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As the world eagerly looked forward to the
dawn of a new millennium, the turning of the calendar also
represented an opportunity to pause and reflect on the tremendous
ingenuity and invention that marked the previous hundred
years. Electricity, automobiles, telephones, radio, television,
computers... these are just a few of the innovations the
decades had introduced -- all compliments of the world's
engineers.
Celebrating a century of innovation, the
National Academy of Engineering and a consortium of professional
engineering societies present the most significant engineering
triumphs of the era. While the achievements encompass many
dramatic and highly visible engineering feats, from the
first flight at Kitty Hawk to the birth of the Internet,
the lineup is largely composed of more commonplace advances
that had a truly profound and widespread effect on all of
society. Indeed, most of the achievements profiled in this
book are so much a part of our lives that we have come to
take them for granted. But to learn the stories behind these
great achievements is to behold and appreciate them anew.
Topping the list is electrification. More
than half of the "Top 20" would not have been
possible without it. Abundant and available electric power
helped spur America's economic development and distributed
benefits widely, from cities to farms. This achievement
clearly shines as an example of how engineering has changed
the world.
Air conditioning and refrigeration have
significantly improved our sense of comfort and contributed
to our physical health, giving us the ability to transport
and extend the shelf life of food. Radio and television
are so much more than mere entertainment devices. Indeed,
they have changed the way we view the world and our place
in it. The telephone has made the whole planet a smaller
and much more connected place for all of us. And underlying
and enabling many of today's technologies is the computer
-- from room-sized supercomputers to palm-sized devices.
Each chapter tells the life story of a specific
engineering achievement. Each chapter also features a personal
reflection by a notable engineer involved with the achievement.
Among them: Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft; Charles
Townes, whose Nobel Prize-winning work in quantum electronics
established the principles of the maser and laser; Robert
Kahn, one of the originators of the Internet; Bill Anders,
the Gemini 8 astronaut who took the famous "Earthrise"
photograph while in lunar orbit; and Wilson Greatbatch,
prolific innovator of the implantable pacemaker. The engineers'
commentaries capture the excitement, imagination, vision,
and tenacity that ultimately made each achievement a reality.
Timelines trace the evolution of the achievements while
dramatic illustrations depict how things actually work.
Replete with photographs and drawings, the drama of invention
and discovery is brought vividly to life.
More than a simple tally of engineering
achievements, A Century of Innovation is proof positive
that the genius and the talent of the world's engineers
have truly transformed the way people live.
George Constable is a freelance writer
and editor with a longstanding interest in science and technology.
For Time-Life Books and Discovery Books, he has contributed
to volumes about spaceflight, computers, health, and the
environment. He is the author of 11 books on subjects ranging
from prehistoric humans to the modern Olympic Games.
Bob Somerville worked for 20 years at
Time-Life Books, writing and editing books on a wide variety
of subjects, including archaeology, astronomy, computers,
human physiology and psychology, and history. He now works
as a freelance writer and editor based in Forest Heights,
Maryland, and dotes on his nine-year-old son, Andrew.
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