5 great ideas: Beginning of the 20th century.
Inventions and discoveries in the 20th century have caused substantial improvement in our way of living and thinking. The industrial revolution changed the way of production of goods and influenced the life style of society. The 20th century witnessed technological advances and scientific discoveries that made life better, lengthy, easy and more enjoyable.
Diesel engine : Power without spark
Rudolf Diesel operated his first diesel engine in 1897, later part of 19th century. His engine proved that fuel could be ignited without spark. The diesel engine has undergone lot of improvements. Today, the disel engines are widely used in various fields like automobiles, electric and water plants, mines, oilfields, factories etc.
X-rays : See through the flesh
Roentgen discovered X-rays on 8th November, 1895 and that earned him nobel prize in 1901 . This discover provided a great impetus to physics and medicine. X-rays, pass through the flesh and tissues of body, leaving images of bones. X-rays are also widely used in industries for various purposes.
Atomic Energy : Energy that is destructive and constructive.
Every object is made of tiny parts called atoms. There is enormous energy in the bonds that hold atoms together. The energy contained in the core of the atom, nucleus, is called nuclear energy. In 1938, Otto Hahn, Fritz Straasman and Lise Metner discovered that the nucleus of a uranaium atom can be split by bombarding it with neutrons. This process is called fission. In 1942 Enrico Fermi and a group of scientists observed that fission of uranium atom gave off more neutrons, which can be used to cause a chain reaction and that enormous energy could be produced by this method.
Nuclear fission exhibited it’s destructive character in the 1940’s, when it was used in the world war.
Theory of relativity : Albert Einsten the evergreen genius .
Albert Einsten, published his special theory of relativity in 1905 and general theory of relativity in 1915. It states that there is no absolute time or space. They are all part of a single fabric space-time and they lengthen or contract depending on the motion of the person measuring them.
Albert Einstein is most famous for his equation E= MC2, that paved way for production of atomic energy and atomic bomb.
Vaccination: Provides immunity from a particular disease.
Vaccines are a single or multiple dose treatment to provide a person with immunity to a particular disease. Chinese were the first to use a variant of vaccination called variolation to prevent small pox. Dr. Edward Jenner discovered vaccination in the modern form and Louis Pasteur improved it better and developed vaccine against rabies.
More discoveries and invention in the 20th century follows.
By JohnCS
Monsoon-Basics That Should Be Known
The art of creating an impression
About Author
