50, 100 & 150 Years Ago compiled by Daniel C. Schlenoff
Innovation and discovery as chronicled in Scientific American
August 1961
Polymers and
Manufacturing
“Seven years have now passed since our laboratory in the Politecni-
co di Milano discovered ‘stereospecific’ catalytic processes for creating ‘stereoregular’ polymers from simple asymmetric hydrocarbon molecules such as those of propylene. The new stereoregular polypropylene polymers produced by our methods, and by similar methods successfully developed by others, have been in large-scale production in the U.S. since early this year, following the completion last year of three major plants. Only last year our laboratory was successful in carrying stereospecific polymerization methods another step forward, suggesting that still-new varieties of stereoregular polymers may achieve practical importance before too many years have passed. —Giulio Natta”
Natta shared in the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.These molecules are used as catalysts in the large-scale commercial production of plastics and rubbers.
August 1911
A Million
Great Ideas
“Unmarked by any pomp or ceremony and with a lack of ostenta-
tion that seemed totally inappropriate to the importance of the occasion, the one millionth patent was issued on Tuesday, August 8th, 1911. The wheel of chance which decided the recipient of the epoch-making patent—awarded to the patent which happened to be on the top of the pile when the numbering machine passed 999,999—decided in favor of Frank H. Halton, of Cleveland, Ohio, who had applied for exclusive rights to manufacture and sell an improvement on inflated automobile tires. It was fitting that this patent, itself a monument to progress, should have been awarded to an improvement on the automobile.”
94 Scientific American, August 2011
Water and Power
“The Roosevelt Dam in southern Arizona, recently completed, contains over 350,000 cubic yards of masonry, and forms the largest artificial reservoir now in existence; the construction of this reservoir required the expenditure of nearly $300,000 in wagon roads alone, to make the region accessible and to replace public roads submerged by the artificial lake.”
Opium Toll
“Some unexpected results are found from the movement against the production of opium in China. In the Yunnan, one of the provinces where opium was produced in large quantities, it appears that the poppy is no longer cultivated, owing to the recent measures. However, this has had a disastrous effect on the honey culture of the region. As the bees find no more flowers, the production of honey is stopped. The new crops which replace the poppy, such as wheat or peas, are not such as will give as good a honey yield. On another side of the question, it appears that the opium habits
of the population are not suppressed by the present legislation, as some supposed would be the case, but are again on the rise.”
August 1861
Drinking Lead
“There is no subject of more importance, especially in cities possessing the inestimable blessing of
waterworks, than the corrosion of lead in water pipes. All the salts of lead are extremely poisonous, and, like all the metallic poisons, they accumulate in the system. We have long regarded the fact of the salts of lead being insoluble in water as entirely inconclusive in regard to the safety of employing lead pipes for the conveyance of water. When water is driven with great velocity, under a high head [pressure] through a pipe, the feathery particles of the mineral are then washed off and mingled with the water passing as certainly into the sys-
tem as if they were dissolved.”
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Civil War at Sea |
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“The schooner S. J. Waring, |
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which had been captured by the |
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privateer Jeff. Davis, arrived in |
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this port on Sunday, July 21st, |
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having been retaken by the black |
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steward, with the assistance of |
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one of the seamen. When the S. J. |
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Waring was taken, her captain |
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and mate were taken off, but the |
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colored steward, two of the sea- |
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men and a passenger were left |
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on board. The steward having |
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discovered, by a conversation |
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which he heard, that it was the |
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intention of the prize master |
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Capt. Amiel to sell him into slav- |
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ery as soon as the schooner ar- |
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rived in Charleston, determined |
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to make a desperate attempt to |
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retake the vessel. The steward’s |
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name is William Tillman.” |
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The account we published of the |
The Theodore Roosevelt Dam, built to store |
event is at www.ScientificAmerican. |
water, control floods and provide electricity, 1911 |
com/aug2011/waring |
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, VOL. CV, NO. 7; AUGUST 12, 1911
© 2011 Scientific American
Graphic Science
Bombarded
More and more electromagnetic radiation of our own making fills the “empty” air
You cannot see them, but radio waves pervade your peaceful living space. They emanate from an increasingly large menagerie of electronic gadgets, appliances and satellites. FM radio and broadcast television have been around for years; more recently, cell phones and Wi-Fi routers have added their high frequencies to the mix.
Should we worry? In May the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that long-term cell-phone use could “possibly” cause cancer; it says the same for coffee drinking. The intensity of exposure is proportional to distance, and cell phones are held close to the brain, but many studies conclude that evidence of a cancer link is nonexistent. The sheer number of radiofrequency sources is not a concern either. Exposures “do not all add collectively at any one point in space,” says Jerrold T. Bushberg, head of health physics programs at the University of California, Davis. And average exposure is still far below safety standards, which have a large margin built in. —Mark Fischetti
AM radio 0.56 to 1.62 MHz
Satellite GPS
1,500 MHz
Satellite television 1,200 MHz
FM radio 87.8 to 108 MHz
Tablet with Wi-Fi 2,400 to 2,483 MHz
Broadcast TV 54 to 698 MHz
Cell tower 700, 900 or 1,900 MHz
Microwave oven 2,450 MHz
Megahertz (MHz)
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0 |
500 |
1,000 |
1,500 |
2,000 |
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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ONLINE More data at ScientificAmerican.com/aug2011/graphic-science
96 Scientific American, August 2011
Bluetooth transmitter Hops between 2,402 and 2,480 MHz
Cordless phone 900, 1,900, 2,000, 2,500 or 6,000 MHz
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Cell phone |
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700, 900 |
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or 1,900 MHz |
Wi-Fi transceiver |
COMMISSION |
2,400 to 2,483 MHz |
SOURCE: FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS |
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Graphic by Jude Buffum |
© 2011 Scientific American
INTRODUCING
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