A human being stepped foot on another heavenly body and, at the touch of a button, virtually any piece of information is available. Many of today’s biggest scientific accomplishments were previously thought impossible but have continued to transform our lives.
There is the old myth about the turn-of-the-century patent official: "I am retiring,” the unnamed official is claimed to have said, "because there is nothing left to invent.” It is easy to sympathize with this legendary clerk, for who in 1900 could have imagined the kinds of advances that would occur over the next hundred years?
Here we present seven scientific achievements that were thought impossible at one point yet have entered our daily lives.
1. Heavier-than-air Flight
Although the Wright Brothers achieved their historic first "heavier-than-air” flight on December 17, 1903, they had trouble establishing the legitimacy of their claims. Over a year later, Scientific American magazine was still demanding more concrete proof due to popular incredulity at the feat. Air travel struggled to gain a foothold in the military and commercial sectors until World War I when governments began pouring money into their air forces. Commercial passenger air travel followed in 1928.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) serves more than 45,000 flights per day. And every year, it oversees the conveyance of 44,500,000,000 pounds of freight. Many companies, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, developed flight technology that resulted in safer, more fuel-efficient commercial airliners, as well as high-tech military planes, which now include drones that can be flown remotely.
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2. Space Exploration
For most of human history, outer space was an unreachable destination and its exploration was limited toscience-fiction literatureandlegend. However, in the 20th century, amateur rocket experiments and an increased need forlong-range weapons contributed to the post-World War II creation of both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the U.S. and the various Soviet space agencies. Cold War competition led to the first satellite in space,the first manned-space travel,andthe first manned moon landing.
Today, space travel has opened up to commercial interests, with space tourists and the International Space Station, while countries such as India, China, and Japan have all established their own space agencies. Research into the creation of more efficient and comfortable space travel for astronauts has also led to terrestrial innovations in footwear, medical devices, water filtration, and, of course, writing upside-down.
3. Computers and the Internet
Computational aids, such as the abacus, were used for thousands of years before anyone dreamed of modern-day personal computers and supercomputers. After work byCharles BabbageandAda Lovelacein the 19th century led many to recognize that machines were capable of algorithm computations, a flurry of developments in mathematical calculator devices began. Eventually, analog computers were developed, and many people, such asAlan Turing, theorized the power of computers conducting many calculations a second.
Work by both the British and Germans during World War II allowed postwar computer technology to adapt digital programming methods. To strengthen computing power and usability, computer networks were developed in the U.S. and parts of Europe, leading to decentralized systems of file transfer and mainframe use.
TheInternet, first created in 1974, eventually led to services such as e-mail and the World Wide Web. Today, an estimated 63% of the world’s population uses the Internet, and last year alone, about 342 million PCs were shipped globally.
4. Bioengineering
In the 15th century, Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch executed a piece depicting a well-known and long-practiced medical technique called trepanning. Designed to alleviate cranial pressure or pain, trepanning involved a surgeon cutting open a patient’s skull and inserting a small metal instrument to create space in the cranial cavity.
Advances in medicine in 2010 include scientists who are working to treat head and brain traumas by growing new brain cells in a laboratory and introducing them into the patient’s body. Developments in bioengineering and medical treatment have led toparthenogenic births,artificial high-tech limb implants,and evenfull face transplants. Although some aspects of these wonder-science advancements, such as cloning and stem cell research, have provoked controversy, many medical advancements have allowed human beings to live longer, fuller, and more productive lives.
5. Nuclear Technologies (and Splitting the Atom)
While nuclear physics initially concentrated on — and succeeded at — splitting the atom formilitary applications, postwar nuclear technology divided focus between the bomb andnuclear power.
Although nuclear power iscontroversialdue to its military uses and public concerns over safety, roughly10% of the world’s electricity is provided by nuclear energy as of 2021. While studies indicate that nuclear power is not efficient enough to overtake fossil fuels, countries around the world are working to increase their nuclear power generation. Nuclear science has also made inroads in diverse fields, assisting doctors to pinpoint ailments in the body and geologists and archaeologists to see deep into the earth’s surface.
6. The Internal Combustion Engine
In the 19th century, pioneers likeSamuel BrownandKarl Benztinkered with internal combustion engines, which burn fuel in a combustion chamber and exert force on moving parts topropel a device or vehicle. Internal combustion engines paved the way for the automobile, ultimately finding their way into cars, trucks, motorcycles, and even planes and jets.
In1900, only 4,192 cars were driven throughout the world. Nearly a century later, there were roughly 600 million, a number expected to double by 2030.
7. Nanotechnology
Early computers were so large and hot that they had to be housed in special facilities equipped with high-powered fans. Today, we have a desktop, laptop, and even slate computers, but scientists are also working on microscopic computers with the help of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology refers to devices and materials that are scaled at the nano-level, a nanometer being one billionth of a meter. At such a small level, many materials exhibit different properties. For instance, gold nanoparticles absorb infrared light rather than reflect it.
Today, doctors routinely inject patients with gold nanoparticles tagged with DNA and follow the path of the particle to locate problems. Nanotechnology has also led to carbon nanotubes, extra-strong materials used in filtration applications and chemical delivery in such everyday items as sunscreen. Nanotech scientists theorize that innovation options are wide open, and research could lead to more energy-efficient resources and dramatically improve computing power.
This article was originally written by Brian Lane in 2010 and was later updated in August 2022.
