited usefulness to industry. Rubber products melted in hot weather, froze and cracked in cold, and adhered to virtually everything until the day in the mid-19th century when inventor Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped some rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove.

Goodyear's discovery of what came to be known as vulcanization strengthened rubber so it could be applied to a vast variety of industrial uses, including, eventually, automobile tires.

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Industrial

Air Conditioner

American engineer and inventor Willis Haviland Carrier developed the formulae and equipment that made air conditioning possible. The world's first spray type air conditioning equipment was Carrier's 'Apparatus for Treating Air,' which he correctly predicted would be used to enhance comfort as well as improve industrial processes and products. In 1911 Carrier disclosed his basic 'Rational Psychrometric Formulae' to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The formulae still stand as the basis for all fundamental calculations in the air conditioning industry. His development of the first safe, low pressure centrifugal refrigeration machine using nontoxic, nonflammable refrigerant marked the beginning of the era of comfort cooling.

Carrier's early work in developing centrifugal refrigeration machines led to new safe refrigerants for which he also received several patents. By controlling humidity as well as temperature, he invented air conditioning as we know it today.









Automatic Engine Lubricator

Elijah McCoy received his first patent for an automatic lubricating device in 1872. Previously, engines had to be stopped before necessary lubrication could be applied. McCoy's invention allowed engines to be lubricated while they ran, saving precious time and money.









Automobile

Transmission Mechanism

Pioneering automotive engineer Henry Ford held many patents on automotive mechanisms. He is best remembered, however, for helping devise the factory assembly approach to production that revolutionized the auto industry by greatly reducing the time required to assemble a car.




Engine Starting Device; Engine Starting, Lighting and Ignition System

Charles Franklin Kettering invented the first electrical ignition system and the self-starter for automobile engines and the first practical engine-driven generator.











Bromine Extraction

Herbert Henry Dow, founder of the Dow Chemical Company, was one of the creators of the modem American chemical industry. His inventions included such diverse items as electric light carbons, steam and internal combustion engines, automatic furnace controls, and water seals, but most of his inventions were chemical in nature.

Most of his chemical patents were for truly "pioneer" inventions. The remainder were practical improvements which took halogen science from theory to reality, creating employment and an environment which encouraged a healthy combination of basic and applied research. The combined effect of his inventions was to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world.










Dynamite

Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, was also a great industrialist. In 1863, Nobel developed the Nobel patent detonator, which detonated nitroglycerin using a strong shock rather than heat. In 1865, the Nobel Company built the first factory for producing nitroglycerin. This led to the establishment of many factories around the world.

Nitroglycerin in its fluid state is very volatile. Nobel recognized this, and eventually patented dynamite, a combination of nitroglycerin absorbed by a porous substance. This gave him an easily handled, solid yet malleable explosive.

Mining, railroad building, and other construction became safer, more efficient, and cheaper.









Electrostatic Precipitator

As industrial smokestacks became a common sight at the turn of the century, Frederick Cottrell realized that pollution might be controlled and that valuable raw materials were vanishing into the atmosphere with the unwanted gases. In 1907 he applied for a patent for a device that passed high-voltage direct current to a discharge electrode which leaked the charge onto particles passing by in the fumes. These charged particles were then electrically attracted to an electrode with an opposite charge, where they could be collected and retrieved as valuable minerals or chemical compounds.

Cottrell's electrostatic precipitator, which became known simply as a 'Cottrell,' removed from 90 to 98 percent of all particles from escaping smoke and gases. The term 'cottrell' can still be found in the unabridged dictionary.









Magnetron

Asymmetrically Conductive Device and Method of Making the Same


Robert Hall invented the version of the magnetron that operates most microwave ovens, the semiconductor laser found in compact disk players, and power rectifiers that greatly improved power transmission efficiency.

His basic rectifier structure, with silicon replacing the germanium, is used today for AC-to-DC power conversion in electric locomotives and high-voltage DC electrical transmission. In 1962 Hall invented the semiconductor injection laser, a device now used in all compact disk players and laser printers, and most optical fiber communications systems.




High Efficiency Magnetron

Percy Spencer, while working for the Raytheon Company, discovered a more efficient way to manufacture magnetrons. In 1941, magnetrons were being produced at a rate of 17 per day. Spencer set out to create a simpler magnetron that could be mass produced. The result was a magnetron that replaced precision copper bars with lamina and replaced soldered internal wires with a simple solid ring. These improvements and others allowed for the faster production of 2,600 magnetrons per day.

In 1945, Spencer created a device to cook food using microwave radiation. Raytheon saw the possibilities of this, and after acquiring Amana Refrigeration in 1965, was able to sell microwave ovens on a large scale. The first microwave oven was called the Radarange, and today, there are over 200 million in use throughout the world.









Numerical Control

John Parsons changed the control of machines and industrial processes from an imprecise craft to an exact science, spawning a second industrial revolution. He brought computers to aircraft design, manufacturing, and real-time management reporting. He developed Numerical Control-produced evaporative patterns to replace weldments with streamlined castings, which revolutionized the production of automobile body dies.












Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

In 1926 Waldo Semon, newly employed in the research department at The BFGoodrich Company in Akron, Ohio, decided to pursue a dubious project. Instead of digging into his assigned work, he began trying to dissolve an undesirable material called polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to create an adhesive for bonding rubber to metal.

'People then thought of PVC as worthless back then,' Semon recalled. 'They'd throw it in the trash.'

Semon never succeeded in creating the adhesive, but by heating PVC in a solvent at a high boiling point he discovered a substance that was both flexible and elastic. At first no one literally knew what to make of Semon's newfangled substance, but decades later PVC has become the world's second-best-selling plastic, generating billions of dollars in sales each year.










Punch Card Tabulator

Herman Hollerith invented and developed a punch-card tabulation machine system that revolutionized statistical computation.

Hollerith began working on the tabulating system during his days at MIT, filing for the first patent in 1884. He developed a hand-fed 'press' that sensed the holes in punched cards; a wire would pass through the holes into a cup of mercury beneath the card closing the electrical circuit. This process triggered mechanical counters and sorter bins and tabulated the appropriate data.

Hollerith's system-including punch, tabulator, and sorter-allowed the official 1890 population count to be tallied in six months, and in another two years all the census data was completed and defined; the cost was $5 million below the forecasts and saved more than two years' time.

His later machines mechanized the card-feeding process, added numbers, and sorted cards, in addition to merely counting data.

In 1896 Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company, forerunner of Computer Tabulating Recording Company (CTR). He served as a consulting engineer with CTR until retiring in 1921.

In 1924 CTR changed its name to IBM - the International Business Machines Corporation.










Steam Generator

George H. Babcock and Stephen Wilcox invented an improved water tube steamboiler, which provided a safer and more efficient production of steam.








Tapered Roller Bearings

Henry Timken invented the Timken® tapered roller bearing. He found that conventional bearings of the 19th century worked well at reducing friction, but ran into problems when the wheels had to bear heavy loads from the sides, as when vehicles turn. So, in 1895, with the help of his two sons and a nephew, he began experiments to make a better bearing. He developed Timken tapered roller bearings to bear the heavy side loads.

In the 1920s, The Timken Company was making 90 percent of the country's bearings. By the early 1990s, they supplied nearly a third of the world's tapered roller bearings.

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Nobel Prizes

The Nobel prizes are awarded under the will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Swedish chemist and engineer, who died in 1896. The interest of the fund is divided annually among the persons who have made the most outstanding contributions in the fields of physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine, who have produced the most distinguished literary work of an idealist tendency, and who have contributed most toward world peace.

In 1968, a Nobel Prize of economic sciences was established by Riksbank, the Swedish bank, in celebration of its 300th anniversary. The prize was awarded for the first time in 1969.

The prizes for physics and chemistry are awarded by the Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm, the one for physiology or medicine by the Caroline Medical Institute in Stockholm, that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for peace by a committee of five elected by the Norwegian Storting. The distribution of prizes was begun on December 10, 1901, the anniversary of Nobel's death. The amount of each prize varies with the income from the fund and in 2007 is worth ten million Swedish kroners, or more than one and a half million U.S. dollars. No Nobel prizes were awarded for 1940, 1941, and 1942; prizes for literature were not awarded for 1914, 1918, and 1943.





2007 Nobel Prize Winners

Physics: Albert Fert (France) and Peter Grünberg (Germany) for "the discovery of giant magnetoresistance," the technology used to read data on hard disks

Medicine: Mario R. Capecchi (U.S.), Sir Martin J. Evans (U.K.), and Oliver Smithies (U.S.) for "their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells"
Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl (Germany) for "his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces"

Literature: Doris Lessing (U.K.) "that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny"

Peace: Al Gore (U.S.) and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Switzerland) for "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change"
Economics: Leonid Hurwicz (U.S.), Eric S. Maskin (U.S.), and Roger B. Myerson (U.S.) "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory"








2006 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh) and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh for “their efforts to create economic and social development from below”

Literature: Orhan Pamuk (Turkey) “who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures”

Physics: John C. Mather and George F. Smoot (both U.S.) for “their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation”

Chemistry: Roger D. Kornberg (U.S.) for “his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription”

Physiology or Medicine: Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello (both U.S.) for “their discovery of RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA”

Economics: Edmund S. Phelps (U.S.) for “his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy”






2005 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Mohamed ElBaradei (Egypt) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for “their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way”

Literature: Harold Pinter (United Kingdom) “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms”

Physics: Roy J. Glauber (U.S.) for “his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence,” and John L. Hall (U.S.) and Theodor W. Hänsch (Germany) for “their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique”
Chemistry: Yves Chauvin (France), Robert H. Grubbs (U.S.), and Richard R. Schrock (U.S.) for “the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis”

Physiology or Medicine: Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren (both Australia) for their discovery that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori causes gastritis and peptic ulcer disease

Economics: Robert J. Aumann (U.S.) and Thomas C. Schelling (U.S.) for “having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis”

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2004 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Wangari Maathai (Kenya) “for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace”

Literature: Elfriede Jelinek (Austria) “for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power”

Physics: David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, and Frank Wilczek (all U.S.) “for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction.”

Chemistry: Aaron Ciechanover (Israel), Avram Hershko (Israel), and Irwin Rose (U.S.) “for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.”

Physiology or Medicine: Richard Axel and Linda Buck (both U.S.) “for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system.”

Economics: Finn E. Kydland (Norway) and Edward C. Prescott (U.S.) “for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles.”








2003 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Shirin Ebadi (Iran), for her work as a human rights activist and lawyer.

Literature: J. M. Coetzee (South Africa).

Physics: Alexei A. Abrikosov (Russia, U.S.), Anthony J. Leggett (UK, U.S.), and Vitaly L. Ginzburg (Russia), for theories about superconductivity.

Chemistry: Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon (both U.S.) for studies on channels in cell walls.

Medicine: Paul C. Lauterbur (U.S.) and Sir Peter Mansfield (UK) for discoveries leading to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Economics: Robert F. Engle (U.S.) and Clive W. J. Granger (UK), for developing statistical tools to improve analysis of stock prices and other data.










2002 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States, was cited for “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

Literature: Imre Kertész (Hungary) for “writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history.” Kertész often draws on his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz in his works, which explore “the possibility of continuing to live and think as an individual in an era in which the subjection of human beings to social forces has become increasingly complete.”

Physics: One-half jointly to Raymond Davis, Jr. (U.S.) and Masatoshi Koshiba (Japan) for “pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos,” and one-half to Riccardo Giacconi (U.S.) for “pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources.” The laureates have used cosmic particles, the smallest components of the universe, to “increase our understanding of the very largest: the Sun, stars, galaxies, and supernovae.”

Chemistry: One-half jointly to John B. Fenn (U.S.) and Koichi Tanaka (Japan) for “their development of soft desorption ionization methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules,” and one-half to Kurt Wüthrich (Switzerland) for “his development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution.” The work of the laureates has helped researchers to quickly determine the composition of biological macromolecules, such as proteins, and understand their function in the cell. “The methods have revolutionized the development of new pharmaceuticals.”

Medicine: Sydney Brenner (UK), H. Robert Horvitz (U.S.), and John E. Sulston (UK) for “their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death.” The laureates have “have identified key genes regulating organ development and programmed cell death and have shown that corresponding genes exist in higher species, including man.”

Economics: Daniel Kahneman (U.S.) for “having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty,” and Vernon L. Smith (U.S.) for “having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms.”








2001 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: United Nations and Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the UN, were cited “for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.”

Literature: Sir V. S. Naipaul (UK) “for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories.” Naipaul explores alienation and the hardships of postcolonial countries in his works of fiction, nonfiction, and the occasional blend of the two.

Physics: Wolfgang Ketterle (Germany), Eric A. Cornell, and Carl E. Wieman (both U.S.) “for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates.” In discovering the Bose-Einstein condensate, a new state of matter, the laureates have explained “the secrets of the microworld of quantum physics.”

Chemistry: One-half jointly to William S. Knowles (U.S.) and Ryoji Noyori (Japan) “for their work on chirally catalyzed hydrogenation reactions,” and one-half to K. Barry Sharpless (U.S.) “for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions.” They “have opened up a new field of research in which it is possible to synthesize molecules and material with new properties.”
Medicine: Leland H. Hartwell (U.S.), R. Timothy Hunt, and Paul M. Nurse (both UK) for their discoveries of “key regulators of the cell cycle.” Their discoveries concerning control of the cell cycle “may in the long term open new possibilities for cancer treatment.”

Economics: George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence, and Joseph E. Stiglitz (all U.S.) for “their analyses of markets with asymmetric information.” “The laureates' contributions form the core of modern information economics.”

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2000 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Kim Dae Jung, president of South Korea, was cited “for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.”

Literature: Gao Xingjian (China) “for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights, and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama.” His first novel, Soul Mountain, recounts impressions from journeys in remote districts in China, and his second, One Man's Bible, draws on his experiences as a political activist during China's Cultural Revolution.

Physics: One-half jointly to Zhores I. Alferov (Russia) and Herbert Kroemer (U.S.) “for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics,” and one-half to Jack S. Kilby (U.S.) “for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit.” Alferov and Kroemer's inventions led to the development of fast transistors, which are used in radio link satellites and mobile telephone base stations. Kilby contributed to the development of the microchip, the basis of all modern technology.

Chemistry: Alan J. Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid (both U.S.), and Hideki Shirakawa (Japan) “for the discovery and development of conductive polymers.” Conductive polymers are plastics that can conduct electric current. They are used in antistatic substances for photographic film and in shields for computer screens against electromagnetic radiation.

Medicine: Arvid Carlsson (Sweden), Paul Greengard, and Eric Kandel (both U.S.) “for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system.” Their findings have led to the development of new drugs to treat neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Economics: James J. Heckman and Daniel L. McFadden (U.S.). “To James Heckman for his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples and to Daniel McFadden for his development of theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice.” The laureates have developed methods that are widely used in the statistical analysis of individual and household behavior within the social sciences.











1999 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Doctors Without Borders, a French-based global organization. Since 1971 it has provided emergency medical assistance to populations plagued by violence and brutality in more than 80 countries. Said the Nobel Committee, “Each fearless and self-sacrificing helper shows each victim a human face, stands for respect for that person's dignity and is a source of hope for peace and reconciliation.”

Literature: Günter Grass (Germany), “whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history.” Grass, whose novel The Tin Drum (1961) brought him world renown, writes fiercely and eloquently about the anguish of war and reunification in his native Germany.

Physics: Gerardus 't Hooft (Netherlands) and Martinus J. G. Veltman (Netherlands). According to the Academy, the two researchers have “placed particle physics theory on a firmer mathematical foundation.” The researchers' theory links electromagnetic and “weak” interactions—the process which produces nearly all of the sun's energy.

Chemistry: Ahmed H. Zewail (Egypt and U.S.) who has created the world's fastest camera, which captures atoms in motion much as a slow-motion replay captures a sporting event. The academy stated that his contributions “have brought about a revolution in chemistry and adjacent sciences.”

Medicine: Dr. Günter Blobel (Germany and U.S.), who was honored by the Academy “for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell.”

Economics: Robert A. Mundel (U.S.), a Columbia University economist, for his work on monetary dynamics and optimum currency areas. The Academy stated Mundel “has established the foundation for the theory that dominates practical policy considerations of monetary and fiscal policy in open economies.”










1998 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: John Hume and David Trimble (both Northern Ireland), whose efforts made possible Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace accord in 1998 and have led to political progress in a deep-rooted conflict. Hume is the leader of the Catholic Social Democratic and Labor Party, and Trimble heads the predominant Protestant Ulster Unionist Party.

Literature: José Saramago (Portugal), who, according to the committee, “with parables sustained by imagination, compassion, and irony, continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality.” The first Portuguese writer to win the Nobel, his novels have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Physics:Robert B. Laughlin (U.S.), Horst L. Störmer (Germany), and Daniel C. Tsui (U.S.), “for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations.” The findings of the three scientists will have implications on our understanding of the destruction of Earth's ozone layer.

Chemistry: Walter Kohn (U.S.) and John A. Pople (U.K.) for their developments in the study of the properties of molecules and the chemical processes in which they are involved. Kohn's density-functional theory simplifies the mathematical explanation of the bonding between atoms within molecules, making it possible for scientists to study large, complex molecules. Pople was cited for his development of computer techniques that make it possible to create models of chemical reactions that cannot otherwise be recreated in the laboratory.

Medicine: Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, and Ferid Murad (all U.S.) for discovering that nitric oxide acts as a signal in the cardiovascular system. Their findings are relevant to the function of the recently popular anti-impotence drug Viagra, and will also have implications for the treatment of heart disease, shock, and other medical conditions.

Economics: Amartya Sen (India), “for his contributions to welfare economics.” His studies, including an examination of the Bangladesh famine of 1974, have contributed to the understanding of how complex economic factors relate to famine and poverty. The committee credited him for “restoring an ethical dimension to the discussion of vital economic problems.”










1997 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: International Campaign to Ban Landmines (founded 1992) and Jody Williams (U.S.) for their work to ban and remove antipersonnel landmines worldwide. The Committee lauded their success in developing a “process which in the space of a few years changed a ban on anti-personnel mines from a vision to a feasible reality.”

Literature: Dario Fo (Italy) for his work as a satirical dramatist, director, and actor. “With a blend of laughter and gravity, he opens our eyes to abuses and injustices in society and also the wider historical perspective in which they can be placed,” the Committee said.

Physics: Steven Chu, William D. Phillips (both U.S.), and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (France) for developing a method to cool and trap atoms using light from lasers. The discovery could lead to more accurate atomic clocks for use in space navigation.

Chemistry: Paul D. Boyer (U.S.), Jens C. Skou (Denmark), and John E. Walker (U.K.) for their discoveries about a molecule that allows the human body to store and transfer energy between cells. Skou received half the prize money for his discovery of an enzyme that works with adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to regulate levels of potassium and sodium in cells. Boyer and Walker shared the other half for their discovery of the process that creates ATP.

Medicine: Stanley B. Prusiner (U.S.) for his discovery of a new type of germ, called prions, that causes degenerative brain disorders, including “mad cow” disease. Critics conceded the existence of prions, but not that they cause disease.

Economics: Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes (both U.S.) for developing a formula that determines the value of stock options and other derivatives.

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