The 1990s Science and Technology: Overview

As the twentieth century drew to a close, the potential for human invention and understanding appeared boundless. Scientific discoveries expanded daily, from the fundamental building blocks of matter to the source code of all life to the origins (and perhaps the eventual end) of the universe. Optimism was the reigning tone of the decade. New advances in science and technology seemed to promise solutions to problems ranging from eliminating toxic waste to grocery shopping.

The Human Genome Project, launched in 1990 with a mission to decode the entire human genetic makeup, held out the promise that the source of genetic diseases could be discovered and the diseases subsequently cured. However, many people worried about what scientists might do with a complete understanding of the human genetic code. Some feared this information might be used to discriminate against people susceptible to certain genetic malfunctions or to group individuals based on their genetic data. The idea that private companies were competing to win patents on genetic discoveries was disturbing as well. Nevertheless, most Americans supported this research that could ultimately provide information to make lives better.

With the creation of the Internet and the World Wide Web, many individuals found that greater access to information increased their sense of personal freedom and power. It gave birth to a new society of technologically connected citizens with a world of digitized information, commerce, and communication at their fingertips. The "Information Super-highway," however, was not open to all. Some Americans, including older citizens and those who could not afford the new technology, lacked access. Still, by 1999 more than three-quarters of the U.S. population was "plugged in" to the new digital society.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continued to amaze the world in the 1990s, despite mishaps and miscalculations. It sent the giant Hubble Space Telescope into orbit to gather and transmit never-before-seen images of deep space that offered increasingly tantalizing clues to the origins of the universe. It found possible evidence of bacterial life in a meteor from Mars and discovered distant planets that might contain water. NASA also sent space probes to land on the surface of Mars and made plans to build an International Space Station with research teams from other countries.

Still, some critics wondered if all of the money spent on space research might not be better used to fund new discoveries here on Earth, especially ones that could help correct environmental problems. Scientists studying the climate on Earth became increasingly concerned during the decade that average temperatures around the planet were rising, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide. As the atmosphere becomes filled with more and more carbon dioxide, it traps more and more heat that should normally escape into space. A continual rise in temperature could have disastrous effects on the world. One result might be the melting of Earth's ice caps at the North and South Poles, with a resulting increase in the volume of the oceans' water. Were that to happen, many of the world's largest cities—those located along the edge of the oceans—might be flooded. Conferences addressing such problems were held around the world in the 1990s, with representatives from hundred of countries attending. Unfortunately, the ongoing debate about the environment and humans' effect on it remained just that, as environmental activists and those with a more conservative outlook failed to reach any meaningful agreements.