The 1910s Science and Technology: Topics in the News

THE AIRPLANE: SOARING INTO THE SKY

In 1903, the brothers Orville Wright (1871–1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867–1912) successfully flew the first aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. However, America and the world did not immediately take to the air. It was not until the advent of World War I (1914–18) that airplanes began to be produced in mass quantities. And then, they mainly were used as tools of war, rather than for commercial purposes.

Even so, the prewar years saw a number of impressive achievements in aviation. In 1910, aviator Glenn Curtiss (1878–1930) set a new long-distance speed record when he flew from Albany, New York, to New York City in 150 minutes. Curtiss also developed the first seaplane, which featured pontoons instead of wheels. The initial cross-country air flight occurred between September 17 and November 5, 1911. The time spent in the air totaled three days and ten hours, with sixty-eight stops made along the way. Thirty were unscheduled. Harriet Quimby (1875–1912), a magazine editor, became the first woman licensed as a pilot, and Ruth Law (1887–1970) flew nonstop between Chicago and New York. The first scheduled airline flight took place on New Year's Day 1914, when American flier Tony Jannus (1889–1916) piloted a biplane between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida, carrying a single passenger.

In 1914, only five thousand airplanes existed in the entire world. However, at the outset of the war in Europe, military strategists realized that the airplane could help forces win battles, and as a result, planes were employed for surveying enemy territory and bombing. Loaded with machine guns, they could fly low and shoot enemy infantry at close range. The first dogfights (one-on-one battles between two or more planes equipped with guns) captured the imaginations of Americans. Germany's Baron Manfred von Richtofen (1892–1918), popularly known as the Red Baron, was involved in eighty successful dogfights before being killed in action. French pilot Rene Fonck (1894–1953) and British pilot Edward "Mick" Mannock (1887–1918) participated in seventy-five and seventy-three air battles, respectively; Mannock, too, lost his life in combat. The most famous American air ace was Eddie Rickenbacker (1890–1973), who shot down twentysix enemy aircraft. Later, he became a noted airline and automotive executive. During the war, American engineers designed pilotless, bomb-carrying aircraft, but the war ended before they could be put into production. By war's end in 1918, an estimated two hundred thousand planes had been built worldwide. Most had been manufactured for military use.

With the coming of peace, passenger and mail delivery routes using air travel were established in the United States. Then, in 1919, John Alcock (1892–1919) and Arthur Whitten-Brown (1886–1948) completed the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. They flew from Newfoundland, Canada, in a Vicker's Vimy-Rolls-Royce, a twin-engine plane, and landed in Ireland; their flight-time was fifteen hours, thirty-seven minutes. However, paralleling such achievements were air-related tragedies. Less than a year after earning her pilot's license, Harriet Quimby died in an aviation accident, as did John Alcock several months after flying across the Atlantic and Tony Jannus two years after piloting the first passenger airplane.

ASTRONOMY: EXPLORING THE HEAVENS

In 1912, astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (1868–1921) discovered that the period of time it takes for a Cepheid (a class of stars that brighten and dim at regular intervals) to complete its bright-dim cycle is linked to the star's luminosity (the amount of light emitted by a star or group of stars). Two years later, Harlow Shapley (1885–1972) utilized Leavitt's research to figure the relationship between luminosity and the distance between Cepheid variable stars. Such insights allowed astronomers to calculate large distances between stars and understand the size of the universe. In fact, Leavitt's and Shapley's work resulted in the dubbing of Cepheid-class stars as "yardsticks of the universe."

During the decade, George Ellery Hale (1868–1938), a professor of astrophysics at the University of Chicago, became the guiding force behind the construction of the world's largest telescope: a 100-inch reflecting instrument located at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, California. The telescope weighed nearly two hundred thousand pounds, and was mounted in a 100-foot-high dome that was 100 feet in diameter. It allowed astronomers to observe three million stars, as well as faint nebulae (large bodies of dust or gas in interstellar space).

Hale's telescope remained the largest in the world until 1948. His efforts to build it also served as an example of a successful union between industry and science. His enthusiasm for astronomy and ability to excite an interest in the subject among nonastronomers allowed him to entice wealthy businessmen, among them fabled steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), to fund the project.

ATOMIC PHYSICS: UNLOCKING THE ATOM'S SECRETS

Great strides in the area of atomic physics were made during the 1910s. At the time, physicists generally agreed that all matter was composed of molecules, and that molecules were believed to be composed of still smaller units called atoms. As research progressed, it was becoming clear that atoms were composed of even smaller parts. The manner in which those parts came together remained a mystery.

In 1911, Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937), a New Zealand-born scientist working in England, put forth a revolutionary theory on the composition of the atom. Over a period of five years, Rutherford conducted experiments in which he fired alpha particles (positively charged particles consisting of two protons and two neutrons) at various substances, including sheets of gold. He first presented his theory in a paper he delivered in Manchester, England, and later he explained his theory before American physicists at Princeton University's Physics Colloquium. Rutherford's experiments led him to conclude that the center of the atom was composed of protons (from the Greek word for "first") that were surrounded by electrons. He believed that the atom was "built up like a solar system on an extremely small scale. The positive electricity is concentrated into a very small nucleus, which takes the place of the sun, and the negative electrons revolve around this like planets. It seems probable that they are arranged in rings, like the rings of Saturn."

Danish physicist Niels Henrik David Bohr (1885–1962) employed Rutherford's theory to speculate that an atom consisted of a single electron orbiting around a central proton, or nucleus.

American Robert A. Millikan (1868–1953), another of the era's pioneering physicists, charted the course of water and oil droplets flying through the air in an attempt to find the absolute charge of the electron. Austrian physicist Victor Hess (1883–1964) believed that the Earth itself might be the source of radiation. In a series of experiments, he made ten balloon flights in which he employed an electroscope (an instrument used to detect an electric charge) in an attempt to measure levels of radiation emanating from the Earth. Hess discovered that the radiation affecting the balloons was coming not from Earth but from space. These rays were dubbed "cosmic rays." Finally, English scientist Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) showed how atoms of different atomic weights could act in chemically identical ways, and American Irving Langmuir (1881–1957) studied the structure of electronic charges around the atomic nucleus. Excitement over atomic theory electrified the international scientific community during the 1910s. Yet it would remain for those who followed to unlock more of the atom's secrets.

THE AUTOMOBILE: THE MODEL T AND AN INNOVATIVE INDUSTRY

In 1910, 458,500 motor vehicles were registered in the United States, and automobile manufacturing was fast becoming one of the nation's major industries. The Model T, the Ford Motor Company's mass-produced automobile, revolutionized the car industry during the decade. On New Year's Day, 1910, the company opened its huge Highland Park, Michigan, factory where the Model Ts would be churned out by the thousands.

With regard to automobile production, Henry Ford (1863–1947), who had established the Ford Motor Company in 1903, revolutionized the process in 1913 when he introduced the assembly line. As a result of the faster, more efficient work completed on the assembly line, Ford reduced the hours of work for his employees from ten to eight per day. Additionally, he increased wages to $5.00 per day for some workers, at a time when daily salaries in the industry averaged $2.50. So successful was Ford's assembly line production in its division of labor, delivery of components to workers on the line, and the "planned, orderly, and continuous progression of the commodity through the shop" that assembly line production process came to be known as "Fordism." The process came to symbolize U.S. technological and manufacturing efficiency. By December 1913, it had reduced assembly time of a Model T to two hours and forty minutes; the following year, the assembly time decreased to one and one-half hours. Even with the rise in wages, such efficiency allowed Ford to lower the price of a new Model T. In 1910, a Model T sold for $850. By 1916, the cost had been reduced to $345. Eleven years later, the purchase price was down to $290.

The Millionth Patent

It was not surprising that the one-millionth patent awarded by the U.S. Patent Office was for an automobile-related accessory: an improved automobile tire. As President William Howard Taft (1857–1930) noted in the August 1911 issue of Scientific American magazine, "It was fitting that this patent, in itself a monument to progress, should have been awarded to an improvement in the automobile, for there is probably no single recent invention which has done so much to mark American progress or to show the world the prosperity of the United States."

Despite the popularity and affordability of the Model T, Ford did not completely monopolize the American automobile industry. In 1916, when Ford produced nearly 735,000 cars, the Willys-Overland company marketed 140,000 autos, Buick produced 124,834 cars, while Dodge made 71,400. Scores of smaller companies also produced automobiles. By 1916, there were more than three million cars in the United States.

Many important improvements in automotive engineering occurred during the decade. The all-steel automobile body was introduced, and the front-mounted engine that drove the rear axle by means of a rotating shaft (rather than a chain, as in some early cars) became the industry standard. Perhaps the most significant innovation was the development of the electric starter, which meant that engines no longer had to be started by a manually operated cranking mechanism. This innovation, more than any other, made automobiles easier to operate.

In addition, steam-powered vehicles and electric cars contended for a share of the automobile market. Steam-powered cars ran more smoothly than those with gas engines and freed the driver and passengers from irritating vibrations and difficult, often jerky gear-changing procedures. However, these engines were difficult to start since the water essential to their operation had to be boiled until pressure within the system reached 180 to 200 pounds per square inch. One model came with lengthy instruction for starting, beginning with "head the car into the wind!" Steam-powered cars were as expensive as they were inconvenient. In 1918, the Stanley Steamer was selling for $2,750, while the Model T cost less than $400. Meanwhile, electric cars only could be used for short trips, because their batteries had to be constantly recharged. The typical 1914 electric car was run by forty cells. Its speed was controlled by a pedal that, when released, caused the car to speed up and, when pressed, stopped the vehicle. The Stanley Company continued to sell steam-powered cars until 1927. However, by the end of the 1910s, the difficulties associated with charging and recharging electric cars resulted in their demise.

While most deliveries still were made by horse-drawn vehicles, trucks were beginning to displace horses. The tractor-trailer, a truck with its cab and engine separated from the main cargo body, was invented in 1915. This new vehicle made it possible for a truck driver to drop off one trailer and pick up another without unloading cargo. Also during the decade, politicians and business leaders stressed the importance of building better roads and a hard-surface transcontinental highway. In 1913, the U.S. Congress established a committee to explore the essentials of road construction. Three years later, it passed legislation allocating federal money for road-building. President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) was determined to veto the bill, because he believed that such construction should be state-funded. On the day he was to deliver his veto, a German submarine that had eluded the Allied surfaced in the harbor at Baltimore. While it caused no immediate military threat, the submarine's presence was disconcerting, and it caused Wilson to reconsider his position. He then signed the legislation, arguing that improved roads had become a matter of national defense.

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND PUBLIC HEALTH: GENES, GERMS, AND SAFER FOOD

The 1910s saw significant developments in the biological sciences. In 1911, biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866–1945) published the first chromosome map. The diagram identified the location of five sex-linked genes from the salivary glands of the Drosophila (fruit fly), and characterized the genes as being arranged like beads on a necklace. By the end of the decade, almost two thousand genes were mapped by Morgan and his colleagues.

Louise Pearce (1885–1959), one of a growing number of outstanding women scientists, discovered a cure for sleeping sickness. Caused by a micro parasite (a very small organism living in or on another organism) carried by the tsetse fly, those stricken with the disease suffered from inflammation of the brain and experienced listlessness. Pearce determined that Salvarsan, a drug then used as a cure for syphilis, stopped the disease in laboratory animals.

The first modern electric refrigerators were introduced in the United States in 1912 with the marketing of the popular Kelvinator model. Refrigeration led to an important advance in the food industry when Clarence Birdseye (1886–1956) developed a technique for preserving foods by freezing. He used two processes: one centering around the vaporizing of ammonia and the other involving a cold calcium chlorate solution. Birdseye quick-froze fish, fruit, and vegetables in 1924. His efforts eventually resulted in the creation of the multimillion-dollar frozen food industry.

The passing of new laws and codes and the establishment of health-oriented organizations resulted in foods reaching the marketplace in more healthful, less harmful forms. For example, raw milk easily can become a carrier of bacteria. In 1914, New York City's sanitary code required all milk to be pasteurized (heated to 145 degrees Fahrenheit and then rapidly cooled, killing bacteria). The resulting reduction of illness in the city led to pasteurization becoming a common practice across the country. Additionally, Americans became increasingly dependent upon canned goods in their diet. Cans had proven to be an economical form in which to transport food over long distances; the founding of the National Canning Association (NCA) in 1913 led to the establishment of safe canning standards.

During the decade, scientists and government officials attempted to increase public awareness of the need for cleanliness in food preparation. They stressed that the spread of germs is linked directly to maintaining one's health. Because insects often are carriers of germs, efforts were made to eradicate such pests. In Cleveland, for example, a municipal "Battle Against the House-Fly" was waged between 1913 and 1915. Public health officials sought to "put Cleveland on the map as a fly-less city" by setting out poison traps, teaching farmers and grocers about insect-breeding

habits, and draining water from stagnant pools. An extensive newspaper campaign combined with the distribution of two hundred thousand flyswatters to the city's schoolchildren to increase public awareness of the link between flies and disease.

CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS: SHAPING OUR MODERN WORLD

The 1910s saw the beginning of what was to become the modern age of plastics. At the dawn of the decade, chemists faced the difficult problem of removing chemical residue from their equipment. One chemist, Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863–1944), a Belgian-born American, set out to invent a solvent that would complete the task. Because he did not have any chemical residue at hand, he set about creating some to experiment on by combining phenol and formaldehyde. When he attempted to dissolve the substance he created, no solvent worked. It then occurred to Baekeland that the substance he created might itself have useful applications, and he set out to make it harder and tougher. By placing it under suitable temperatures and pressures, he discovered that he could create a liquid that, when cooled, took the shape of its container. Furthermore, this substance, once it was set, would not soften under heat. The chemist named it Bakelite, after himself. Bakelite, the first modern plastic, was marketed in 1917.

In 1910, French chemist Georges Claude (1870–1960) demonstrated that electricity passed through neon (a colorless, odorless, primarily inert gas) produced light, a discovery that directly led to the advent of roadway and storefront signs that could be brightly lit at night. The following year, Dutch scientist H. Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926) discovered superconductivity (the total disappearance of electrical resistance in a substance at temperatures approaching absolute zero). In 1912, German physicist Max von Laue (1879–1960) demonstrated that X rays scattered when passed through crystal structures; additionally, the patterns created could be identified on photographic plates. English physicists William Henry Bragg (1862–1942) and his son William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971) successfully argued that these patterns could be used to identify the precise location of atoms in the crystal. In 1917, French physicist Paul Langevin (1872–1946) revolutionized oceanography (the science that focuses on the oceans) by inventing sonar (a mechanism that detects the presence and location of submerged objects via ultrasonic sound waves). The uses of all these inventions and discoveries were far-reaching. For example, in peacetime, sonar was used to detect schools of fish. In wartime, it was used to note the presence of enemy submarines.

FREUDIAN THEORY: EXPLORING THE WORKINGS OF THE MIND

In 1909, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) traveled to the United States and delivered a series of five lectures at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. These lectures stimulated interest in psychoanalysis in America. Freud already had devised practically all of the basic concepts of psychoanalysis. Among them are the concept that repressed thoughts, hidden away in an individual's unconscious, influence one's conscious action, and the understanding that experiences and relationships from one's past affect present-day relationships.

The following year, the International Association of Psychoanalysis was founded. By 1914, psychoanalytic societies existed in the United States, Germany, England, and Switzerland. Furthermore, the need to treat soldiers suffering from shell shock (a mental disturbance resulting from the stresses of combat) and civilians suffering traumas from their experiences in World War I (1914–18) further spurred an interest in Freudian analysis as well as in other schools of psychology.

GEOLOGY: EXPLORING THE EARTH'S ORIGINS

In 1908, American geologist Frank Bursley Taylor (1860–1938) first put forth the theory of continental drift, which speculated that all the land on Earth originally had comprised a single, vast land mass. Four years later, German geologist, meteorologist, and explorer Alfred L. Wegener (1880–1930) proposed that this theory was the case approximately two hundred million years before. Wegener called this land mass pangaea (Greek for "all-Earth"). He argued that the planet's crust floated on a layer of basalt (a rock type), and that during the course of millions of years the original single supercontinent had broken up into the seven existing continents. He demonstrated that mountain chains on separate continents were composed of similar rock, and cited as evidence the unusual presence of coal deposits in Antarctica and glacial features in the topography of land near the equator. His detailed studies showed that the west coast of North America was moving six feet each year, and that during the previous hundred years Greenland had moved a mile farther away from Europe. Wegener's theory set off a scientific debate that raged for many years.

One other major geological theory was put forth during the decade. In 1914, German-born American geologist Beno Gutenberg (1889–1960) theorized that the Earth's core is liquid. He based his conclusion on his study of the nature of earthquakes.

RADIO: REVOLUTIONIZING MEDIA

The early pioneers of radio included James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), a British theoretical physicist who in the 1860s speculated on the existence of radio waves; Heinrich R. Hertz (1857–1894), a German physicist who produced them experimentally in 1887; and Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937), an Italian inventor and physicist who in 1901 successfully received the initial transatlantic radio communication, sent from Cornwall in England to St. John's, Newfoundland.

The accomplishments of these men laid the groundwork for rapid advances in radio technology. Also in 1901, Reginald A. Fessenden (1866–1932) invented a high-frequency alternator (a device that produces alternating current) that manufactured a continuous radio wave. On Christmas Eve in 1906, Fessenden broadcast the first-ever voice radio transmission. Earlier that year, Lee De Forest (1873–1961) invented the triode, an electron tube with an anode (positive terminal), cathode (negative terminal), and a controlling grid. In 1912, Edwin H. Armstrong (1890–1954), a young electronics engineer, used the triode to create a "regenerative circuit," by which incoming radio signals could be amplified to such a degree that they could be played over speakers. During the following decade, Armstrong improved on this discovery. In 1918, he developed the superheterodyne radio receiver, which allowed for the reception of a wide range of radio transmissions. The following year, this receiver went into mass production.

During World War I, the U.S. government took control of radio technology. While doing so, the government provided funding to support additional technological developments and sorted out various patent infringements and controversies that had impeded the medium's evolution. (One of the most famous of these involved De Forest and Edwin H. Armstrong, with De Forest filing a lawsuit in which he claimed that he invented the regenerative circuit three years before Armstrong.) All of these inventions and events made possible the commercial radio industry, which entertained and enlightened masses of Americans beginning in the 1920s.

SCIENCE ON THE FARM: FERTILIZERS AND OUTREACH

In 1910, farming was America's primary business. That year, more than one-fifth of the nation's population lived and worked on farms. During the decade, farm yields grew appreciably as a result of the application of scientific methods in all areas of farming.

The use of chemical fertilizers doubled between 1900 and 1910, and the growth of the fertilizer industry continued unabated during the following decade. Improvements in the quality and effectiveness of fertilizer, for example, the invention of a process by which atmospheric nitrogen was "fixed" into the substance, made high-quality chemical fertilizer more readily available and lower in cost.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture published and distributed to farmers millions of leaflets and short tracts covering a range of agriculture-related issues. These ranged from scientific advances in farming methods to newly available farming equipment.

Radio and the Sinking of the Titanic

The power and potential of radio was demonstrated on the night of April 14, 1912, during the sinking of the Titanic. The 882-foot-long White Star liner was then the world's largest ship and considered "unsinkable." This assumption provide false, however, when the ship sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. Among those drowned were 832 passengers and 685 crew members.

Radio first came into play when another ship signaled the Titanic's radio operator, informing him of the presence of icebergs in the new ship's path in the North Atlantic. The Titanic's operator ignored these warnings, signaling back that he was busy with other matters. At 11:40 PM, the Titanicsideswiped an iceberg. Its starboard bow plates buckled under the impact, and the ship began to sink. As passengers scrambled aboard lifeboats, the previously lackadaisical radio operator employed the SOS (Save Our Ship) Morse Code signal to call for help. The radio operator on board the Carpathia, which was 58 miles away, picked up the signal, and the ship raced to the rescue. Three-and-a-half hours later, the Carpathia picked up 705 lifeboat survivors who otherwise faced certain death from exposure to the elements.

SOCIAL SCIENCE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND HUMANKIND

During the 1910s, advances in science and technology allowed many Americans to believe that scientific methods could improve governments, societies, and the general quality of life. John B. Watson (1878–1958), a behavioral psychologist, theorized that man had the ability to control human behavior. The Principles of Scientific Management (1911), authored by mechanical engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856–1915), proposed new routines to increase worker efficiency and industrial productivity. In The Place of Science in Modern Civilization (1919) and The Engineers and the Price System (1921), sociologist Thorstein B. Veblen (1857–1929) suggested that America's engineers and technicians could shape "an effectual revolutionary overturn in America," resulting in the achievement of measurable social progress.

At the time, the theory of evolution originated by Charles Darwin (1809–1882) was increasingly churning up vigorous debate within the scientific community and society at large. Darwin postulated that species were capable of variations, and those in ecologically favorable environments would form new and distinct species. This concept clashed with those who placed the origins of mankind in the hands of a supernatural deity. Another of the decade's controversies involved eugenics, a movement that held that intelligence, like other human traits (such as hair color), is passed on from parent to child through the genes. Edward Lee Thorndike (1874–1949), a psychologist and educator, argued that intellectual differences "are due in large measure to original, inborn characteristics." He added that "we already know enough to justify us in providing for the original intellect and character of man in the future with a higher, purer source than the muddy streams of the past." Some eugenics supporters put forth a bold, highly controversial notion: criminality, imbecility, and laziness are inheritable traits, and those who demonstrated these traits should be discouraged, and even prohibited, from reproducing.

The U.S. Public Health Service at Ellis Island, New York, the main receiving point for those wishing to enter the country, sorted out immigrants "who may, because of their mental make-up, become a burden to the State or who may produce offspring that will require care in prisons, asylums, or other institutions." Such "mental defectives" were often refused entry into the United States.

THE TECHNOLOGY OF WAR: SCIENCE AND SLAUGHTER

World War I was the single most significant world event of the 1910s. The emerging technology that allowed individuals to live more comfortably also was employed for the purposes of waging war, with terrible consequences.

Many European and American scientists and engineers served in the war effort. The machine gun, invented in the mid-nineteenth century and refined during the 1880s, became one of the deadliest weapons used in the war. A lightweight machine gun was developed, which was a significant improvement over those in use. Tanks were developed in England with the support of Winston Churchill (1874–1965), the British statesman who was then a military leader. They were first deployed at the Battle of the Somme in September 1916. Incendiary bombs and flamethrowers were invented or improved upon. Astronomer Forest Ray Moulton (1872–1952) designed a more aerodynamic artillery shell to improve bombing.U.S. submarines were equipped with electric engines that allowed them to remain submerged longer than German U-boats. Utilizing radio technology, scientists William D. Coolidge (1873–1975) and Max Mason (1877–1961) developed long-range and short-range listening devices that helped to fix the distances that enemy guns could shoot. Naval engineers concocted an improved sea mine. In 1917, the U.S. Army had only fifty-five airplanes and thirty-five pilots; by the war's end, the military had forty-five squadrons of planes and more than seven hundred pilots. All of these technologies were used to improve the efficiency of killing.

In Nashville, Tennessee, the world's largest explosives factory churned out more than one hundred thousand pounds of explosive powder daily. For much of the war, mustard gas (a greenish-yellow poisonous gas with a pungent odor) was the chemical weapon of choice. The gas would stay suspended just above the ground, sink into the trenches, and torment victims through the agonizing process of burning the mucous membranes in their lungs and eyes until they collapsed and died. Though the Germans had initiated the use of poison gas in 1915, the Allies quickly followed suit. By the end of the war, American chemists had experimented with more than two dozen deadly gases for destructive use in the war.