How It Works Book Of Great Inventors & Their Creation

- -- - - -- - - - - - - -- - -- - - -- - -- - A LEXANDER GRAHAM B ET.L

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Above: Replica of Bell's1675experlmentaf telephone Above: Bell's HD-4hydrofoil boat, photographed In 1919, when itset a marinespeed record of
transmitter. Speechsounds caused the stretched parchment 114-04kilometres 170·86miles) perhour. BelIbecame Interested in hydrofoilsjustafterthe
drum to vibrate, and the metal spring with it. Amagnet Wright Brothers had successfully lUted into lhealrwlth aerofoils.
attached to the sprlng produced an alternating electriccurrent
in the coil that matchedvibrations of thesoundwaves.

Edison's most famous creation: an early sound-
recording device known as the phonograph. He
also invented record-breaking speedboats that
rose up out of the water on submerged 'wings'
called hydrofoils, a chamber to help people with
respiratory problems breathe better (an early
version ofthe iron lung} and the first metal
detector. In his later years, he spent a great deal of
time and effort experimenting with flight. The
invention ofwhich he was most proud, however,
was the photophone, a device that transmitted
sound using light rather than electricity. In 188o,
Bell's photophone made the first ever wireless
transmission ofspeech, across a distance ofmore
than210 metres (2JOyards}. Although his idea
neveractually took offat the time, it is very
similar to the way telephone signalsare
transmitted today using laser light passing
through optical fibres.

101

GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - -- - - - - - -

(12july1854-14March 1932)

I n its first fifty years, photography was the
preserve ofa relativelysmall numberof
professionals and enthusiasticamateurs. It
was expensive, time-consuming, awkward and
very specialized. All that changed in1888, when
American inventor George Eastman began selling
a cheaper camera, which wasalso easierto use.

George Eastman was born on a small farm in
NewYork State, USA. When he was five years old,
the family moved to the city of Rochester, also in
New York. His father died when George was just
eightyears old, and the family fell on hard times.
As a result, George had to leave school aged 13, to
find a job. He was keen to learn, though, and was
Ia rgely self-taught.

Eastman's interest in photographywas sparked
at age 24when, whileworkingasa bank clerk, he
planned a trip abroad. Acolleague suggested he
take a record ofhis trip, so Eastman bought a
camera. The camera wasa large, unwieldy box,
which had to be mounted ona heavy tripodand

102



GREAT INVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Above: Taking a photowith a instead of film there were individual glass bought. While hewas still workingat the bank,
Kodak Browniecamera, plates that had to be coated with light-sensitive Eastman devotedall his spare time to finding the
emulsion in situ and held in large plate holders. perfect wayto mass-produce dry plates.
1\)00S. Brownie cameras For outdoorshooting, the plates had to be
transformed photography prepared in a portable tent that doubled as Convenience
froman expensive, a darkroom.
Int88o, Eastman set up the Eastman Dry Plate
technically-challenging In 1878, Eastman readabout 'dry plates', Company. He began making and selling dry plates
invented in 1871 by the English photographer in1881, and realized thatglass could be replaced
process tosomething a child Richard Leach Maddox. The emulsionwas sealed by a lighter, flexible material. In1884, he had the
could masterand more onto the plates with gelatine. These plates could idea ofmaking the flexible plate into a roll. Aroll
could afford. be stored then used whenever desired, making holder could be mounted in place ofthe plate
obsolete much ofthe equipment Eastman had holder inside the camera. His first camera to
feature a roll offilm, dubbed the 'detective
camera', was available in1885. The roll was made
of paper, but this was not ideal since the grain of
the papershowed up on the prints. Meanwhile,
otherpeoplewere working on flexible dry plates,
too.Several were experimenting with a material
called nitrocellulose, also known as celluloid.
Eastman began selling celluloid film in 1889.

Eastman's real stroke ofgenius was his
realization that, to be successful, he would need
to expand the marketfor photography, and that
would mean, in Eastman's own words, making
photography "as convenientas a pencil". To do
that, he had to invent a new, smaller, affordable
camera.ln 1888, the first Kodak camerawenton
sale. Itwas an immediate success.

The camera came loadedwith a roll able to
record 100 photographs. Once a camera's owner

' Eastman's stroke ofgenius was his
realization that, to be successful, he'd need

to expand the market for photography)

'fhe fu;,t Browme was a cardboard box that ce>11tarned i3 roll holder, a

roll ot trtrn and a lens. On the outsrae there was a shutter button and a

photograph taken wrtho"'- preparation tnat can apture a momeon 111

--------------------------------------------------------- GEORGEEASTMMN

Above: Dry plate camera,18']os. Photography took offwith the
advent of'wet plates' (1850) - glassslides coated in wet light-
sensitive solution.Convenientandaffording shorter exposure
times, Eastman's first success was mass-producing them.

Above: After its introduction had taken the pictures, he orshe had only to send affordable photography. He never married, nor
to still photography in 1925, the camera to Eastman's companyand wait for did he ever have any children.
35mm roll film dominated the pictures and the return ofthe camera, newly
the market until the loaded with film. The key to the Kodak's success He was a great philanthropist, giving away
introduction ofconsumer was changing the perception of photography to large sums ofhis own money to universities,
digital cameras in the1990s. something thatanyone could do. Eastman had a hospitals and dental clinics. His last two years
simple phrase that did justthat: "You press the were painful because he was suffering from a
Top: The Eastman Dry Plate button, we do the rest." degenerative bone disease, and he ended up
Company building_ in New taking his own life in1932 by shooting himselfin
York.Eastman moved to this Eastman changed the name ofhis company to the heart. His suicide note read: "My work is done;
building in 1883, after the Eastman Kodak, and cornered the market in why wait?"
commercialsuccessof his
dry plates.

105

GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - -- - - - - -

erbian-American genius Nikola Tesla would
be very MUCH athome in today's developed
world, with itsalmost ubiquitous electricity
supplyand itswidespread reliance on wireless
technologies. His vision and determination went a
long way towards creating it.
Nil<ola Tesla was born into a Serbian family in
Smiljan, now in the Republic ofCroatia but at the
time of his birth part ofthe Austrian Empire. He
studied engineering, first in Austria then in
Prague, where he dropped out aftera few months
as his father died. Nevertheless, in 188o, he
landed a job as a telephone engineer in Budapest.
In 1882, Telsa had a flash of inspiration that
resulted in one ofhis most importantinventions:
the AC (alternatingcurrent) motor.AC is electric
current that repeatedlychanges the direction it
flows alonga wire, unlike DC (direct current),
which flows in one direction only. Inside Tesla's
motor, AC passes through a cleverarrangement of
coils, producinga rotating magnetic field that

106



GREAT INVENTORS A ND THEIR CREATIONS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Above: WardenclyffeTower, spins the rotor (the rotating part). Also in1882, Around this time,
57 metres (187 feet)high, American inventorThomas Edison (1847-1931) Tesla hit upon two ideas
with metalpipes pushing opened the world's first steam-driven power- that were to dominate his thinking
125 metres (400 feet)into generating stations, one in London and one in from then on:the first was the transmission
theground.Tesla hoped NewYork; both produced DC, which Edison ofelectric powerwithout wires; the second was
that e lectrical oscillations favoured because no AC motors were available, wireless transmission of information (radio).ln
would 'shake' the earth and and Edison's light bulbs- the main reason for 1889, Tesla began experimentingwith very
travel through the generating power atthe time - did notworkwell high-voltage, high-frequency AC {current that
atmosphere, enabling the withAC. oscillates thousands oftimes every second).
worldwide broadcasts of Around1891, he invented the Tesla coil: a kind of
sound and pictures. Tesla worked for a year for an Edison subsidiary transformer that can produce very highvoltages.
in France, and in 1884 he moved to America.All he Initially designed to provide wireless power to
Top Right: Ademonstration had was 4 cents anda letter ofrecommendation lights, it played an important role in the
model made byTes!a ofa n from his boss to Edison himself. Edisongave Tesla development ofradio, television and X-ray
induction motor- perhaps a job, and also promised him $5o,ooo if he could technology. Meanwhile, Tesla continued his
Tesla's most important improve on Edison's DC generators. Within a year,
invention - stripped down to Tesla had succeeded, however, Edisonwas not War of currents
show the coils ofw ire (stator) forthcoming with the money. Tesla asked for a
surrounding the rotor. raise instead, but was again refused, andhe N1koia Tesla's mosllmporram achJevemem IS nis
Alternating current in the subsequently resigned. desiy11 of Ihe power distribubo11 svsteno thdt ha~
stator creates a rotating become rhe standard way 0f deilvennq e!ectncaJ
magnetic field, which pulls power from genera\OJ \o consumer. Ba~ed 011
the rotoraround.
alterniftllog ,·urrent:;, it. superseded Thornas E.di-;on'::.
Biggerand betterthings
cllrect current s~'Stem.
During the months that followed, Tesla developed In 1893, the supe•Jority of lesla·~ AC systeon
a power distribution system based on AC; he took
became apparem when the West1ng11ouse
outseveral patents in 1887. Alternating current Electrical Con1pany provioed impn.!sslve
power distribution is cheaper to install, more
efficient and more versatile than DC systems. eleclnficatk'r• of U1e Ch1cago w(,rld s ~a1r. That year ,
American inventor George Westinghouse
resla lmd the chance to rullil a childhood dream: to
(1846-1914) was impressed with Tesla's ideas, and harness the power of Ihe Ningara Fillls. He and
in1888 he gave Tesla a job. There ensued a battle Wesl!nghouse 'NOI1 tne contract to build a powe1
between Edison (DC) and Westinghouse {AC), but plam there:: , and their success when the frrst
Tesla's system won out, and hisAC motorhas
driven the wheels of industry ever since. eleclricitv flowed ml896 holst~• eli \he cause of ~C

' 'Tesla's systemwon out, and his power systems. 111 the foliow,ny years, Edison
AC motor has driven the wheels
moumt>d a bitter publici! v carnpaign dtnouncing
ofindustry ever since
AC as danqerous, even going so tar as orc11estrating
public ~lectrocur ions of anu nals ilnd ll!"ing involved
111 tile deveiopment of the first e!ectnc chair (wi"oJr.h

was AC). Despite the c.:unpdign. the advantages ot

Tesla's system guaranteed rts success.

108

_ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ NJKOLA TESLA .

Above: Tesla in his Colorado research into wireless broadcasting. Several
Springs laboratory. To the other inventors were working on the same idea,
lett is h is ' magnifying but Tesla's mastery of high-frequency electricity
transmitter', which could put him ahead. In 1898, he designedand built the
produce millions ofvolts. first remotely controlledvehicle: a boat, which he
Themeanderingsparks demonstrated to an amazed crowd in Madison
stretch about 7 metres123 Square Garden, New York.
feet) across the laboratory.
Thephotograph was In 1901, on Long Island, New York, work began
probablya doubleexposure on Wardenclyffe Tower, a hugely ambitious
- withTesla in one and the projectTesla hoped would demonstrate the
sparks in another. potentiaIfor transmitting energy and information
worldwide. Even as work was beginning on
Left Sparksof'artihcial Tesla's tower, the Italian inventor Guglielmo
lightning' flyfrom a large Marconi (1874-19371 transmitteda radio signal
teslacoil, Nemesis, built by across the Atlantic Ocean. The US Patent Office
theTeslaCoil Builders awarded priority in the invention ofradio to
Association, in the USA. Marconi. In 1905, funding forTesla's project dried
Nemesisrunsonmains up, and the project was shut down.
voltage tnovolts in the USA~
but produces more thana His patents lapsed, and with no financial
miUionvolts. backing, Tesla declared himselfbankrupt in 1916
and spent the rest ofhis life in relative poverty
and increasing obscurity. Afew monthsafter his
death, however, the US Supreme Court
overturned the earlier decision, and namedTesla
as the real inventor ofradio.

109

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GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - -- - - - - - - -.

.,

(19 October1862-10April1954and
5October1864-6June 1948)

hile no single person can be credited
with inventing moving pictures, two
french brothers - Auguste and Louis
Lumiere- stand out fortheir foresightand their
important contributions. Using a film camera-
projector that they designed, theyput onsome of
the earliest publicfilm screenings and helped to
define cinema.
Auguste and Louis Lumiere were born in
Besan~on, france, where their father had a
photographicstudio. in1870, they moved to Lyon,
and their father opened a small factory that made
photographic plates. in1882,Auguste and Louis
helped to bring the factory back from the brink of
financial collapse bymechanizing the production
orthe plates, and sellinga new type ofplate that
Louis had invented the previousyear. The firm
moved to a larger factory in Montplaisir, on the
outskirtsor Lyon, where it employed 300 people.
In 1894, the brothers' father attendeda
demonstration ofthe Kinetoscope, a moving

112

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GREAT INVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

•

•

Above: The Lumieres' film of picture peep-show device developed at the Louis developed the film transport mechanism,
Queen Victoria's Diamond laboratory ofAmerican inventorThomas Edison inspired bya similar device in sewingmachines,
jubilee procession in 11847-1931). The Kinetoscope was not a projector- which allowed each frame ofthe film to stop
London, 1897.1tscircular only one person could watch a film ata time- but momentarily behindthe lens.
sprocket holesare it was fast becoming popular entertainment.
characteristic ofthe Antoine saw a commercial opportunityand, The Lumiere brothers patented their camera-
Lumieres' system.Other ret urning to Lyon, suggested his sons work on projector, the Cinematographe, in February1895.
early filmmal<ers used producingan apparatus that could record and Louisshot their first film, which was called La
35mmfilm with rectangular play back moving images.
Edison perforations. Sortie de l'Usine Lumiere aLyon {Workers Leaving
Louis, the more technicallyminded ofthe two
Top Right: The Lumiere brothers, designed the camera-projector, while the LumiereFactoryin Lyon), and the pairshowed
Cinematographe-an Auguste designed the housing forthe light source. the film to the Societe d'Encouragement de
ail-in-one film camera,
printerand projector. F'or l'lndustrie Nationale, in Paris in March1895, the
shooting, only the camera first publicscreening ofa film.
is needed; the wooden box.
The magic-lantern
lamphouse- the large black
box- contains the light
source for projection.

Tmswasa

·equP.nce s11ot 1111115 father· In !Jw'~

114

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - AUGUSTE AND LOUIS LUMIERE

''Theyrefused to sell their devices to anyone Above: Colour photograph,
except through their ownagents'
c.1910, taken with the
After several otherscreenings in France, their Cinematographe and thatwas quickly becoming Lumieres' Autochrome
father arranged for the first performances to a the standard in a rapidlydeveloping industry. By system.When shooting. a
payingaudience. Ten films were shown 20 times a 1905, Edison's system would predominate and glass sl ide coatedwith
day. The opening night, at the Salon Indien-the the Lumiere brothers would leavethe film random lyscattered red-,
empty basement ofthe Grand Cafe in Paris - was business altogether. green-and blue-
in Decemben895· Auguste and Louis did not pigmented starch grains
attend the first day, because they felt the Auguste's interests turned to chemistryand was held in frontof the
technology still needed more work. medicine. In 1910, he foundeda laboratory in Lyon, (black and white) film; the
where his 150 staffcarried out research into sameslidewas required
Great success cancerand other diseases. Auguste invented a for viewing.
dressing for burns, called tulle gras, which is still
After a slow start, the shows became a great used today, and pioneered the use offilm in Top Left: One frame from
success.In1896, the Lumiere brothers sent their surgery, which helped generations ofmedical the Lumiere Brothers' first
agents abroad, demonstrating their students. Meanwhile, in the early 1900s, Louis film, La SortiedeJ'Usine
Cinematographe andarousinggreat interest. demonstrated a sequence shot on a new, wider- Lumierea Lyon, t895·The
Theyalso ordered 200 orso ofthe camera- format film, and later experimented with film wasshot at16 frames
projectors to be constructed, and opened agencies panoramic and stereoscopic (3-D) films. per second and, at that
in several countries to sell them. The Lumiere rate, it runs for just under
franchise was verysuccessful, but they refused to In1904, the Lumiere brothers perfecteda colour 50seconds. I t features
sell their devices to anyone except through their photography system known asAutochrome; they most ofthe nearly 300
own agents. had been working on colour photography ever workers - mostly women
since the early189os. Autochrome was the most - walkingorcycling out of
By1897, Thomas Edison had developeda system important colour photographic process until
ofsprocket holes that was incompatiblewith the colour film became available in the 1930s. the factory yard.

115

GREAT INVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _____,__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

--

-

rI

(16 April1867-30 May1912
&1gAugust1871-30 january1948)

A t the dawn of the zoth century, two
brothers from a small town in the USA
-Wilburand Orville Wright- became the
first to achieve sustained, powered flight.

The l<ey to theirsuccesswas the combination of
their inventive, mechanical skill with the
application ofscientificprinciples to flight.
Moreover, theylearned to become pilots in a
gradual, thoughtful way, rather than risking
everything on one short trial, likeso many
other pioneers.

Wilbur (seen right) and Orville (left) Wright
grew up in Dayton, Ohio, in a family with seven
children (although two died in childhood). They
were mechanically-minded from an early age: in
1886, they builttheir own lathe; in1888, they built
a printing press, which they used to produce their
own local paper; and in 1892, they opened a
bicycle repairshop. They used the profits ofthe
shop to finance theirefforts in aviation.

116

First successlulllightofthe Wright Flyer, by the

Wrightbrothers. It travelled 120ltt36.6 m) in12
seconds at 10.35amat Kill Devil Hills, North
Carolina. Orville Wright was at the controls.

WilburWright ranalongside to balance the
machine,andjust released his holdon the
forward upright ofthe rightWingin the photo.

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GREAT INVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS ~

' The brothers decided to build constructed their first glider in 1900, andalso
addeda front 'wing' called an elevator, for pitch

full-size, pilotedgliders ' control. They chose the open area on the coast,
nearthe tiny fishing village ofKitty Hawk in North

Carolina, for its steady on-shore winds. Firstthey

The dream of human flight stretches back to flew the glidertethered like a kite, moving to the

antiquity, but itwas onlyin the late 18th century nearby Kill Devil Hills for actual flights.During

that people finally made it into the air, bycourtesy 1901 and 1902, Wilbur and Orville built and tested

of'lighter-than-air' balloons. In the 19th century, two more gliders, and theyalso carried out

scientists and inventors began giving serious hundreds ofexperiments in a homemadewind

consideration to the problem of'heavier-than-air' tunnelin their bicycle shop back in Dayton. By

flight. Providing powerwas problematic, since analysis and practical trials the brothers became

steam engines were large and veryheavy. During the first to realize that controllingan aircraft

the188os and189os people flew in unpowered required the banking control (wing warping or

gliders and kites.ln 1899, the Wright brothers aileronl, rudder and elevatorall to be used

builta large box kite. Wilbur hit on the idea that continuously in combination. Theywere now

by twistingthe boxshape, itwould be possible to ready to make a powered version oftheir flying

change the airflow over the wings and make the machine. For driving the aeroplane, they

kite bank and turn. He called this effect 'wing designed and built large wooden propellers and,

warping', and it would be crucial to the brothers' with a colleague in the bicycle shop, made a

later success. purpose-built, lightweight, powerful engine.

After the kite performed well, the brothers Testing their ideas
decided to build full-size, pilotedgliders, with

wing warping effectedvia control cables. They In December1903, at Kill Devil Hills, the Wright

118

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ WJLBURAND 0RVIUE WRIGHT

wa> Wtlhu wt10 was titst strucl\ bv the desire to butld d

brothers were ready to put all theirideas, to believe thatthe age-old dream Above Left: The Wright
experiments and calculations to the test. The first offlight had finally come true, but brothers' wind tunnel. They
successful flights took place on December 17. also because the brothers became used it to testwingdesigns
There were four flights that day, two by each secretive abouttheir work, hoping to compile the first accurate
brother. The first, with Orville piloting, lasted just to sell their invention to a
12seconds and covered 37 metres (12o feet). The government or large corporation. tables oflift and drag forces
final flight ofthe day, with Wilburas pilot, lasted on wings and understand
59 seconds and covered260 metres (852 feet). By Wilburand Orville wereawardeda patent in how the lift force moves back
1905, the Wright brothers' flying machines were 1906 for a 'Flying Machine'. Three years later they or forwardas the wing tilts,
routinely staying in the air for several minutes at a founded The Wright Company. Wilbur died within
time, takingoff, landing, and manoeuvringwith three years, from typhoid. Orville became a affecting control.
ease. At first, the world wasslow to recognize the long-time advisor to the US Government's National
Wrights' achievement, despite the fact thatthere Advisory Committeefor Aeronautics, and was able
were severalwitnesses on the day. This was partly to appreciate the incredibly rapid developments
because the mediaand the publicwere unwilling in aviation that took place within a few decades of
those first flights.

119

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GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - -- - - - - - - - - - +

• (

he early history of radio is rather
complex, and credit is due to dozens of
important pioneers. One of the most
important and successful was Italian inventor
Guglielmo Marconi, who helped bring radio into
everyday use.
Guglielmo Marconiwas born in Bologna, Italy
to an Italian father and an Irish mother. from an
earlyage, he took an interest in science and was
particularly interested in electricity. In late1894,
Marconi became aware ofthe experiments of the
German physicist Heinrich Hertz {1857-18941, who
had succeeded in proving the existence of radio
waves during the late 188os.
Hertz produced radio waves bysending a
rapidlyalternating current up and down a

vertical antenna, and detected the waves up to zo

metres {65 feet) away. Marconi also readabouta
demonstration that English physidst Oliver Lodge
{1851-19401 had recently performed. Lodgesent
Morse-code messages wirelessly, using the

126

•

GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Above: Sailorson boardship, readinga ·marconigram', in theearly t9oos.justasa telegram was a
physical record ofa Morse code message sent via telegraph wires, a marconigram wasa record
-on papertape -of Morse-code message received w irelesslyvia radio.

'Hertzian' waves. At the time, telegraph messages Followinga series ofimpressive
in Morse code could onlybe sent as electricpulses demonstrations during1897. Marconi garnered
along wires, and Marconi was excited at the the support ofthe Post Office, which was in charge
prospect of'wireless telegraphy'. ofBritain's telegraph system at the time_ In that
year, he formed the Wireless Telegraph & Signal
Marconi decided to carry out experiments of Company to expand his work In the following few
his own, with the aim ofmakingwireless years, he sentmessages over evergreater
telegraphy a usefuL practical technology. He set distances and, notably, betweenships and from
up a laboratory in the attic room of his family ship to shore_ In 1900, Marconi decided to try
home, and assembled the necessary components. extending the range ofhis transmissions yet
He was soon sending and receiving Morse code further: across theAtlanticOcean. In 1901, he
wirelessly over increasingly large distances: first created a worldwide sensation when he
across the room, then downa corridor, then announced the successful transmission ofa
outside, across fields. In the summer of1895, Morse code letter'S' (three short bursts ofradio)
Marconitransmitted a message over nearly 2 from Poldhu, in Cornwall, England to Stjohn's,
kilometres (1-2 miles), and in 1896 patented his Newfoundland (thena British colony, now in
system_ On being refused funding by the Italian Canada!. Aftersuggestions that he had faked the
government, he decided to travelto Britain to
seekinterest there.

' He was soon sending and
receiving Morse code wirelessly
over increasingly large distances '

128

------------------------------------------------------- GUGLmLMOAfARCONl

transmission, he carried out another, carefully
monitored experimentthe following year. Aboard
a ship close to the Canadian coast, he received
signals from Cornwall more than 3-200 kilometres
(2,ooo miles) away.

Improvements higher-frequency, shorter-wavelength radio Above: 'Marconiphone'
waves- microwaves-and a year later, he a mplifier from around 1925,
During theyears thatfollowed, Marconi made installed a beamed, microwave radio-telephone with valves - the
several important improvements to his system of system between the Vatican and the Pope's
radio transmission, and in 1907 he instigated the summerresidence. Much oftoday's developments ofde Forest's
first commercial trans-Atlanticradio service. He telecommunications infrastructure is built on Audion (see box). Marconi
found fame againwhen the British ocean liner microwave beams like this. formed the Marconiphone
RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912. A Company in 1922, to
Marconi-radio operatoraboardthe sinking ship Marconi did not invent radio, but he did make manufacture radiossets for
managed to broadcast radio distress signals and several important improvements to it, and his domestic use as well as
summon help from nearby ships. determinationto turn a complicated laboratory a mplifiers like thisone,
curiosity into something usefuland commercially which made it possible to
During the 1920s, Marconi experimented with successful helped make the world feel a bit listen without headphones.
much higher-frequency radio waves. These 'short smaller. In1909, he received the Nobel Prize for
waves' can be focused bya curved reflector Physics, for his contributions to wireless
behind the transmitter, like the parabolic dishes telegraphy, and in1930, he became president of
used to receive satellite communications. This the Royal ItalianAcademy.
arrangement made radio more efficient and less
power-hungry, since the waves were
concentrated into a beam and not radiating in all
directions. By this time, radio operators,
including Marconi, were transmitting not only
Morse code, but also speech, musicand audio
signals. In 1931, he experimented with even

129

GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - -- - - - -

The Board ofDirectorsof
IG·rarben, Germany. In
front(left) Carl Bosch.

Hermann Graeber, 1926,
Oil on canvas.

(27 August1874-26April1940)

1PrP is one 2oth-century invention that
arguably changed the world more
profoundly thanany other. It is not a
machine ora device, but an industrial process.
The manufacture ofammonia, perfected by
German chemist Carl Bosch, enabled the
production of fertilizers and explosives on a
completely unprecedented scale, resulting in a
meteoric rise in population and unlimited
explosive capacity in two world wars.
Carl Bosch was born in Cologne, Germany. He
studied mechanical engineering and metallurgy
at Charlottenburg Technical University. In t8g6,
he began studying chemistry, at the University of
Leipzig. Three years later, Bosch joined
Germany's most successful chemical company,
in Ludwigshafen. At the time, the company's
name was BadischeAnilin- & Soda-Fabrik;
nowadays, the name is simply BASF.
At first, Bosch worked on synthetic dyes, but in
1905 he turned his attention to a major question

130



GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

nilroyen !rum the"'' Bosch's lasting iegncy i- double

edged howevet Artlficiallettlllze
savea 1ml!ions from starvation. but t11e
liuye increa~es in population they
allowed. trom nearly 1.8 billion in 1910
to nearly I brllion a entur:v inter I1<'1V

Rllt a s1 rarn o rh<> wor Id's resources

Theor onanular:lur account 5for abuut

on€· per cent of the wor 111 ·· total "'''"' gy
consumr>tion and lheu use causes
polhnion. agricultural run·off Cllcates
'harmful aigal blooms· in taxes and
estuari ~ d11e to h <'Xlfi:l rutruger

Above: Syntheticammonia ofthe day: how to 'fix' atmospheric nitrogen into 2oth century, a growing threat ofwar led
fertilizer factory, 1920s. chemical compounds. This seemingly esoteric to further increases in the demand for
Before Bosch developed his issue was actually of immense global nitrogen compounds.
industrialprocess, only significance. Scientists in the 19th century had
bacteria, living in thesoil or realized that nitrogen-rich compounds made The role of nitrogen
in water, could 'fix' nitrogen very effective fertilizers. In particular, huge
deposits ofguano (fossilized bird excrement) and As an element, nitrogen is notoriously
from theairin these saltpetre (potassium nitrate, KN03) had helped unreactive. That is why it makes up nearly 8o per
quantities. The production to sustain an ever-expandingworld population. cent of the atmosphere. from the 189os, chemists
ofsynthetic nitrogen-based In 1898, English chemist William Crookes had tried in vain to find an efficient, high-yield
fertilizers enabled the world (1832-1919) delivered a lecture to the British process to fix nitrogen from the air to make
toavoid massstarvation. Association entitled 'The Wheat Problem', in fertilizers and explosives. Then, in 1905, German
which he noted that these deposits were chemist fritz Haber (1868-1934) reported that he
dwindling. Crookes suggested that the world had produced small amounts ofammonia from
could face major famines by the 1920s.ln nitrogen gas (N2) and hydrogen gas (H2 ). Haber's
addition, nitrogen compounds were an essential process required high temperature, high
ingredient in explosives. In the early years ofthe pressure and a catalyst- a chemical thatspeeds
up a reaction, while remaining unchanged, or a

132

------------------------------------------------------------- CARLBOSCff

Above: AGerman WorldWar Ibiplane
droppinga bomb. The manufacture of
explosives depended upon a plentiful

source ofnitrogen-rich compounds.
Bosch's process for the manufacture of

ammonia helped Germany meet the
demand and sustain itswar effort.

chemical that lowers the energy needed for a Bosch's intensive work and his insight into Above: Theworld'sfirst
reaction to take place, therefore speeding it up. chemistry and engineering helped to lay the ammonia synthesis plant,at
Haberwas working under contract to BASF and, foundations of large-scale, high-pressure Oppau, near BASF's
by1909, he had produced an impressive yield of processes - which, in turn, underpin much ofthe headquarters in
ammonia in his laboratory. In that year, BASF modern chemical industry. In1931, he was Ludwigshafen, Germany. In
gave Bosch the task ofscaling up Haber's awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Today, itsearlyyears, the plant
reaction for use on an industrial scale. nearly 200 million tonnes ofsynthetic nitrogen produced more than 7,ooo
fertilizers are produced worldwide every year - tonnes ofammonia, made
Bosch developed a reaction vessel that could several tonnes everysecond - using the Haber- into36,ooo tonnesof
withstand the high temperatures and pressures Basch process. ammonium sulphate.
that were necessary: a double-walled chamber
that was safer and more efficient than Haber's
system. He carried out nearly2o,ooo
experiments before he found a more suitable
catalyst than the expensive osmium and
uranium Haber had used. Bosch also worked out
the best ways to obtain large quantities of
hydrogen - by passing steam over red-hot coke
- and nitrogen, from the air. He patented his
results in 1910, and by1911, BASF had begun
producing ammonia in large quantities. The
company opened the world's first dedicated
ammonia plant, in Oppau, a suburb of
Ludwigshafen, just two years later. The ammonia
was used to make artificial fertilizers in huge
quantities. When the First World War began in
1914, however, the German government was
faced witha shortage ofammunition, and the
output of the Oppau plant was used to produce
explosives instead. Without the Haber-Basch
process, the war would probably not have lasted
as long as it did; Britain had blockaded
Germany's imports ofsaltpetre, which Germany
had relied upon to make explosives.

133

GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - -- - - - - - - - - - - - 1 : #

•

(30 July 1889-29 July1982)

elevision changed the way oflife of
hundreds ofmillions ofpeople in the zoth
century. But the history ofthis far-
reaching invention is far from simple: dozens of
inventive people contributed to its development.
One ofthe most significant pioneers was Russian-
born inventor VladimirZworykin, who also made
important contributions to the development of
the electron microscope.
VladimirZworykin was born in the town of
Murom, in what was then the Russian Empire. As
a child he spent time installingand repairing
electric doorbells in the family-owned passenger
steamships. In 1912, he obtaineda degree in
engineering from theSaint Petersburg Institute of
Technology. At the Institute, one ofZworykin's
professors, Boris Rosing(1869-1933) showed him a
project he had been working onin secret. Rosing
called it 'electrictelescopy'- one ofthe early
names for television; several other people in other
countries were working on thesame idea.

134



GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - -- - - - - - -- - - -- - -- -

Below: Zworykin's Indeed, as earlyas 1908 theScottish engineer Above:Combined
night-vision device, the AA Campbell Swinton (1863-1930) had publisheda electronic television set and radio
snooperscope, letter in which he outlined his conceptfor 'distant receiver, 19)8, made by British company Pye. The
electricvision' using the cathode-ray tube, 23-centtmetre19-1nch) cathode ray tube !CRT)screen
photographed in 1944.The invented in 1897 byGerman physicist Karl is a descendanto!Zworykln's kinescope.
snooperscope was sensit.ive ferdinand Braun (1850-1918). Acathode-raytube
to infrared radiation, which is a glass tube, from which the air has been during the Russian Civil War, Zworykin
removed, in which a beam ofelectrons strikes a em igrated to the USA. Within a year he had begun
warm-bloodedanimals flat screen. The inside of the screen is coated with workingat the Westinghouse Electric and
emitwith greaterIntensity chemical compounds called phosphors, which Manufacturing Company in Pittsburgh. In1923,
than non-living things, by afterspending a considerable amount ofhis spare
virtue or their warm bodies. glowwherever electrons time worl<ing on television, he appliedfor a
collide with them. patent. Zworykin's system used one cathode-ray
Zworykin's device helped Electromagnets tube to display pictures and another one in the
soldiers in night-time positionedaround the camera. Inside his television camera, light fell on
conflicts in World War II. tube control the direction the screen ofthe cathode-ray tube.lnstead of
ofthe beam, and the phosphors, thisscreen was coated with light-
television signal fed to the sensitive dots made ofpotassium hydride. An
electron beam scanned the screen, as in the
magnets causesthe beam to picture tube, and each light-sensitive dot
scan in horizontal lines across produced a signal that depended on the
the screen. Byscanning the whole brightness of the image at that point.
screen in this way several times every
second, while also varying the intensity of After submittingan improved patent
the electron beam, it ispossible to display a application in 1925, Zworykin demonstrated his
moving image. Swinton neverattempted to television system to his employersat
build the system he conceived, and while Westinghouse. The images were rather dim
Rosing was a pioneer, hissystem was crude
and unwieldy, and never worked.

Zworykin's system

lnt919, after the Bolshevik Revolution

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -VLADIMURZWORflUN

electronic telev1s1on won out In the end. In194D,Zvvo~ldn~teana

achieved the first naagnification
greater than 1oo,ooox'

and stationary, and his employers were not at Canadian electronicengineerjames Hillier Above: Zworykin next to
all impressed. (1915-2007) andworked with himto improve on an early scanning eledron
the electron microscope, which had been
He received a more favourable response when invented in the early1930s in Germany. In microscope, around1945.
heshowed it to the Radio Corporation ofAmerica particular, the team developed the scanning Zworykin did notinvent
(RCA) in 1929. Zworyldn's camera, later dubbed the electron microscope, in which a beam of electrons the electron microscope,
lconoscope, would become the standard wayof scans a sample- not unlike what happens inside a but Jed a team that made
producing television pictures. Zworykin cathode-ray tube. In 1940, Zworykin's team important improvements
developed the technology even further at the achieved the first magnification greater than
RCA. in1939, the company demonstrated it at the 1oo,ooox- a huge improvementin the technology. in the device, which
New York World's Fair and, in 1941, the RCA has revolutionized
began regular commercial television broadcasts In addition to hiswork in television and biology, medicine and
in the USA. electron microscopy, Zworykin developed
infrared 'night vision', missile guidance systems materialsscience.
Zworykin's work on the electron microscope and secmitysystems that used 'electric eyes'. He
stemmed from his wealth ofexperience working received a total of12o US patents.
with images and electrons. In 1938, he employed

137

GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

(21 September1895-9 December 1935) ....... • •

A strange aircraft took to the air in1923. It • -• ••
was the autogyro, an aeroplane with
both a propellerand a rotor, invented by •. •
Spanish engineer juan de Ia Cierva. Today, the
autogyro is only flown by enthusiasts, having • -•
been superseded by the more manoeuvrable
helicopter. The most important feature of .. • ••
helicopter design, however, the complicated
mechanics at the hub ofthe rotor, was established ,• •
in Cierva's autogyros.
-
juan de Ia Cierva was born to a wealthy family ••
in Mercia, Spain. As a boy, he was inspired by the
early pioneers offlight, and he became -•
determined to be an aviator himself. In 1911, he ••
went to study civil engineering in Madrid. That
year, he and two friends experimented with
gliders, and formed anaviation company. In 1912,
Cierva built the first aeroplane in Spain, but
during the following few years two ofhis
aeroplanes crashedafter stalling at lowspeed. As
a result, he became determined to buildan

138

j UAN DE L4 CIERVA

Pitcairn PCA-2autogyro,
build In the U.S. under
Cierva license, 1961.

·-

---

•

GREAT INVENTORS AND THEm -

became pracr1cal

Above: Russian-American aeroplane that could notstall. He came up with autogyro would not crash to the ground.lnstead,
helicopter pioneer Igor the autogyro: anaeroplane with a propeller atthe it would fall slowly, like a spinning sycamore seed
Sigorsky, flying his VS-300 front and rotating wings - rotor blades - at the top. case. ln 1920, Cierva patented his idea, and tested
helicopter in1940.The The rotor blades wouldalways be moving fast small models ofhis autogyro concept. The models
VS-300 was the first relative to the air, and producing lift, even when worked well, but when he scaled up his design, he
helicopterto have a tail the autogyro was movingslowly. found it had a tendency to flip over. He soon
rotor; until then, helicopters realized why. As it turns, each rotor blade spends
had two counter-rotating Other inventors had experimented with rotors halfthe time moving forwards- into the
main rotors to keep them as early as 1907, but with little success. Cierva oncomingair- and half the time moving
stable in flight. Both designs decided to leave his rotors unpowered, so that backwards.This means that the advancing blade
are still common today. they would windmill or 'autorotate' as the is moving through the air faster than the receding
autogyro moved through the air. This approach blade and so the lift force is greater on one side
had an added benefit: ifthe engine cut out, the than the other.

Above: ACierva autogyro taking off from the South Groundsof the White House in Washington, Successful prototype
DC, in1931.The aircraft has fixed wings, like an aeroplane, but most ofthe lift force is provided by
the rotor blades. In1933, Cierva dispensed with the fixed wings altogether. Cierva looked back at his earlier models, and
realized that thesmallerrotor blades were
flexible. As those rotors turned, the blades twisted
slightly, automatically adjusting to the changing
airspeed during each rotation, and producing
constant lift. Ciervaset about mimicking this
phenomenonin his larger, metal blades. To do
this, he incorporateda 'flapping hinge' where
each rotor blade met the rotor hub. In january
1923, Cierva's first successful prototype, the C4,
flew180 metres {2oo yards) atan airfield near
Madrid. This was the first stable flight ofa
rotating-wingaircraft in history, and was quickly
followed bymany longer, more sustained flights.
In 1925, Cierva demonstrated autogyro C6 in
England and, with the support ofan investor,
formed the CiervaAutogiro Company. Threeyears

140

------------------------------------------------------- } UANDELACmRVA

later, Cierva flew his C8 autogyro from Englandto Above: Amodern, fullyarticulated rotor. Each blade isableto move independentlyofthe others,
france. The C8 featured a 'fully articulated rotor',
with blades that could flex backwards to absorb and can tilt to increase or decrease the lift force. Cierva developed the fully articulated rotorso
the drag force {air resistance), which had that he could control his autogyroswithout fixedwings.
previously caused some blades to snap.

More improvements followed, includinga
system to drive the rotor, just at take-off, so that
the autogyro could rise vertically. The most
obvious change came in1933 when Cierva built
autogyros with no wings and no tail. Up to this
point, autogyroswere controlled in the same way
as fixed-wing aircraft: using moveable flaps on
the wings and tail. This meantthat pilots all but
lost control at low speeds, so Cierva decided to
find a way to control his autogyros by tilting the
rotor. To do this, he had to design a complicated
system of hinges and control levers aroundhis
rotor hub, andwhat he achieved formed the basis
ofall future helicopter rotors. Ironically, after
devoting his career to avoiding the problems of
stalling, Ciervawas killedat Croydon airport, a
passengeraboard a conventional fixed-wing
aeroplane that stalled and crashed into a building
justafter take-off.

Above: AFocke-Wulf Fw-61, the first fully controllable helicopter, in 1937.German engineer Heinrich Focke (1890-1979) designed this after workingon Cierva
autogyros.The pilotis German aviator Hanna Reitsch(1912-1979), who set many records, including being the first woman to fly helicopters.

141

GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - -- - - - - - -

(23 March 1912-16june1977)

erman-American rocket engineer
Wernhervon Braun designed the first
rocket-powered long-range ballistic
missiles- but his real achievement was in
spaceflight. His determination in following his
boyhood dream ofsending people to the Moon,
togetherwith his excellent technicaland
leadership skills, made him the ultimate
spaceflight pioneer of the 2oth century.
Wernhervon Braun was born a baron, to an
aristocratic family in the town ofWirsitz, in the
then German Empire Inow Wyrzysk in Poland).
After the first World War, his family moved to
Berlin, Germany. Young Wernher became
interested in space when his mother, a serious
amateur astronomer, gave him a telescope - and
he was mesmerized by stories ofjourneys into
outer space. von Braun studied mechanical
engineeringat the Charlottenburg Institute of
Technology, in Berlin. While there, he joined the
Verein fiir Raumschiffahrt IVfR) - the Society for

142



GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Above: Russianspacevisionary Konstantin Above: Officials ofthe US Army Ballistic Above: Wernher von Braun, in1954, holdinga modelofa
Tsiolkovsky, whose1903 book TileExploration MissileAgencyat Redstone Arsenal in proposed rocket that would liftpeople into space. During the
ofCosmicSpace byMeans of Reaction Devices Huntsville, Alabama. von Braun is second 1950s, von Braun wasa celebrity in the USA, nurturing dreams
was the first serious scientifictreatise on from right; in the foreground is Romanian ofspace travel among the postwar American people.

using rockets to reachspace. rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth. Spaceship Travel - and became involved in
building and firi ng early liquid-fuel rockets.

The Aggregate programme

von Braun joined the German army's Ordnance
Division in October 1932, developing and testing
rockets at an artillery range in Kummersdorf,
near Berlin. He became technical head of the
'Aggregate' programme, whose aim was to
design rockets for use as long-range ballistic
missiles. In 1935, von Braun's team moved to
Peenemunde, on the Baltic Coast, where the
programme continued until the end ofthe
Second World War. Each rocket in the proposed
Aggregate series was bigger and more ambitious
than the last. For example, the A9/1o, had it been
launched, would have been a too-tonne,
two-stage rocket aimed at New York, United
States; the A12 would havebeen a true orbital
launchvehicle, able to place satelJites into orbit.

The onlyAggregate rocket to see service was
the A-4, better known as the V-2. Designed by

144

------------------------------------------------------- VVERNHERVON B~UN

' von Braun became something ofa celebrity,
promoting the idea ofspace travel

von Braun's team, this was the world's first satellite, Sputnik1, into orbit. The news Above:AnA-4 rocket on a test
medium-range ballistic missile- and the first prompted the United States Government to launch at Peenemiinde,1943·
reliable liquid-fuel rocket. By the end ofthe TheA-4became the V-2
war, more than J,ooo had been launched; these form NASA Ithe National Aeronauticsand Space when used inWorldWar II.
terrible weapons, builtby prisoners-of-war, Payload: 1tonne; maximum
rained destruction upon England, Belgium and Administration). In 1958, a Redstone rocket, altitude: 95 kilometres (50
france from 1944 onwards. von Braun's designed by von Braun, putAmerica's first milest maximumspeed:
involvement in the weapon's developmentand satellite into orbit. Two years later, NASA 5,8oo kilometresperhour
his membership of the Nazi party remain opened its Marshall Spaceflight Center, in (3,6oo miles per hour); range:
controversial, but he was always preoccupied Huntsville, and von Braun became its director. 320 kilometres(199 miles).
with his real goal ofsending rockets into space. The Soviet Union got the upper hand again in
When the war ended, the US Army took von 1961, when it launched a human into space for 145
Braun and his team of workers to the United the first time; the United States retallated by
States. In 1950, von Braun settled in Huntsville, launchingAlan Shepherd into space less than
Alabama, where he headed the US Army rocket a month later, again with a von Braun
team. At that time. the Cold War was Redstone rocket.
intensifying. and the United States was
worried that the Soviet Union might dominate In May1961, to von Braun's delight, United
the new territory ofspace. Throughout the States president john f Kennedy 11917-1963)
1950s, von Braun became something ofa announced the country's intention of"landing
celebrity, promoting the idea ofspace travel in a man on the Moon and returning him back
books, magazines, on television and in films safely to the Earth". The United States
-inspiring the American people with his succeeded - and the astronauts of the 'Apollo'
dreams ofspace stations and journeys to the programme travelled to the Moon in modules
Moon and Mars. launched into space atop huge Saturn V
rockets, designed by von Braun's team at the
The SpaceAge officially began on 4 October Marshall Space Center. von Braun had finally
1957, when the Soviet Union launched the first achieved his goal ofinterplanetary travel and
NASA call him "without doubt, the greatest
rocket engineer in history."

(23June 1912-7June 1954)

he first electronic digital computers
appeared in the 1940s. Theywere not
simply the resultofadvancesin
electronics. Their development relied on a theory
of computation formulated by English
mathematician Alan Turing, who was also an
important wartime code-breakeranda pioneer of
machine intelligence.
Alan Turing was born in London to an upper-
middle-class family, and his genius was evident
from an early age. He taughthimsell to read ina
matter ofweeks and while in his teensat the
auspicious Sherborne publicschool in Dorset he
developed a fascination for scienceand
mathematics. In 1931, he went to King's College,
Cambridge, to study mathematics.
While hewas at university,Turingbecame
interested in logic. Thiswas a hottopic in
mathematics at the time: mathematicians were
attempting to define theirsubjectcompletely in
terms oflogic- to iron out inconsistendes and to

146

.........~.

•·~ ~

GREAT I NVENTORS A ND THEIR CREATION S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Above: PilotACE, 1950. show that mathematics is 'logically complete'. In -a 'universal' computer- ifgiven the correct set of
Towards the end ofWorld 1931, German mathematician Kurt Gi.idel (1906- instructions. This was anotherway ofexpressing
War II, TUring told his 1978) had published two theorems that showed Gi.idel's theorems, since italso proved there were
this was impossible. He proved that even simple some mathematical statements that the machine
colleagues hewas '"building mathematical statements rely on assumptions could not compute.lt was significant for another
a brain":the Automatic and intuition that cannot be defined in terms reason: Turing's hypothetical device became
Computing Engine lACE). oflogic. known as the 'Universal Turing Machine' and was
After the war, Turing to be the blueprint for digital computers.
Inspired by Gi.idel's theorems, Turingwrotea
presented his design to the landmark paperon the logic ofmathematics in During the SecondWorld War, Turingworked
National Physical 1936.In tills paper, Turing imagined an 'automatic for the UKgovernment helpingto decode the
Laboratory. PilotACE was machine' that could read and write symbols on a German military forces' encrypted
tape, and carry out tasks based ona simple set of communications, at a Buckinghamshire mansion
the prototype basedon instructions. Turing proved that any problem that called Bletchley Park. The Germans used two
Turing's design. is 'computable' can be solved by sucha machine devices, the Enigma machine and the Lorenz

centra unit

called a micro(Jrocesso~

148

ALAN TURING

Above: AColossus code-breaking computerat Bletchley Park, Ut<,1943- Designed by English
electronic engineerTommy Flowers(1905-1998), theColossus was the first fully electronic,
stored-program computer- but itwas not a trulygeneral-purposecomputer.

Cipher machine, to produce extremely well- conversationsvia a keyboardand monitor- one Above: John von Neumann,
encrypted communications. Although possible to with a human beingand one with a computer. If photographed in the 1940s.
find 'keys' to crack the encryption, this was a the judge was not certain which was which, the
laborious process. In the early1930s, Polish computer would be deemed intelligent. No In his now-classic 'First
code-breakers had built a machine thatsped up computer has yet passed the test. Draftofa Report on the
the process. But in1939, the Germans improved EDVAC', von Neumann
their machines, making the codes even harder to In 1945, Turing was awarded the OBE !Order of
crack. Turing in turn designed a more efficient the British Empire) for his work at Bletchley Park, established the basic
and faster machine, which he called 'The Bombe'. but in 1952 he was convicted for homosexuality, 'architecture' of modem
Bythe end ofthe war, 211 Bombes were then illegal in the UK jthe UKgovernment issued a computers - although he
operational, requiring2,ooo staffto run them. posthumous apology to Turing in 2009). Two years wasgreatly inspired by
Turing's inventiongreatly helped the war effort, after his conviction, he was found dead in his bed ENIAC, which he had used
and probably shortened the war by a year or more. from cyanide poisoning; an inquest concluded in thedevelopmentofthe
that it was suicide.
hydrogen bomb.
Post-war developments
Left: The
After the war, he wrote a proposal to the National 'keyboard' ofthe
Physical Laboratory in London for an 'automatic Z3, built in 1941 by
computing engine', based on his Universal engineer Konrad
Turing Machine. While his proposalwas Zuse (1910-1995). It
accepted, it was thought too ambitious, and a
smaller version - the PilotACE- was built was the first
'stored-program'
instead. It ran its first program in1950. Other computer to use
researchers were working on Turing Machines,
too. The world's first stored-program, general- binary to
purpose computerwas the Small Scale represent
Experimental Machine, built bya team at the numbersand
Victoria University of Manchester, also in instructions.

England. It ran its first program in 1948.
Turing was well aware ofthe possibilitythat

machines might one day 'think'. In an article in

1950, he suggested a test for artificial intelligence:
a person Ithe judge) would have two

149

GREAT I NVENTORS AND THEIR CREATIONS - - -- - - - - - -

•

(23 January 1918-21 February1999)

he inventions ofAmericanbiochemist
Gertrude Elion are far too small to see.
They are works ofengineering, but at the
molecular level: Elion was a pioneer of
chemotherapy. The medicines she developed
have brought hope to millions ofpeople with
bacteria1and viral infections and cancer.
Gertrude Elion was born in NewYork, USA. Her
motherwas from Russia, her father from
Lithuania. Asa child, 'Trudy' hadaninsatiable
desire to read and learn, andshe took an interest
in all subjects. Itwas the fact that hergrandfather
had died or leukaemia that fostered her interest in
science. At the age of15, she began studying
chemistry at Hunter College, NewYork, in the
hope that she might one day develop medicines
to cure or prevent the disease that had claimed
her grandfather.
The campusat HunterCollege was for women
only, so Elion was used to women studying
science. However, in theworld outside college,

150