They all laughed... from light bulbs to lasers: the fascinating stories behind the great inventions that have changed out lives PDF
Preview They all laughed... from light bulbs to lasers: the fascinating stories behind the great inventions that have changed out lives
The Au JAUGHED... From @ as a lbs § to Lasers: The Stories Behind t ey IRA FLATOW | Author of RAINBOWS, CURVE BALLS USA $20.00 CANADA $26.75 “History is filled with myths and legends about who did what first, and how. Was Edison’s light bulb really invented the way we think it was? How about the tele- phone? Computer games?” So begins award-winning journalist Ira Flatow’s eye-opening exploration of scientific dis- coveries and the often wacky and acciden- tal way they have led to many of the world’s greatest inventions. Whether it’s TV, telephones, Teflon, Vaseline, Velcro and videos or saccharin, submarines and Silly Putty, They All Laughed . . . gives the behind-the-scenes story of the histo- ry, personalities and intrigues involved in each discovery. Among the surprises: The first commercial fax was invented by Italian priest Giovanni Caselli in 1843. § The world’s first electric chair was the deadly result of the titanic battle between Edison and Westinghouse. The Waring Blendor was named after band leader Fred Waring, who went around the country with his portable bar, concocting strange drinks in his novel rotating pulsifier. » The first video game was quietly dem- onstrated in 1958 in the gymnasium of Brookhaven National Laboratory. (continued on back flap) 0792N They A Te, Aso By Ira FLATOW Rainbows, Curve Balls & Other Wonders of the Natural World Explained Newton's Apple They Au From Light Bulbs to Lasers: The Fascinating Stories Behind the Great Inventions That Have Changed Our Lives IRA FLATOW nity uit - in i Ma Acknowledgments for photographs and illustrations follow the index. THEY ALL LAUGHED . . . FROM LIGHT BULBS TO LASERS: THE FASCINATING STORIES BEHIND THE GREAT INVENTIONS THAT HAVE CHANGED OUR LIVES. Copyright © 1992 by Ira Flatow. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promo- tional use. For information, please call or write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. FIRST EDITION Designed by Irving Perkins Associates LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 91-58336 ISBN 0-06-016445-X 92 93 94 95 96 psRRD 109 8 765 43 21 To Sam, Anna, and Abigail Contents Acknowledgments Foreword 1 Franklin, the Modern Prometheus 2 Whose Light Bulb? Edison in a New Light 3 The War of the Currents, or Let’s “Westinghouse” Him 4 You Press the Button, We Do the Rest 5 The Blendor That Conquered Polio 6 From a Melted Candy Bar to Microwaves 7 Fax: The Priest and the Pendulum 8 How Not to Invent the Telephone, or Why Western Union Didn’t Become Ma Bell 9 Who Really Invented Television? 10 John Logie Baird: The Scotsman Who Almost Won the TV Race 11 Xerox: The Machine No One Wanted 12 Laser: The Atomic Radio-Light 13 Velcro: Improving on Nature 14 Teflon: The Top-Secret Discovery 15 Nylon: The Hit of the ’39 World’s Fair 16 Vaseline: Wonder Jelly From Oil Fields 17 Synthetic Sweeteners: All by Accident 18 Silly Putty: Science’s Goofiest Discovery 19 The Computer That Saved D-Day 20 The Submarine: Made in New Jersey aa 104 168 187 Vili Contents 21 The Dream That Won the Battle of Britain 22 The Typewriter: The Invention No Office Wanted 23 The Wasp That Changed the World 24 The First Video Game: If You Build It They Will Come Epilogue: Who’s Laughing Now? Source Notes and Further Reading Index 192 197 205 213 222 227 230 Acknowledgments In the course of writing this book, I was fortunate enough to be welcomed into the close-knit community of history-of-science writers. These veteran historians delighted in sharing obscure facts and secrets with a fledgling history writer. They were my source of joy and inspiration. When my resourcefulness ran low, they refreshed my spirit with unselfish direction and renewed my interest with a teasing “Did you hear about . . .” tale of discovery and invention. My utmost gratitude goes to Richard Q. Hofacker, Jr., Special Projects Writer, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Short Hills, N.J., for his tireless and resourceful help; to George Wise, Specialist- Communications, General Electric Company, Schenectady, N.Y., and Eliot Sivowitch, Museum Specialist, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., who helped me wade through the history of electricity; to Dr. Theodore Bernstein, Consulting Engineer, Mad- ison, Wisc., for electrical expertise and Dr. Terry S. Reynolds, Head, Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Mich., for help in sharing hard-to-get- photographs; to Glenn Zorpette, Senior Associate Editor, JEEE Spectrum, New York, N.Y., for steering me to the gun director and the Colossus computer. Dr. Earl Warrick, retired Dow Corning scientist and creator of the original Silly Putty formula, was kind enough to fill me in on the gaps in Silly Putty history and to provide original photo- graphs. Rose Beaudry of Waring Products Division, New Hart- ford, Conn., and Pete Kiefer, Curator of the Fred Waring Archives at University Park in Pennsylvania, helped me make sure I spelled Blendor correctly and secured valuable photos. Also thanks to Robert W. Grupp, Manager of External Communica- tions, Dow Corning Corporation, Midland, Mich.; to Richard G. x
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